Noob noob noob!!! Help please

[satnav08]

First of all I would like to say hi to everyone.

Now, I used Arch 2 years ago. It was great **BUT **after I finished my custom build something happened or I did something and I lost the OS and almost all my files. It was a mess. After that I went back to Windows. Now I am studying to be a developer and most of the quality tutorials out there are for either Mac or Linux. Opensuse is my choice for linux. I am running it in Virtual Box and that will be the case for a month or so to get use to it properly. My Opensuse version openSUSE-12.3-i586.

The problems I am facing ;

1. I have forgotten how to get packages. I remember using a command that I think is unique to every distro and for Suse its zypper but the problem is I forgot how I found out the names of the packages. I know the install/remove command but I also forgot the get command. If you could help with that it would be great.

2. I though about using Yast but when I open it up Yast2 hangs and I just can’t terminate it.

3. Does the documentation has enough material in it to help me become proficient with opensuse.

4. Developer tools for Opensuse. I am sure someone here is a developer. Is vi good. I am learning vi but its really challenging. Is it really that good or is that all hipster ********. Could you tell me which editor is good for developers for Linux?

5. How the hell do I update my applications. I can’t update Firefox and therefore I can’t run Firebug. What about Chrome? Why does everybody talk about Chromium and not Chrome. Do Chrome extensions work on Chromium?

6. I tried to intall opensuse 9 months ago but something happened to the bootloader. Its still there in my system. I don’t even touch it because the last time I did that my Windows installation got corrupted. Would it be safe to delete it using EasyBCD?

[satnav08]

First this happens and it gets stuck there
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o605/Mavs201/updating_zps74516f4c.jpg

Then this happens and I can’t terminate Yast2

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o605/Mavs201/updating2_zpsa31d7efa.jpg

[satnav08]

It says after a period of inactivity,

“This session is locked by user”

NO ITS NOT. I know Suse developers have nothing to do with this bug but is there a fix?

[deano_ferrari]

@satnav08

First of all I would like to say hi to everyone.

Welcome to the forums. Slow down… It takes time and patience to learn.

The problems I am facing ;

1. I have forgotten how to get packages. I remember using a command that I think is unique to every distro and for Suse its zypper but the problem is I forgot how I found out the names of the packages. I know the install/remove command but I also forgot the get command. If you could help with that it would be great.

2. I though about using Yast but when I open it up Yast2 hangs and I just can’t terminate it.

If YaST hangs, it may be that another package manager (eg Apper) is running, and you may need to terminate it first.

3. Does the documentation has enough material in it to help me become proficient with opensuse.

Probably not on its own, but we’re here to help, and there’s lots of other good info out there if you care to search.
http://activedoc.opensuse.org/book/opensuse-123-start-up
http://www.tweakhound.com/2013/03/25/opensuse-12-3-tips-tricks-and-tweaks/

5. How the hell do I update my applications. I can’t update Firefox and therefore I can’t run Firebug. What about Chrome? Why does everybody talk about Chromium and not Chrome. Do Chrome extensions work on Chromium?

I use YaST (GUI) or zypper (CLI), but I guess you want to run the latest version. Subscribe to (add and enable) the appropriate repo

http://en.opensuse.org/Additional_package_repositories#Mozilla

then you should be able to update to recent builds without issue.

[wolfi323]

@satnav08

1. I have forgotten how to get packages. I remember using a command that I think is unique to every distro and for Suse its zypper but the problem is I forgot how I found out the names of the packages. I know the install/remove command but I also forgot the get command. If you could help with that it would be great.

With “get command” you mean package search I suppose?
“zypper se xxx” or “zypper se -s xxx”
zypper has online help included, just run “zypper help” or “zypper help command” for further options.

2. I though about using Yast but when I open it up Yast2 hangs and I just can’t terminate it.

Apparently it hangs when trying to refresh the repos.
Do you have a working internet connection?
Does “sudo zypper ref” in a terminal window work?

4. Developer tools for Opensuse. I am sure someone here is a developer. Is vi good. I am learning vi but its really challenging. Is it really that good or is that all hipster ********. Could you tell me which editor is good for developers for Linux?

Well, there is no vi in openSUSE. You mean vim I guess? (vim=“vi improved”)
Yes it is good, but it at least needs getting used to.

That said, I wouldn’t want to write large programs with it.

There are lot other good (and maybe easier to use) editors though. Emacs f.e.
Or as you seem to use KDE, try Kate or KWrite for a start.

There are also IDE’s available, like KDevelop and Eclipse.

5. How the hell do I update my applications. I can’t update Firefox and therefore I can’t run Firebug.
   “zypper up” as already mentioned.
   But the question is whether this will work, as YaST hangs. They both use the same underlying code.

