Cornellius Posted April 1, 2004 Report Share Posted April 1, 2004 I'm on a 56K modem, so no big downloads for me :). I tried Mandrake cause people told me it was the best Windows to Linux distro. So I bought a french Linux magazine that comes with 3 CDs each time a distro is upgraded. (By the way, is anyone speaking French here ? I am) The thing is that I'm a beginner at linux and I've compiled only 10 or 15 apps like xmms or x-chat but never a desktop environnement. So, since Mdk 10 Final Edition (I know, I'm not sure about the name) won't have Gnome 2.6, I want to download it and compile, but I don't know if it's hard or not. - About the Kernel's RPMs, does the kernel is installed by itself or I still need to compile it ? - Are there special sources I should use for building Gnome or KDE ? Or I should use the normal one one they're websites ? - Is the a webpage I that every Mandrake user should know about ? - Are there any good docs for Linux and Mandrake out there ? Thanks a lot ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted April 1, 2004 Report Share Posted April 1, 2004 rpm's are software packages that are ready to install, sort of. You may find that when you try to install a particular package, that it "depends" upon another package in order to run. So, use a tool in any console called urpmi. urpmi will tell you what depends you need and will even fetch them if they are available in its database. Special rpm's called source rpm's are one way to compile an rpm for ytou machine. They end in ---src.rpm. To compile with these use rpmbuild. Issue it with a switch --rebuild, looks like this "rpmbuild --rebuild xxx.xxx.src.rpm" Another file that is common is a tarball, ends in --tar.gz. These files require unpacking, which usually creates a directory and issuing some standard build commands, ./configure, make && make install. Both of the above might fail because of missing depends! You just have to look at the output and fetch what you need. You are already looking at the best webpage for Mandrake Linux, and linux in general! B) I suggest you pick something to compile and come back with specific questions about that process. You'll catch on quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valavien Posted April 1, 2004 Report Share Posted April 1, 2004 (edited) This site is a great resource for starting out. The faq section is especially useful. One possible good thing to do is go here: http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php this will give you locations where the Mandrake Install programme looks for rpm's and dependencys. I don't know about anyone else but using a 56k modem would be a real pain! Edited April 1, 2004 by Valavien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopy Posted April 1, 2004 Report Share Posted April 1, 2004 IF you would just like to be running the newer gnome 2.6, I would just wait a few days as I am sure somebody will build the rpms that will be much easier to install. Compiling a desktop environment can become quite a project for a "newbie". IF it is for a learning experience, then I would start with compiling a smaller application... maybe the latest k3b ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brancalessio Posted April 1, 2004 Report Share Posted April 1, 2004 What distro are you going to install? Anyway, if you are going to install Mandrake Linux 9.2, remember the problems with LG cdroms... http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/lgerrata.php3 http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/92errata.php3 This is just to prevent some nasty things... Bye! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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