newbie help please

[ecrivain5]

I am an older guy used to windows for many years. I have tried various linux op systems and I would like to start using it. However I have had lots of problems trying to downloag codecs, drivers and software.

It all downlaods to the ARK archive system. I can't for the life of me work out how to get the downloads out of ARK so that I can install them using YAST. (if that is how it is done).

If any of you guys out there can offer in laymans terms it will be a great help to me.

My thanks to any helpers in advance. Brian

[Jonathan183]

I am an older guy used to windows for many years. I have tried various linux op systems and I would like to start using it. However I have had lots of problems trying to downloag codecs, drivers and software.

It all downlaods to the ARK archive system. I can't for the life of me work out how to get the downloads out of ARK so that I can install them using YAST. (if that is how it is done).

If any of you guys out there can offer in laymans terms it will be a great help to me.

My thanks to any helpers in advance. Brian

Brian,

You can do most things through a graphical user interface. If you have not installed Linux yet I suggest you go for a dual boot system if possible and store data separate from your operating system - post back if you want more info on this.

I suggest you install software using YAST - this makes things easy. Only start installing things outside YAST if:-
a) the software you want is not available through YAST or
b) you want to learn more about linux & control how the system is setup to a greater extent than YAST offers.

The software that comes on DVD or CD is not the only things you can obtain through YAST - there are online repositories you can also access - see link Additional YaST Package Repositories - openSUSE . Adding the repositories to YAST is fairly straight forward (particularly for 10.3) and is the easy way of adding additional software packages.

Hope this help.

[valemon]

I suggest you have a look at how to install software in linux. post back if you got any question

[oz]

Maybe consider trying Linux Mint. I've never tried it myself, but it's my understanding that it comes with all the drivers and codecs right on the installation CD, so that might solve the problems you are experiencing.