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Hello, I have recently become a user of Debian and linux in general. I have very limited experiance with linux and pretty much have NO clue what I am doing; however I am TRYING to learn...
I am very adapt with Windows so I do have a lot of computer knowledge; so please bare with me....
I have downloaded firefox to my desktop and now would like to install it. There is no "exe" file like there is with Windows so I would like some basics on how to install firefox. THANKS!
If you downloaded a file with the .deb extention then all you need to do is go to the command line and type:
dpkg -i <filename>
BUT! There is a better way then searching the net for a program and installing it by hand. Debian uses a package management system for .deb files. Open your menu to:
apps -> system -> synaptic
and do a search for the programs you want. Mark the programs you want for install and click the apply button.
I might bear with you. As for your suggestion, I don't think so...
I assume that you downloaded a file with a name something like firefox-1.5.0.6-tar.gz. Move that file into /opt/, then unpack it with tar xzf filename. you now have a new folder named /opt/firefox_something-or-other/. Inside that new folder is a file named firefox. That is your executable.
Well I have installed Firefox based on the suggested method of downloading it using the Synaptic Package Manager.
I also wanted to try the other way suggested; however I cannot create a new folder in the /opt area. How do I login as Root. It will not let me do so on the main screen. Is there a way to set my user so that he has rights to install programs and create folders in certain areas such as the /opt folder?
As for the "I might bear with you. As for your suggestion, I don't think so..." Sorry... I can't spell; thats why they invented spell checker... lol... And I really don't understand your "I don't think so"... I'm just trying to learn linux here....
You said "bare with me" and I said "I don't think so."
Get to a terminal prompt and enter su <enter>. You will be prompted to enter the root password. After doing so, you are root. Do whatever you need to do, then enter exit <enter> to become a user again. Whilst logged on as root, one of the things you want to do is chmod 777 /opt/ to give all users read-write-execute privileges in /opt/.
Scripts and binaries are both executables in Unix-speak. The shell script firefox is the one you want. (And when you examine the script, you will see that it invokes firefox-bin.)
