[SOLVED] nice operating system... but...

I've installed ver 7 of this operating system, one of my main reasons is of course...

that's right, it runs exe files
I have to admit, I'm at my wits end with ms windows, seems everything rolls around the almighty buck, and is only getting worse. I am a strong user and lover of the office program, in fact I use the 2010 version of msoffice.
Now I'm continually prompted to upgrade, and to upgrade is to not own, but to rent, which is lame.
It's not like MS is not wealthy enough, now they rent, and as the years have come and gone, seems like all software makers are doing the same, for example "nortons".

Anyways, to get to the chase ... I am obviously new to this "Linux" stuff, but due to a good friend who owns his own internet company, and has been using linux or some other style and for years telling me ... "Chuck, stop paying the monopolizing companies their money, and get onboard with the world wide users of redhat products"

Well here I am, tried SUSE v13 ... to buggy for me, for one thing it took over 3 hrs to install, and that was after downloading the original 4.3 gig iso file.
Then I found "Robolinux" and of course this one ... "Zorin".
I have to admit, this is quite smooth, and the office program it comes with, seems to work well with MS extension.

My problem is of course, my lack of knowledge with this/these operating systems, for example....

I downloaded a simple program so that I can right to my USB stick, but after downloading it, and finding out its a .bin file, well when double clicked, it asks in another window, for a program to open it ... ... ???? is my question.
How do I open it, did a little research, and read to open "console" and then type in ... well I forgot that long sentence by now, will have to look it up again. Does'nt matter, I can not for the life of me, find "console" I'm figuring thats the same as "dos" window in microslouth operating systems.

If someone has a helpful answer, I'd appreciate it

Thanks for reading

Chuck

Console is known as "terminal". You can open it by pressing ctrl+alt+T (or find same in zorin menu).

Bin files can be exectuted with double click but they have to be made executable first. So, right click on the file > properties > permissions tab and tick the box that says "allow executing as program".

You can then double click it to run it or you can drag n' drop it in terminal and press <enter>.

Thank You madvinegar... I did as you mentioned, ctrl+alt+T and dragged the file into it
Of course it worked and now I have a command learned, and many more to go.
I will learn to do more research before asking on here, because I'm sure a lot more people have come across the same problems as I, as a newbee

Again thanks

Chuck

When downloading a program you will not be able to natively execute it from the get go.

This is for security reasons.

Assuming it is a linux application, you should be able to open terminal using [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [T] then navigate to the folder using the command "cd <folder>" replacing "<folder>" with the location of the file. then last run the chmod +x ./filename once again replacing the "filename" with the name o the file. It should look something like this.

Code:

cd ./Downloads/
chmod -x ./filename.ext


Then you will likely be able to execute the program via your preferred execution method ( eg double click )
Hope this helps!

Well Linx, that will be something I have to learn to remember.
I assume chmod means "command"
what's +x mean?

cd ./downloads/ obviously like dos is change directory to downloads
Whats the "." for? does it mean mother drive?

eitehr way, I"ll figure it out, have to find a book or pdf file with information.

Thanks for the input

I believe the dot in the example is an error. "Downloads" is not a hidden folder. So the correct syntax would be:

Code:

cd ~/Downloads

or

Code:

cd /home/$USER/Downloads

When there is a dot (.) in front of the folder/file name, the folder/file is hidden and you need to press ctrl+H to view it.

chmod means change mode. You use it when you want to make a file executable or change its rights so as everyone can read/write it, or only the root user etc.
For example:

Code:

chmod a+x filename

makes the file executable.

Code:

chmod 777 filename

changes the files rights so as everyone can read/write it.

I would suggest that comfortable with the command line if you want to continue using Zorin or other Linux distro's. The command line is a powerful tool and you can get a lot of stuff done faster by using it. Feel free to ask for help when you need it. There are a multitude of forums, chat rooms and groups that are happy to help you out.

