UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers

ps. i posted this first on UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers , Sorry about the double post


Hi guys,

I still have "microsoft windows" eyes so this unix freebsd stuff still looks very alien to me.

Yesterday I managed to install freebsd 5.1 on my dell notebook. And today I got Gnome 2.2 working. I have this problem I can only login to Gnome with my normal user account, and not with the "root" account, not sure why that is. Stuff like "GDM configurator" I cannot open with my normal user account. Maybe anyone knows why this is?

I read a few basics on freebsd and Gnome from the links you guys gave me but i am still not getting a few things. With windows i used to download this app , just double click on setup and it installs. I go to start programs, and there it is hehe.

With GNOME it's completely different. I tried to install GnomeICU (some kind of icq app) but it didn't work. I downloaded the gz file and extracted it in a new folder on my /home/username/downloads. The helpfile says just type install from the command line util or from the root type make install but nothing happens. I am not sure what to do when i extracted these apps. In windows you look for the setup.exe but what is it in unix.

One other thing. I installed Mozilla and it worked . One problem though. I can't find any shortcuts to mozilla. I would like to make a shortcut on my desktop or as a new panel next to the desktop panel on GNOME. I have no idea where to look at. When i open file manager and i enter an url, on the left of the file manager i get to see 2 options, open with mozilla, or open with another util...

Any help appreciated!


Dalma

noo...man you`re doing it all wrong...freebsd uses ports & packages system that makes isntalling new apps or upgradeing really easy...i recommend you to read freebsd handbook, you can find it on www.freebsd.org, or in your /usr/share/doc dir. Whole process about installing new app in freebsd is eg. pkg_add -r gimp or from ports cd /usr/ports/graphics/gimp1
; make install clean
it will fetch it from net and install it.
ports system is great :o)
i cannot help you with gdm part, cause i`m not using it, you can use gnome without it...

Login as a normal User and open a Terminal. Use the command "su" to become root. Then you can start GDM Configurator and set the option to login as root in Gnome.