New to linux, dont know what im doing

[IDontUnderstandThisPlace]

I figure the only way Im going to get all the questions I want answered is to ask them one at a time, although faqs touch on a subject they just dont give me the full picture i want so forgive me if this stuff has been asked a million times.

Before I ask any questions that will result in me getting anything done, I have to know, why do I have to do all this typing to install even the simplest of programs (I havent actually installed anything yet, I dont have all the 2 and 3 letter commands memorized), why has this process not been simplified yet? It seems linux knows what a bin file is, but chooses to just stare at you in awe when you click on it? I found the "Add/Remove Software" thing but this seems to dump the entire contents of the internet related to my search on the screen while at the same time leaving out what im looking for, the newest java run time.

Im on Fedora 11

[Thrillhouse]

Welcome to the forums and to Linux.

Your frustration is understandable and not uncommon among new users, especially when it comes to installing software.

Unfortunately for you, Fedora believes in 100% free software so they will not provide packages for non-free software like the Sun JRE. They do provide the GPL version of the JRE in their repos, if you prefer a simple installation and are not worried about version compatibility. If you do want to use the offical Sun JRE, you can download the executable from their website and install it. This should only be slightly more difficult.

Try following the guide found here, but instead of using sudo, simply log in as root and take the 'sudo' part out of the commands.

Let us know if you run into any problems and we can help you sort them out.

[IDontUnderstandThisPlace]

Thanks for the link. First off knowing the the answers to these few questions will help ease the process at least in my head.

1) Where do things go when you install them under linux? Is there a "program files" "windows" folder equivalent under linux? or should you just create your own folder and keep installing there? can that even be done or do the packages just install where ever they feel?
2) If i have a bin file and get it to run successfully does it overwrite the old version safely? (example being the java run time)
3) Is there anything like the registry in windows that can be screwed up? If not, to uninstall can things just be found on the drive and deleted?

I skim read the section "Java Runtime Environment" from the link provided, it really is disappointing that in the age of full GUI OSes and soon touch screen interfaces that whats on that page is at all necessary. Im all for added control and power over the system, but it seems like linux is locked in that mode. It seems like it could be a perfect option for grand parents, etc. to have fully working systems running on older hardware for web browsing, but with the nightmare process of just getting an updated plugin for a browser to view a page correctly I cant see how it can ever be an option. I love computers but even I turned this system off for months at a time before coming back to tackle it again.

[Thrillhouse]

1. The answer - as always - is "it depends." Most user-executable programs are located in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. However, not all software is installed there. Some privileged programs are located in /usr/sbin and Java, for example, will usually install itself to /opt. You can change this, of course, which is one of the nice things about Linux. Things will install to where you tell them to. Keep in mind that the executables that are located in /usr/bin and /usr/local/bin are binaries. They will spit out garbage if you open them in a text editor or 'cat' them.
2. Usually not for packages installed from source or a .bin file. This is one of the reasons why they invented package managers. Many package managers will remove old versions automatically but if you install something from source, it will not know that you have a previous version installed. Java will usually install all of its versions to /opt in case you want to switch between them.
3. No such thing as a registry but just deleting things is not recommended. Installed packages on a system often leave traces of themselves in many different places. However, most package managers have an option to remove a program which will often delete everything associated with a program that is not depended on by another program.

The instructions for the installation of the JRE are fairly straightforward and, yes, most of them are meant to give you as much control over the process as you desire. I would encourage you to give it (and Linux) a shot for a while and, if you don't like it, you can stop using it. There's no need for you to stick with an operating system that you don't like.

Good luck.

[reed9]

Where do things go when you install them under linux?

There's a handy shortcut to finding where the executable is, the whereis command.

[reed@Dell-Mini ~]$ whereis firefox
firefox: /usr/bin/firefox

Also, to add to Thrillhouse's answer, most programs install a launcher file to /usr/share/applications. This is what populated your menu in most cases.

The contents for example look like

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=firefox %u
Icon=firefox
Type=Application
Terminal=false
MultipleArgs=false
Name=Firefox
GenericName=Web Browser
MimeType=text/html
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Application;Network;

So it tells the display name, what icon to use, the launch command and so on. This is one of the only times a file will have a hidden extension in linux, so the above is named firefox.desktop, but you only see it as firefox.

[IDontUnderstandThisPlace]

Ok, lots to remember here. This is pretty much a default fedora 11 install, so the java support in here now is most likely the openjdk.
Now Ive downloaded the newest sun java to "\home\Admin\Download\jre-6u16-linux-i586.bin", if i run that bin file, will the bin install right there in place? because thats where I intend to store my downloads so that each time i download something Ill see that other things might be getting old and it will remind me to update them (just the way ive always done things), or does that file have to be moved to the destination location before its run? or somewhere else so it can be seen? If I wanted to uninstall openjdk first what package name would I use to refer to openjdk? If I type "whereis java" i get

]# whereis java
java: /usr/bin/java /etc/java /usr/lib/java /usr/share/java /usr/share/man/man1/java.1.gz

Would I be looking to remove "java.1.gz"? If not, how would I find the name of an existing installed package, like the default openjdk, so that I can use that name with the remove command is there a list somewhere to use as a reference for package names?

[coopstah13]

You don't need to remove anything. Things are different when you install outside of package manager. For sun jdk you execute this bin file, it will extract the JDK into your current folder, then you can put this JDK wherever you want, but you have to do some other things like set environment variables and your path in order to use it.