Appreciate the help ...
I'm presently looking for a pdf file or weblink with information on zorin.
I agree with you Grizzly, knowing commands is better and also more direct, but remember, I'm from using microsoft since the mid 90's when 6.1 was out, so I guess you can say that I'm use to exe for files. simply a click and away the program goes
I've installed wine, but it is not compatible with a lot of programs, for example, deluge torrent program. I've still not been able to figure out the method for using the terminal program...
For example as madvinegar has shown me for some commands, it looks like instead of a "c" drive, it's "home"
I dont understand why the $user after that, figure that's the name for zorin directory, am I right?
and then after that is regular directory structure naming... I believe.

Instead of cd c:/mydocuments/pictures c:/mydocuments in dos to go back on directory, your using cd /$user/home/downloads then I assume if you want to go back one directory You just input cd /$user/home/

I'll figure it out eventually, it's quite intimidating, but excitable at the same time

Thanks

$USER is the name of the user.
For example my username is mike so the command would be

cd /home/mike/Downloads

The root of the system is the forward slash i.e. "/". This is where your system is set.
The home directory is where your user's data and program settings are stored.

For example your installed applications are located in:

/usr/share/appications


Also - VERY IMPORTANT.
Stop using your mind as if you are using windows. Stop thinking that you can use your windows programs in Linux. Linux is not a free windows OS.
As soon as you can understand that, it will be much easier for you to find your way around linux.

Your options are:
1) Most probably the program you are looking is also available for linux. For example, Deluge, is available for linux! So, you just install the linux version and not the windows version through wine. See here: http://dev.deluge-torrent.org/wiki/Inst ... nux/Ubuntu
You can install it easily via the software center.
2) Find an alternative native linux program to what you were using in windows. Most of the times it might be better than the windows program.

Keep this page in mind: http://awesomecow.com/
Write the windows program you were using and it will provide linux alternatives.

In debian based linux distributions, the ".deb" files are like the ".exe" in windows.

chuckbattams

[ Command Line Resources ]

Link : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommandLineResources

Sorry for the slow reply, have been busy recently.

I believe the dot in the example is an error. "Downloads" is not a hidden folder. So the correct syntax...

The dot is to explicitly say current directory and it isn't just the dot

Code:

cd ./

would be to change to the current directory. Some programs will look in all locations listed in your PATH env variable before searching your local directory. It just makes it a little faster, although, I don't think cd will check you PATH. just habit I guess. Hidden filenames just start with a . so .something would be hidden but ./something is in the current directory and not hidden, and ./.ssh is in the current directory and not hidden.

I assume chmod means "command"
what's +x mean?

nope, chmod does not mean command, I can't remember exactly what it does mean, something like "change mode" I think. the +x means to add execute permissions to the file.

Code:

chmod +x ./filename

will make add execute permissions to a file named filename.You can check the permissions of a file by running

Code:

ls -l ./

and that will result in something like this.

Code:

live@zorin-os:~$ ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  60 Jul 29 02:56 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Music
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Public
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live 220 Jul 29 02:56 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 live live  40 Jul 29 07:58 Videos


where the "drwxr-xr-x" is the files permissions.
d = directory
owner
r = read
w = write
x = execute
group
r = read
w = write
x = group
others
r = read
w = write
x = execute

(other may be all, I can't remember)
if you see a "-" then that means the file does not have that permission. so assuming you are the owner a file with -rwx------ would be a file(not a directory) that has read write and execute permissions, however, noone else will be able to read, write or execute the file.

Personally I prefer to use the # method ( there are some cases where it doesn't work read about chmod special permission for more details ) but it would require a little more thought and a bit more explanation. Basically, read is given a value of 4, write is given a value of 2 and execute is given a value of 1. and you would take the active permissions and add them together. So, just read permissions would be "4" but read and execute would be "5", and read write and execute would be "7" etc. This is seperated into 3 groups, owner, group, other/all (one or the other I don't remember which) so ... 777 ould give everyone read write and execute permission, and 755 would give owner all permissions and everyone else would have read and execute ( like for a script you wrote ). or 622 would be owner can read and write, and everyone else can only write ( like a log file ) so to change the permissions it would be something like

Code:

chmod 777 ./filename

would give everyone all the access to the file.



remember anytime you want to know more about a linux command there is ALOT of docs to be able to assist you, several on your computer ( most the time ) Usually this will answer all the questions you have.