[QUOTE]What about Chrome? Why does everybody talk about Chromium and not Chrome. Do Chrome extensions work on Chromium?

Chromium is the open source version of Chrome. It is mainly the same, but doesn’t include some proprietary stuff.
Extensions should work the same I suppose.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#Chromium
The mentioned “built-in flash player” that’s missing in Chromium, is available for openSUSE on Packman though. The package is called “chromium-pepperflash”

6. I tried to intall opensuse 9 months ago but something happened to the bootloader. Its still there in my system. I don’t even touch it because the last time I did that my Windows installation got corrupted. Would it be safe to delete it using EasyBCD?

Normally (especially on a multiboot system) you should only have generic boot code in the MBR.
For this to work, the partition that contains the actual boot loader has to be marked as active (bootable).

Hard to say whether it would be safe to delete it without further information.
But EasyBCD is just a tool to edit Window’s boot menu entries, isn’t it?
So removing openSUSE there should not break/influence your Windows system.

@satnav08

It says after a period of inactivity,

“This session is locked by user”

NO ITS NOT. I know Suse developers have nothing to do with this bug but is there a fix?

This was a bug in KDE’s screen locker since 4.10. It showed the password dialog even when no password was needed.
It was fixed in 4.11.4, but that introduced another bug where it didn’t show the password dialog any more although a password was required under specific circumstances (mainly after resume from sleep).

Even the second bug should be fixed by now though.

The standard update repo contains kdebase4-workspace-4.11.9 where all this is fixed, so you just need to install all updates.

@deano_ferrari

If YaST hangs, it may be that another package manager (eg Apper) is running, and you may need to terminate it first.

This doesn’t seem to be the case here.
YaST would pop-up a dialog stating that another package manager is running. It should not just hang.

[hcvv]

Hello and again welcome here.

While deano_ferrari is trying to help you out, allow me to give some advice on posting here.

First thing is of course to use the best fitting forum within these forums. My idea is that you managed that allright.

Second thing is to make a good short, but descriptive title for your thread. The title you used says nothing about your problem and is thus bad advertsing. People here are all openSUSE users like you. They try to help in their spare time. But even spare time has it’s limits. Thus people here may glance through the titles of new posts to see if there is something they feel they are qualified. To be honest “Noob noob noob!!! Help please” would ask for a qualified psycholigist of which we have few here.

When you are interested in making good technical problem descriptions and or questions, feel free to read a bit of http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[deano_ferrari]

This doesn’t seem to be the case here.
YaST would pop-up a dialog stating that another package manager is running. It should not just hang.

The OP’s description was too vague to know. It will also do that too (display pop-up) when a connection is not available for example.

[wolfi323]

@deano_ferrari

The OP’s description was too vague to know. It will also do that too (display pop-up) when a connection is not available for example.

Yes.

But that warning about another package manager running should come earlier, not when it is refreshing the repos already.
It would be shown in the “Initializing target system” phase already. (see the screenshots)

[hcvv]

BTW, there is vi:

henk@boven:~> which vi
/usr/bin/vi
henk@boven:~>

I use it all the time (because being a conservative person).

[deano_ferrari]

@hcvv

BTW, there is vi:

henk@boven:~> which vi
/usr/bin/vi
henk@boven:~>

I use it all the time (because being a conservative person).

I have it installed as well, though seldom use it (but it is part of the vim package).

[wolfi323]

@hcvv

BTW, there is vi:

henk@boven:~> which vi
/usr/bin/vi
henk@boven:~>

I use it all the time (because being a conservative person).

But it is just a link to vim for compatibility (on a standard openSUSE installation at least):

wolfi@amiga:~> ls -l /usr/bin/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 10. Apr 12:13 /usr/bin/vi -> /bin/vim
wolfi@amiga:~> ls -l /bin/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 10. Apr 12:13 /bin/vi -> vim
wolfi@amiga:~> 

If you use it all the time, you should actually know this, as the greeter page still says “VIM - Vi IMproved”, even when you run “vi”…

[hcvv]

@wolfi323

But it is just a link to vim for compatibility (on a standard openSUSE installation at least):

wolfi@amiga:~> ls -l /usr/bin/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 10. Apr 12:13 /usr/bin/vi -> /bin/vim
wolfi@amiga:~> ls -l /bin/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 10. Apr 12:13 /bin/vi -> vim
wolfi@amiga:~> 

If you use it all the time, you should actually know this, as the greeter page still says “VIM - Vi IMproved”, even when you run “vi”…

I know all that, but you tell the OP here that it isn’t there. But it is. The way how it is implemented is unimportant. When the user calls it, it is there and eveything you know about vi for forty years does work. And I never see a greater page. When I call

vi file

I get the contents of file before my very nose (if file exists and …), like it did already for more thhn forty years.

