Have open suse 11.2 on a laptop, everything works fine except installing software i’ve downloaded. trying to use RPM downloads. finally something worked, connected to internet and software manager, Yast, decided to work right, got a bunch of stuff i needed( open office, etc) but cannot find my downloads in yast, installer. how do i add, to installer? I have tried many times in vain to install via Make and make install, etc commands, with different how to’s from different sites with no luck. any help will be appreciated.I am new to linux, but willing to learn.
You shouldn’t download packages yourself but instead use repositories, this way you assure that the packages fit to your distribution and version.
Also avoid compiling sourcecode and installing them via ‘make install’, sooner or later it will ruin your system unless you have a very good idea what you are doing.
What are repositories? i see them in the drop down menu in the software manager, do i just search for repositories for opensuse11.2? My computer already found opensuse 11.2 oss and non-oss. is that it or will others come out, is it updated? how does this work?
You might benefit from reading this
It will explain a lot of useful tips in getting started on your Linux path.
The standard repositories containing RPM packages for openSUSE are listed here:
Package repositories - openSUSE
Many third-party repos exist as well:
Additional package repositories - openSUSE
For new users, it is suggested that only the packman repo (primarily for multimedia) be added, as some of these in concurrent use can cause unintended conflicts on your system.
So stick with oss, non-oss, update, and packman repos to start with as explained here:
In addition to the advice given to you in the above posts (which you should read and study first !! ), you may also find this useful to read AFTER you have read the above Links/advice. openSUSE software installation hints - openSUSE Forums