Code:

man command
info command
command --help
command -?


I've installed wine, but it is not compatible with a lot of programs, for example, deluge torrent program.

This is also the program I use for torrents, and there is a native linux version here is the simple install (copy and paste in terminal)

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install deluge

any questions I missed? I believe most of them I have answered have also been answered by other members here, however, I hope this helps

Thanks Mike, and yes Your right, get microslouth out of my mind and way of thinking.
I appreciate the time and info Your giving me, I'm going to check out the web shortcuts that You and the Moderator left me. Gives me something to read and learn
I've found the "software centre" in the menu .. cool, just that everytime I try to install some programs, I get a lot of pop up windows saying needs more "something or other" installed with it. When I click "ok" just hangs there...

Well this is BAD...
Yesterday installed zorin #7 on my laptop, was using the live version.
Installed it, then did the reboot, used it yesterday, woke up today and turned on the computer and was greeted with...
"NTLDR is missing"
press any key to restart.

So I do, and this keeps on coming up...
Anybody ever get this?

Chuck

Hi, What Windows system are you using? I would get yourself a copy of System Rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage) and Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/). I can't remember which one does it but one of the hard disk tools should pick up where your NTFS partition is and boot into it - if you are using Windows 7 would be a good time to create a System Repair Disc or ask a friend to make one - but it must be the same verision e.g, Pro 32-bit not Pro 64-bit etc. You should not be using Zorin 7 as it is no longer supported - you should be using Zorin 9!

@Swarfender
I do not have a windows install on the laptop, when I did it was win vista
When I went for the install, I let Zorin use the whole 240 gig hd

I downloaded the ver9 32 bit
used universal usb installer ver 1.9.5.4
This is being done on my mainframe win8 system...
Made my usb, but when I brought it over to my laptop, which is HP pavillion 2.2 ghz with 4 g ram
I got

SYSLINUX 4.07 EDD 2013-07-25 Copyright (C) 1994-2013 H. Peter Anvin et al
No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found!
boot: _

Do I have to input something?

Chuck

Hi, it looks like GRUB is messed up - I have used GRUB repair before without success on earlier versions of Zorin. I would be tempted to do a reinstallation. The fact that you got NTLDR missing suggests there is still some Windows partition on the drive - if you never want to put Windows back on there I would delete all partitions and start afresh - any reason you haven't used a DVD?

yes, the dvd on this laptop does not work, I do have a usb blueray on the main system, guess I could use that, guess Your suggesting that dvd is more stable then usb.

I did get the laptop to boot up again, your suggestion of windows partitions... I had a hd from a winxp laptop plugged into the usb, was trying to figure a way to format it and use it for storage of downloads and such.
So I unplugged it and zorin ver7 came back on. :0) Yay.

I am thinking of installing the ver 9 zorin though, like mentioned earlier, ver 7 does not have support anymore.

Chuck

if you don't mind reinstalling, then I would suggest botting of a live disk, and using gparted to format the drive and all of the partitions (it would be best to create a new partition table), and then try reinstalling.

I managed to get ver9 installed on my laptop, but it throws GPU errors after 5 minutes or so after the boot up.
It looks and runs good, well until the GPU, then the screen gets all muddled up, so I have to do a "hard boot" turn it off.
Can't figure out what the prob is, so I installed Solyd, using it at present time, it works fine, not as sweet as zorin, but it stays up.
Don't know how to get updates for the vid card, You know how?

Chuck

Geez, there was a lot of good tips in this thread. I'm just noting it for future reference myself

OOh ya... like I mentioned in my other post...

SUCCESS...

I can say searching in this news group, maybe a bit tedious, but eventually you can get some good information. I found a post by "wolfman" on "Updating Ubuntu Software & Repairing Broken Files (System)"
Did as he said, took a bit of trial and error, but finally ended up with success.

I love help, especially when it works

Chuck

Awesome, all that is left now is marking this as resolved.

Oh, not a prob RESOLVED!!!!