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Red Hat 9 Question (I'm a noob!)

J

Joony

Diamond Member
I'm installing it as we speak 🙂. Some questions:

Is there something like "Red Hat Update"? (Windows Update Equivalent)
Are drivers important in Linux? or is it fine to use whatever was already installed with it?
What can I do with Linux? (i'm sorry if this is too broad of a question!)
Are there any good tutorial sites for using Red Hat?
What's a good Java IDE for linux?

thats all I can think of, more questions to come! 😀
 
Is there something like "Red Hat Update"? (Windows Update Equivalent)
Click to expand...
Yeah, redhat network, which costs money. Welcome to the joy that is redhat.
rolleye.gif
You can always install apt-rpm and use that to update, I'm not sure if you'll get the same updates as rhn does, though.

Are drivers important in Linux? or is it fine to use whatever was already installed with it?
Click to expand...
You might end up messing with video drivers if you want to play games, other than that you can generally just leave it alone.

What can I do with Linux? (i'm sorry if this is too broad of a question!)
Click to expand...
What do you want to do?

Are there any good tutorial sites for using Red Hat?
Click to expand...
Best places to start are tldp.org and google.

What's a good Java IDE for linux?
Click to expand...
Bah, I forget the name.. Pretty sure there is a Java-oriented one, plus there are other more general ones like kdevelop, emacs, etc.
 
Originally posted by: Joony
Hmm, I don't know what to do with Red Hat actually...

It is taking quite a while to install though...

http://www.kernel.org/ <- What is this for?
Click to expand...

Well, maybe you'll eventually figure out what you want to do. 🙂 I first tried linux just for the hell of it, but now I'm a total nerd because of that first step I took.

Also note that redhat will be installing a few gigs of software, so it will take more time than just a bare bones OS install.

And kernel.org is where you download kernel source, if you want to compile your own. Mostly a waste of time for most people nowadays though.
 
Originally posted by: Joony
Same here, trying it for the hell of it 🙂

what is a kernel source for?
Click to expand...

Well, ok, any piece of software starts its life as source code that programmers write. To actually use the program, you compile it into a binary, which you can then actually run and use. On windows, you tend to always use precompiled software, but on linux that's not always true. Since most of the software is open source, you have access to the source code itself, and you can compile it yourself. With the kernel, since it's such a low-level thing, you can't really configure it once it's compiled; instead, you edit the build options before you compile it. After you compile it, you then have a built kernel with only the options you picked when you configured it.

But you can also build certain options as "modules", which can be dynamically loaded/unloaded depending on whether you actually need them. So your default kernel will have modules for all kinds of hardware that you don't have, and those modules won't be loaded, since it's pointless to load drivers for hardware that isn't in use. Open up a terminal and run "lsmod" and you'll see exactly which modules are loaded - you might recognize some of them as referring to the hardware you're using. Like mine right now lists:

usbkbd 3644 0 (unused)
hid 19524 0 (unused)
usbmouse 2300 0 (unused)
usb-ohci 19656 0 (unused)
usbcore 65408 1 [usbkbd hid usbmouse usb-ohci]
sg 33612 0
nvram 5332 0 (unused)
loop 9976 0 (unused)
sr_mod 14584 0
ide-scsi 8880 0
scsi_mod 96468 3 [sg sr_mod ide-scsi]
8139too 15848 1
mii 2560 0 [8139too]
es1371 31784 3
ac97_codec 11080 0 [es1371]
soundcore 4356 4 [es1371]
mga 97088 1
agpgart 19456 3
joydev 5920 0 (unused)
keybdev 2080 0 (unused)
mousedev 4376 1
input 3776 0 [usbkbd hid usbmouse joydev keybdev mousedev]
rtc 7644 0 (autoclean)
unix 17256 117 (autoclean)
 
Dang! Windows have spoiled me 🙁

It's almost done installing! (after a whole hour!)

so should I update to this latest kernel? How would I go about even updating it? so I will have some downloaded file and I have no idea what to do with it 🙁
 
Originally posted by: Joony
Dang! Windows have spoiled me 🙁

It's almost done installing! (after a whole hour!)

so should I update to this latest kernel? How would I go about even updating it? so I will have some downloaded file and I have no idea what to do with it 🙁
Click to expand...

No, just leave it. No reason to mess with the kernel, generally.
 
Originally posted by: Joony
I see...question:

How would I perform Tip2 in: http://anyweb.kicks-ass.net/linux/d600/

where do I type that stuff?
Click to expand...

Just open up a terminal. There should be a launcher for one somewhere, they're a staple of most linux desktops. In fact, the only thing that's *not* a terminal on my entire 18 desktops 🙂P) is firebird.

And it says to use vi, but you probably won't want to do that right away. Try pico instead. If you want to learn vi, run "vimtutor" in a terminal, or run vi and then type ":vimtutor".
 
I might also suggest a book along the lines of "Linux for Dummies" or some other users guide to Linux. Seriously, so you can get a handle on how applications are compiled, how the filesystem works, what a kernel does, etc.. That way you won't be totally lost, asking random question after random question. Linux has a funky learning curve; using the GUI is super simple, but getting under the hood with the terminal window and messing with configuration files and whatnot can get daunting fast. Have fun, and try not to get frustrated too quickly. Keep in mind that Linux is indeed different from Windows, and for good reasons.
 
IDE for java - Netbeans / Eclipse (type www.xxx.org , xxx being either of the two and you should find them)
Btw, congratulations... you have reached the 'asking questions' phase. Very soon, you will reach the 'experimenting' phase, followed by 'screw-up and more questions' phase.... 🙂
 
Hmm, that tutorial for vi is interesting...

So i'm installing this "XFree86 4.3.0" for Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI). When i'm installing XFree86, I get alot of "Could not create file, Permission Denied" Yeah...How do I install this?
 
vi equaks the devil! so frustrating but after a while it become more natural. I hate how you can't use your arrow keys.
 
Originally posted by: Joony
Hmm, that tutorial for vi is interesting...

So i'm installing this "XFree86 4.3.0" for Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI). When i'm installing XFree86, I get alot of "Could not create file, Permission Denied" Yeah...How do I install this?
Click to expand...

are you logged in as root? you have to type in "su" and then your root password to install stuff
 
DOH!

[root@localhost thingy]# XFree86 -configure

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.

what do I do? 🙁
 
yeah...I rebooted and got the usual Red Hat login scren BUT!

theres some console thing on the bottom right corner.
So I login using the graphical one and I get this weird xsm: Default with buttons like Client List, Session Log, Checkpoint, and Shutdown. I also get a terminal screen. What did I do?
 
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