I can not install anything on my Linux machine

ImmortalMatrixology wrote:

Hi guys.
I am totally new on Linux and I am using a CentOS Red Hat Linux Machine....My problem is that...I can not seem to be able to install anything. I have a tab called Applications and when expanding the menu, I get System Tool, then Terminal Window. I think that is where I should start my command line on installing.

But I have never installed anything on Linux before. I have my software Unzipped to my E:/ drive which is an external Hard-drive.

Can anyone please give me a step my step DUMMY help on how to Install software on this machine (i.e. SmartFoxServer)

Thank you in advance guys.

Well, you've decided to try Linux, so you're certainly NOT a DUMMY. Typically, the way to install software on Red Hat (incl. Fedora, CentOS, etc.) is via yum. For example, if you wanted to install nmap, you would open a Terminal (as you have done), su to root:

su -

then install nmap:

yum install nmap

To see all packages available in the repo, do

yum list available

Your specific package (SmartFoxServer) is probably not in the repos, so you'll have to install it manually. Sometimes that means recompiling from source, sometimes it means running an installer. Let's say you have downloaded the setup software in a file called SFSBASIC_linux_1.5.5.tar.gz. Here's what you'd do (in your terminal):

mkdir ~/src
cd ~/src/
tar zxvf /path/to/SFSBASIC_linux_1.5.5.tar.gz
cd SFSBASIC_linux_1.5.5
./install

You might need to be root for this installer, not sure how it all works...

As for accessing your external drive, it *should* have been done for you wnen you plugged it in (USB, I assume). If not, never fear. It is probably /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc. Look in dmesg, after you plug it in:

dmesg

Just look in that output from something related to sda, sdb. Also, you can look in /var/log/messages:

tail -f /var/log/messages

If the disk is, e.g., /dev/sda, the partitions would be /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2. Get a list of partitions, by doing (as root):

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Then try mounting the first partition you find with:

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /media

Now you should see your files in /media. So if your software was there, the above "tar" command might be:

tar zxvf /media/SFSBASIC_linux_1.5.5.tar.gz

Good luck and post your progress!

ImmortalMatrixology wrote:

[root@REMSSVR administrator]# yum install YUM

This command is literally trying to install a package named YUM - which does not exist. Keep in mind that Linux is case-sensitive (there is a package named yum of course...)

By the way, my folder is on the desktop...what route to I follow to get to it??

The files are probably in /home/administrator/Desktop, but let's just leave those files be, for now.

You don't need to copy files that are available via yum to a local directory. That is the whole idea of yum - it connects to a yum server on the internet, queries the list of packages available, and downloads and installs whatever package(s) you requested, including dependencies. Don't bother with those files you've downloaded for now, just try this, and report back what you get:

[administrator@REMSSVR ~]$ su
Password:
[root@REMSSVR administrator]# yum install nmap

E.g., this is what I get:

[root@mybox ~]# yum install nmap
Warning, could not load sqlite, falling back to pickle
Loading "fastestmirror" plugin
Setting up Install Process
Setting up repositories
rpmforge                                                             [1/2]
rpmforge                  100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00     
atrpms                                                               [2/2]
atrpms                    100% |=========================| 2.2 kB    00:00     
Determining fastest mirrors
Reading repository metadata in from local files
rpmforge  : ################################################## 10611/10611
atrpms    : ################################################## 1708/1708
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
--> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait.
---> Downloading header for nmap to pack into transaction set.
nmap-4.20-1.el4.rf.i386.r 100% |=========================| 5.4 kB    00:00     
---> Package nmap.i386 2:4.20-1.el4.rf set to be updated
--> Running transaction check

Dependencies Resolved

=============================================================================
 Package                 Arch       Version          Repository        Size 
=============================================================================
Installing:
 nmap                    i386       2:4.20-1.el4.rf  rpmforge          842 k

Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install      1 Package(s)         
Update       0 Package(s)         
Remove       0 Package(s)         
Total download size: 842 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/1): nmap-4.20-1.el4.rf 100% |=========================| 842 kB    00:00     
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing: nmap                         ######################### [1/1] 

Installed: nmap.i386 2:4.20-1.el4.rf
Complete!

Of course, if your box is not directly connected to the internet, we'll have to do it another way.

If it is, but the above command fails, it may be you just need your "repos" set up - just try the command and post what you get.

almost any linux distribution has its own package manager,like yum in RedHat,
apt-get in ubuntu,pacman in ArchLinux,etc. it makes installing easier.of course
you can use them.but every linux distribution support source installing,it means
you must download the source code and compile the code,it is more complicated
and takes more time,but it is a common way.