[wolfi323]

@hcvv

I know all that, but you tell the OP here that it isn’t there. But it is. The way how it is implemented is unimportant. When the user calls it, it is there and eveything you know about vi for forty years does work.

Another one of this fruitless discussions?

vi and vim are not the same.

And vi does of course not do all the things that vim does. (vim didn’t exist 40 years ago)
The OP asked whether vi is good. Since there is no “vi” on openSUSE (but vim), it doesn’t matter how good vi is. Because you can only use vim, which is by design an “improved version” of vi.

But why are you again starting a discussion about such an unimportant thing?
I only stated to the OP that openSUSE includes vim instead of vi, which is a fact.
Then you insisted that vi is indeed included in openSUSE, and I only wanted to show you that your “vi” is in fact vim.

vim has more features than vi, so I thought this would be good to mention.

And I never see a greater page. When I call

vi file

I get the contents of file before my very nose (if file exists and …), like it did already for more thhn forty years.

But if you call “vi” (without a file) you get a greeter page, saying “VIM - Vi IMproved”. And if you call “help” in vi(m), it will also say “For Vim version 7.4”, “VIM - main help file” and so on.

[satnav08]

If YaST hangs, it may be that another package manager (eg Apper) is running, and you may need to terminate it first.

Did that to install Chrome. SOLVED

Probably not on its own, but we’re here to help, and there’s lots of other good info out there if you care to search.
http://activedoc.opensuse.org/book/o…e-123-start-up
http://www.tweakhound.com/2013/03/25…ks-and-tweaks/

Thanx for those. Currently reading documentation and will soon check those out.

I use YaST (GUI) or zypper (CLI), but I guess you want to run the latest version. Subscribe to (add and enable) the appropriate repo

http://en.opensuse.org/Additional_pa…tories#Mozilla

then you should be able to update to recent builds without issue.

Semi-solved I guess? This I think will take time. I have forgotten everything about repositories, libraries and what not. I can remember a little about them but will use Google to refresh my memory. So for now I am using Apper. Maybe I will remove firefox and then use apper to get the latest one.

[wolfi323]

@satnav08

Semi-solved I guess? This I think will take time. I have forgotten everything about repositories, libraries and what not. I can remember a little about them but will use Google to refresh my memory. So for now I am using Apper. Maybe I will remove firefox and then use apper to get the latest one.

You don’t have to add any additional repo for Firefox.
The latest Firefox is available in the standard update repo, so just install all updates (with Apper f.e. or YaST->Online Updates, or “zypper patch”/“zypper up”).

So, YaST worked after you killed Apper? Or does it still give you problems?
It doesn’t really matter which one you use (or the command line zypper), but you cannot use more than one at the same time.

[nrickert]

I’m just responding to a few of your issues.

@satnav08

I am learning vi but its really challenging. Is it really that good or is that all hipster ********. Could you tell me which editor is good for developers for Linux?

I use “vi” (which is really “vim”). For most purposes, it is my preferred editor.

Yes, I do recall that there was a steep learning curve.

Google for “vi cheat sheet”. Then print that out, and tape it to the wall near your computer. You’ll be up to speed fairly quickly.

@satnav08

What about Chrome?

Some people use Chrome. I think they download it from the google site. I use chromium, because it is in the standard repos. I’m not sure about extensions, and I am not using any. I mostly browse with “firefox” and “konqueror”.

@satnav08

I tried to intall opensuse 9 months ago but something happened to the bootloader. Its still there in my system. I don’t even touch it because the last time I did that my Windows installation got corrupted. Would it be safe to delete it using EasyBCD?

I’m only guessing here. My guess is that EasyBCD would remove from the Windows boot menu. I doubt that it would actually remove from opensuse. It should be safe to remove from the Windows boot menu. As to that “something happened” - again, I can only guess. Using the Windows Boot Manager depends on having a Windows file with a copy of the opensuse boot sector. When opensuse reinstalls grub2, that Windows file will be out of date and may stop working. So you have to refresh it (probably EasyBCD can do that). With opensuse 12.3, every kernel update resulted in grub2 being reinstalled. Thankfully, that no longer happens in 13.1, where only an update to the grub2 software causes an automatic reinstall.

[satnav08]

With “get command” you mean package search I suppose?
“zypper se xxx” or “zypper se -s xxx”
zypper has online help included, just run “zypper help” or “zypper help command” for further options.

