Total Neewbie needs help!!!

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I just have little experience with Linux. I played around with another distributor.. The Ub..t..u...13.04.. But I changed to RHEL and I am afraid I might have to start learning curve all over again .

Here is my most immediate thing that troubles me... I can't get to install any application with a functional icon in the graphic GUI... For example, I downloaded Dropbox.. Although installation says that it proceeded ok, but I see no icon to start-up from the graphical desktop. Flash and Adobe Reader... I just don't know what I am doing wrong. Very confused figuring out the difference between RPM and YUM and BIN files and how they are properly placed , which folder and how to extract and install.

Please, your help will be greately appreciated.!!

jecalderon's picture
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AS Active Contributor 132 points
24 October 2013 6:10 AM

Hi Jose!

rpm is the format, in which packages are delivered in RedHat, as well as the tool to manage them (/bin/rpm). Its Ubuntu-equivalent is dpkg / .deb. From man 8 rpm:

   rpm is a powerful Package Manager, which can be used to build, install,
   query, verify, update, and erase individual software packages.  A pack-
   age  consists  of an archive of files and meta-data used to install and
   erase the archive files. The meta-data includes  helper  scripts,  file
   attributes,  and  descriptive  information about the package.  Packages
   come in two varieties: binary packages, used to encapsulate software to
   be  installed,  and  source  packages,  containing  the source code and
   recipe necessary to produce binary packages.

yum is the more convenient way to handle packages in RedHat, by downloading them directly from the according repositories before installing them. It's also used to update or remove the stuff, you installed this way. Its Ubuntu-equivalent is apt or aptitude.

So called bin-files usually are pre-compiled binaries which are executed by making them executable via chmod +x filename and then just call them from your shell via ./filename. Often the little programm file (man 1 file) can give you an idea, what type of file you are dealing with ...

RedHat gives you a lot of free documentation to further educate yourself on their products.

Kind Regards,
Andreas

jecalderon's picture Active Contributor 110 points
24 October 2013 10:58 AM

Thank you for taking time to answear. Well formated response. But I still have no clue as to why after executing rpm over aspeciic package, no executable icon appears in the desktop or in within the main desktop menus.

AS Active Contributor 132 points
24 October 2013 1:15 PM

The placement of icons on your desktop or in a certain menu depends on the DM (Desktop-Manager) you are using (KDE, Gnome or XFCE are common examples) and what the RPM (?) you installed is able / willing to add here. I assume, the Dropbox you were referring to, didn't come from a official RedHat-Repository?

I guess the Fedora-RPM from the Dropbox-HP might work for you. The name of the package also suggests, that it's supposed to work with Gnome / Nautilus.

jecalderon's picture Active Contributor 110 points
25 October 2013 7:45 PM

Ok.. Thanks.. I did not realized that the Desktop-Manager could change from one to another. This is certainly not something a Windows user ever experience before. IS there a link to who or to where is a official RedHat-Repository?

For example, I need to install CUDA compiler in my RHEL, where shall I go first?

Jose E. Calderon

james.radtke@siriusxm.com's picture Guru 6863 points
25 October 2013 10:04 PM

Jose - when you register your Workstation to the Red Hat Network, it will populate the repo information for you at that time. Afterwards you can then add additional channels (optional, supplementary, etc..) There are also 3rd-party repos that work with RHEL, but are not Red Hat supported. Search for EPEL - their repo attempts to be fully compatible with all the Red Hat repos. RPMFUSION is a good repo also.

David Powles's picture Red Hat 25369 points
28 October 2013 10:52 AM

Jose, some general advice unrelated to your issue, but something you should keep in mind for next time - you'll probably receive assistance faster if you include more details in your Discussion title. Rather than just "Total newbie needs help", try to include some keywords for the issue eg Desktop, Dropbox, installation, YUM, etc. Adding tags and product information to your post will help too!

jecalderon's picture Active Contributor 110 points
29 December 2013 11:45 PM

Thanks David.. I will close this session and start again with a relevant subjet title. Thanks again for everything.

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