Total n00b, need help installing

Really my first time using linux properly, I've played around with slackware but nothing serious. Decided to switch to Kubuntu after I got sick of windows and the crap it was giving me. So, how do I install things? I've looked around for a bit but nothing really makes sense. I have firefox and amsn tar's, and they're extracted but I kinda get lost from there. I tried running the config on amsn like the install file said to, but it says I don't have a c compiler in $Path. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and detailed explanations would help cause I'm new to this.

thanks

Ok, so your using Kubuntu, good choice :). You've downloaded the source correct? You've tried the ./configure etc or whatever instructions the install file gives you? If it says you don't have a C compiler, I suggest you go to Synaptic and do a search for anything to do with a C compiler. GCC is a great place to start. Try install GCC, although I think it should already be installed if your using K/Ubuntu. Give a search then install if necessary then try to run your install again.

This guide will tell you generally how to install software in Ubuntu:
http://www.monkeyblog.org/ubuntu/installing

It's targeted toward Ubuntu (not Kubuntu), but the same principles apply.
For a screenshot-less tutorial that applies to both Ubuntu and Kubuntu equally:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware

For the latest version of Firefox and aMSN, delete your downloaded files and use these two scripts to install them for you:

Firefox
aMSN

Thanks! managed to get them both installed. Love that amsn script btw : D

Now another question: How do i get a USB thumbdrive to work? I put mine in, but it doesnt seem to be recognized.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [nerd]

Thanks! managed to get them both installed. Love that amsn script btw : D

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Glad they worked out for you.

Quote:

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Now another question: How do i get a USB thumbdrive to work? I put mine in, but it doesnt seem to be recognized.

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That's odd. It should just be plug-and-play. Can you plug in the USB drive and then post back here the output of these commands?

Code:

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sudo fdisk -l
df -h
cat /etc/fstab

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The place to put the commands is here: KMenu > System > Konsole

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 7179 57665286 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 7180 9621 19615365 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 9622 9729 867510 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 9622 9729 867478+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sda: 515 MB, 515899392 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1968 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1968 503792 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2 19G 2.0G 16G 11% /
tmpfs 507M 0 507M 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 507M 13M 494M 3% /lib/modules/2.6.12-9-386/volatile
/dev/sda1 492M 285M 208M 58% /media/sda1


# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0


there you go, the output of all the commands

According to your output, it's already mounted at /media/sda1

Have you taken a look at the /media folder to see if it's in there?

I don't know why it didn't just pop onto your desktop, but it is mounted and available.

media folder shows my hdd and my cd rom drive, no USB drive.

gives me this error message when i plug it in "An error occurred while loading media:/sda1:
The file or folder media:/sda1 does not exist."

Try sudo mkdir /media/sda1 then plug in drive.

I did that, and gives me the same message.