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Re: what
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Re: what

Mark,
Being a newbie myself, I have been using MkLinux for about a year in a
very limited way. I agree with this statement. I have tried the Xwindows
stuff and have found it almost useless in doing things. However, I can
tell you that I am primarily using Linux to develop Perl scripts for a
Unix box we (The Learning Space) and so only use the Apache web server
and Perl in a completely closed environment.

Again, I would get a book, read it (boring). IF you want to determine if
you have the X window system installed (it could be that you missed
installing it) do as was suggested. Maybe you missed Forest's
suggestion. I know I looked twice before I caught it.

If at the command prompt you type:

ls -l /etc/X11

What will happen is you get a listing of everything in the directory X11
which is in the directory etc.

Which in itself will give you very little except if you compare it with
what he showed you:
total 10
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Aug 5 14:05 WindowMaker
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 1024 Aug 2 14:48 applnk
drwxr-xr-x 2 xfs xfs 1024 Aug 5 14:05 fs
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Aug 5 14:04 fvwm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 803 Feb 27 2000 prefdm
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Aug 2 19:00 twm
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Feb 27 2000 wmconfig
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 1024 Aug 5 15:21 xdm
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Aug 5 15:52 xinit
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Aug 2 19:00 xsm

Which means that there are ten items.
Nine of which are directoies and one file.

_If_these_items are not available in your listing, you have missed the
installation of the X windowing system. If you installed from the cd you
can mount the cd by typing mount -t iso9660 /dev/scda3 /mnt/cdrom/

[Note: I typed the above command from memory and am not sure of the
/dev/sdc entry. I have been dealing with IDE drives and so what I have
been typing is /dev/hdc.]

Once it is mounted change to the RedHat directory, change to the RPM
directory. You will need to determine which RPM's you will need to
install I would suggest starting with WindowsMaker, X11R6 and all of the
XFree86 stuff. I may be suggesting too much or too little but you can
un-intall, install more what you don't need later.

The suggestion for the man pages is a valid one. If you can't get
anywhere, type man and the command you want. For example you will need
the command RPM which installs the RedHat Package Manager files, so type
man RPM and you will see that you can use a number of commands. Most of
which I have not learned what they means except I know you need RPM -qip
to tell you if a package is installed. For example RPM -qip
X11R6-contrib-3.3.2-6.ppc.rpm will check to see if the package X11R6 is
installed. RPM -hiv X11R6-contrib-3.3.2-6.ppc.rpm will attempt to
install it if it is not. Keep in mind that certain packages depend upon
other packages and you may have to go back and install more packages to
install this one. Again, I am typing from memory so you may need to
change what I suggest to be correct. As they say, YMMV.

I am guessing but you probably should install WindowMaker before X11R6.

It can be rather intimidating. Once you install the X11 system, you will
have Xwindows. Then you will need to install Gnome, KDE, Sawmill, etc.
One thing that I have found usefull is GnomeRPM but you need X11, etc
first. Keep in mind, the standard Unix users response is read the man
pages. While often useful, the man pages are written by Unix users who
know the man pages and therefore base their writings upon their prior
knowledge which of course is based upon prior readings which only the
reader and the original writer have privy to. I.E., man pages are often
decipherable to mere mortals without extended research. Which .. OK I am
being redudant.

Bob

O.Schmitt wrote:

>Hello Mark,
>
>>I guess the simplest way to do that
>>would be to get a GUI such as Gnome or KDE or the like.
>>
>
>I think: NO, without a little understanding of UNIX you can't succeed:
>take a small book ie Unix in a nutshell (O'Reilly???) or search for an
>equivalent one at amazon.
>
>Next step could be:
>
><http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/index.htm>
>
>and if you need some help in detail, have a look at:
>
><http://www.linux-howto.com/LDP/HOWTO/>
>
>and if you have special questions about MkLinux look at
>
><www.mklinux.org> or ask this list.
>
>The command line stuff with all the tools in the shell is often a very
>short way to get the desired result. Start with the command man man
>(after having read the book ;-) ).
>
--
It has been said before but warrants repeating, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

Bob Sharp
On Line Technology Support Specialist
The Learning Space: Right In Class Project
A Learning Space (U.S. West/NEA) Grant Cadre Member
http://www.learningspace.org/about_ls/vitae/sharp/rsharp.html
Newly elected Middle School Representative to the NCCE Board
Recipient of The First Annual Learning Space Achievement Awards for Members

References: 
 >Re: what now? (From: Mark Robinson <email@hidden>)
 >Re: what now? (From: "O.Schmitt" <email@hidden>)



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