I can't install any programs I download

[robmain]

I have been given a 7inch netbook running Linux 2.4 but cannot view streaming video from sites like Youtube. It tells me to download flashplayer, which I've done, but I can't install it. The icon is just a question mark. I'm new to Linux - in windows I'd just click it to install it. I have downloaded realplayer, adobe flashplayer 9 & 10 but none of them install. They all just display as this 'question mark' icon. Why can't I install anything I download??

[coopstah13]

Are you downloading the windows installers? Linux is not windows, it will not natively run their applications. What linux distro are you running? Open a terminal and run this code:

cat /etc/*release

[reed9]

Can you give any more info on the netbook? Name/brand?

I googled netbook linux 2.4, and my guess is you have the Alpha 400 netbook with a MIPS processor.

If this is the case, you're probably out of luck. I don't think Adobe Flash supports the MIPS processor architecture.

I couldn't find anything out about this "linux 2.4" OS.

There is this site, which apparently has some compatible software.
Little Linux Laptop

Since xterm is listed on that site as a download, there may not even be a terminal installed! If you can install xterm from there, you can get into the inner workings a little more and find some things out.

[dushuai]

find out the "install" file or "make" file,use command "./install" or "make" to setup your program.

[i92guboj]

When he says "linux 2.4", the first thing that comes to my mind is an old distribution with a 2.4 kernel, but oh... That's just me guessing, because we have no real info.

This bit could be confirmed with the command "uname -a". So, robmain, if you can post the output of that command (just open a terminal, xterm or similar one and write the command, then press 'enter' and paste here the output).

For the rest, the people above is right: absolutely, forget what you know about Windows, and how do you do the things in Windows. In Linux we usually don't go fishing programs around the net (which is just one of the reasons why it's more secure). Instead, your distribution most likely has a package manager where you can install packages and manage all the installed software, updates, etc. But we can't give you more instructions about that until we know what flavor of Linux do you have installed in your machine.

[webers4]

I was reading some of the replies and tried running the 'cat /etc/*release' command on mine and the reply was 'cat: /etc/*release: No such file or directory'. I'm new to linux as well and am having the same problem so if you find anything that works I hope you'll post it so I can try it also. Thanks

[jmadero]

first off, get rid of whatever stupid distro comes with it and choose one of the main ones, you'll avoid MANY headaches:

Ubuntu, Kubuntu
OpenSuse
Fedora Core
Mint

any of those will work just fine

[reed9]

I was reading some of the replies and tried running the 'cat /etc/*release' command on mine and the reply was 'cat: /etc/*release: No such file or directory'. I'm new to linux as well and am having the same problem so if you find anything that works I hope you'll post it so I can try it also. Thanks

cat /etc/*-release

Should be the above. Also post the output of

uname -a

[webers4]

Thanks for the info. I should have known that a laptop that was as inexpensive as this one wouldn't have the flexibility I need.

[reed9]

Are you sure you have the same machine as the original poster? Regular netbooks, though the default linux version on them generally isn't very good, have a good deal more potential than these ultra-cheap MIPS netbooks.

My friend found an Asus EEE 900 for $130 online. Just a 4 GB SSD and 512MB RAM. I replaced Xandros with Arch for her and it runs like a dream now.