Question about the cmd line

[Pus]

Hello guys and girls.

I've been curious about Linux a long time and always wanted to try it, and today I felt like using my Ubuntu CD for my school computer. So far its working good, I am just done updating something here...

So, I am TOTALLY new, like I really dont know a lot. I've been reading up a bit of the basics on Wikipedia and other sites. So I found the terminal and installed the "Wine" feature, which I still have yet to learn. They told me to enter the long code into the terminal which I did, and worked so that should not be a problem I guess.

So my main questions are if I would want to download something else, should I go thru the website for a download link or is there another way?

Any guides or if you want to post a bit about the command line for me that would be very appreciated. Of course you can send some link to a site where it tells me and be ignorant, but hey. At least its something.

Oh, and. Whats the deal with the "Gnome" and the other thingies? Sorry if its hard to understand but I do not know it either. I just have a hunch, but not anything to brag about just yet.

Oh, and edit: as I said Im gonna use this for school, so any tips on programs and hints how to work my way around would also be super great! Just downloaded Open Office.

Thanks in advance,
Pus, totally new to Linux.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Here's a good place for learning the Linux command line:

LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.

Hope you will enjoy Linux.

[Pus]

Hello.

And thanks. I am pretty sure I will. I'll look into it.

Just downloaded WinRAR for Linux, and it says "command line only". That means no exe file, right? I'm trying to figure out how to instal things this way.

Again, thanks.

[bigtomrodney]

Well WinRAR itself is for Windows, but if you install rar/unrar and rar-nonfree/unrar-nonfree packages through synaptic it should work in any of the graphical archive tools such as File Roller and Ark. In fact you should be able to deal with them directly through your context menu;right click and just extract or to create a new archive just right click on your file (or group of files) and choose 'Create Archive...'

Right all of that is out now...the main two things I'd say to you as a new user is don't worry about Wine and give a lot of attention to your package manager, Synaptic.

Everything you will want to install should be downloaded through Synaptic. This will do all of the work for you like get anything you need, download it, install it and allow you to cleanly remove it should you wish. It is also a good catalogue of software that runs very well on Ubuntu.

On the Wine issue: Wine works quite well but this is really a philosphical point. If you wish to run all Windows application then Windows is probably the best platform for you to do that. Wine works about 90% of the time now in my experience but it still has its bugs. If you want to give Linux a go then give it a fair go and use the native applications. You will be surprised by the quality and flexibility of them. Just stick to that package manager.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions, the steepest part of the learning curve is right in front of you

[Pus]

Thanks for your inspirational answer.

Nevermind, it seemed to be working now.

Thanks again for your help!