I want to dump microsoft... FOREVER!

I have gotten to the point in linux where I understand the file structure, and I can do basic things like i could in windows... Hell with wine i can even run a good deal of windows applications.
BUT I still need a little help. I am afraid to go to other forums, because while the linux people are brilliant.... they can be pretty rude. Can some one please explain to me:

The differance between *.tgz and *.tar.gz
How to use *.tar.gz
The differance between a Mandrake RPM and a Redhat RPM
How can I configure my network settings in mandrake

I also am trying to install drivers for my gforce 4 video card. I downloaded a driver and i got some kind of *.run file... Am i supposed to just run that in the console somehow?

Im only asking because i love you guys! thanks.

A .tgz is the same as a .tar.gz file. It's just the file name that's different. Both of them are a tar archive, compressed with the Gzip program. It's somewhat like a ZIP file, but the other way around (a compressed archive, instead of an archive of compressed files).

To extract them, you can do it from the command like:

Code:

---

tar -xzf name_of_archive.tar.gz

---

You can usually do it with GUI apps as well. Konqueror will open them just fine, for example.

A Mandrake and a Redhat RPM are actually the same thing. However, Mandrake is set up differently to Redhat. That means that a program set up for Mandrake might not work on Redhat, and a program set up for Redhat might not work on Mandrake.

Ah, Nvidia drivers. *Run that '.run' file by typing 'sh' in front of it to execute it (and do it as 'root' in console). *Btw, which distro are you using?

yeah, .tgz and .tar.gz files are the same. There's one distro (Slackware) with a package system based on those .tgz (you can install them with swaret, slapt-get, pkgtool or the tar method. Perhaps the difference it's that the .tgz it's usually used for binary packages)
rpms can be installed with urpmi or 'rpm -i --nodeps package.rpm'


about the nvidia drivers, just do from a system.console (Ctrl+Alt+FX where X it's a number, to change from graphical to framebuffer console):

Code:

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# sh package.run

---

Then edit your /etc/X11/XFree86Config (or XFree86Config-4 or xorg.conf ), depending of your distro. Put

Code:

---

Driver "nvidia"

---

in your graphics driver section and

Code:

---

Option "Logo" "false"

---

if you don't want to see the nvidia logo ;)

I also needed to enable the irq for vga in the mobo bios

Another note about the nvidia driver: *you might want to unmodule "rivafb" if your driver install warns you about it.

"modprobe -r rivafb"

EDIT: Course, bender, he would have to do more than put "driver NVIDIA" in there ;) He would consult his driver's readme anyway ;)

"etc/share/docs/NVIDIA-GLX.txt" (or something like that) will be where the readme will be located (I think).

hey again, its been a while, I have figured a lot out just by using slackware. contrary to the name slackware is not a distro slackers and novices can use. a *.tgz i learned is like a redhat, mandrake, etc *.rpm for slackware. A great universal manager called kpackager can take care of them all.

sources are easy to compile, first you open the terminal and change to the directory of the source,
./configure
make
make install

I can easily manage my hardware by editing the fstabs file located in /etc
I can run quite a few windows apps almost flawlessly with wine.

Why was a using windows again?

I am having one small problem actually. I have installed the nvidia drivers before and it worked fine. Now when i try to run the installer it displays some kind of error saying I lack binutils or ld is not in the right path. Never have had this problem till now.

I should also like to note that if anyone has a problem getting their network running (like me :) ) I will be happy to explain how to get it to work!

1. First use the terminal and run "netconfig"

2. give your computer a name and a "domain name" and skip the next thing

3. Finish netconfig and graphicly browse over to "/etc/rc.d"

4. open rc.inet1.conf with some kind of text editor and under eth0 make sure USE_DHCP[0] says yes.

5. scroll down to the bottem where it says
# Default gateway IP address: and plug in your gateway address in the ""

optional 6. to avoid rebooting double click rc.inet1 and rc.inet2 in the /etc/rc.d/ directory.

that took me a while to figure out. =D

Countrary to popular belief, you will not be able to break away from Windows completely. Your favorite applications will be so much easier to use just by loading up Windows, counterparts for those programs will be time consuming to find, and alot of things will be much more easier to use in Windows if you haven't been raised using Linux.

Yeah, I use Slack too. I used to log on just to program, but the only reasons I log onto Linux now is to only play Wolfenstein ET or MOH: Allied Assault. AA on Linux has some issues, I warn thee.

Every once in a while, when i have a network issue or something like that I find myself longing for my windows os.... but so far everything is working fine and dandy... But just because you said that i decided to duelboot windows so I can play some games with better support. UT2004 runs better than it did on windows though... WOW