Don’t know whats happening. I did what you said. I found Firefox(name of package). I used the command and then it said
Media Mounting Failed (no media found in dev/sr0). Probably because I am using Virtual Box?
There was a yes/no prompt I clicked no
Then there was a download yes/no prompt and I clicked Yes so now firefox RPM new version is downloaded. Firebug is working. SO SOLVED.

Apparently it hangs when trying to refresh the repos.
Do you have a working internet connection?
Does “sudo zypper ref” in a terminal window work?

It it does and I do have a working connection. Tried sudo zypper ref and it refreshed everything. Yast is working now and no yast2 hanging messages but I got this now. It happened after it asked for media(again I think its the Virtual Box) and I pressed ‘skip’ after that everything worked normally.

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o605/Mavs201/warning_zpsb05ea46b.jpg

Well, there is no vi in openSUSE. You mean vim I guess? (vim=“vi improved”)
Yes it is good, but it at least needs getting used to.

That said, I wouldn’t want to write large programs with it.

There are lot other good (and maybe easier to use) editors though. Emacs f.e.
Or as you seem to use KDE, try Kate or KWrite for a start.

There are also IDE’s available, like KDevelop and Eclipse.

Meant vim ofcourse. Using Kwrite(because already there in KDE). IDE undecided.

Normally (especially on a multiboot system) you should only have generic boot code in the MBR.
For this to work, the partition that contains the actual boot loader has to be marked as active (bootable).

Hard to say whether it would be safe to delete it without further information.
But EasyBCD is just a tool to edit Window’s boot menu entries, isn’t it?
So removing openSUSE there should not break/influence your Windows system.

I will likely run windows in virtual box in Linux. Dual Boot not my thing. My important files are all in a non system partition so no problems deleting system partition.

[satnav08]

@hcvv

Hello and again welcome here.

While deano_ferrari is trying to help you out, allow me to give some advice on posting here.

First thing is of course to use the best fitting forum within these forums. My idea is that you managed that allright.

Second thing is to make a good short, but descriptive title for your thread. The title you used says nothing about your problem and is thus bad advertsing. People here are all openSUSE users like you. They try to help in their spare time. But even spare time has it’s limits. Thus people here may glance through the titles of new posts to see if there is something they feel they are qualified. To be honest “Noob noob noob!!! Help please” would ask for a qualified psycholigist of which we have few here.

When you are interested in making good technical problem descriptions and or questions, feel free to read a bit of http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Next time!

[satnav08]

@nrickert

I’m just responding to a few of your issues.

I use “vi” (which is really “vim”). For most purposes, it is my preferred editor.

Yes, I do recall that there was a steep learning curve.

Google for “vi cheat sheet”. Then print that out, and tape it to the wall near your computer. You’ll be up to speed fairly quickly.

Some people use Chrome. I think they download it from the google site. I use chromium, because it is in the standard repos. I’m not sure about extensions, and I am not using any. I mostly browse with “firefox” and “konqueror”.

I’m only guessing here. My guess is that EasyBCD would remove from the Windows boot menu. I doubt that it would actually remove from opensuse. It should be safe to remove from the Windows boot menu. As to that “something happened” - again, I can only guess. Using the Windows Boot Manager depends on having a Windows file with a copy of the opensuse boot sector. When opensuse reinstalls grub2, that Windows file will be out of date and may stop working. So you have to refresh it (probably EasyBCD can do that). With opensuse 12.3, every kernel update resulted in grub2 being reinstalled. Thankfully, that no longer happens in 13.1, where only an update to the grub2 software causes an automatic reinstall.

Thanks for vi cheat sheet. Much appreciated.
Chrome because of Zenmate extention. Otherwise mostly Firefox.
"something happened"lol! Yes something really happened. That was a nightmare. Nothing worked. Could not even install Windows. had to remove HD and wipe it clean FFS. Put me off Linux but can’t take windows anymore. Will use EasyBCD after backing up my data.

[wolfi323]

@satnav08

Don’t know whats happening. I did what you said. I found Firefox(name of package). I used the command and then it said
Media Mounting Failed (no media found in dev/sr0). Probably because I am using Virtual Box?

No, it’s not directly related to VirtualBox.
The installation medium is one of your installation sources, but it is not inserted.
Either insert the installation medium or enter YaST->Software Repositories and disable/remove the installation medium.

You should not need the installation medium if you have an internet connection, as everything is available from the online repos anyway.

There was a yes/no prompt I clicked no
Then there was a download yes/no prompt and I clicked Yes so now firefox RPM new version is downloaded. Firebug is working. SO SOLVED.

Good.
That dialog should disappear when you insert the installation medium or disable/remove it from your installation sources.

Meant vim ofcourse. Using Kwrite(because already there in KDE). IDE undecided.

Have a look at Kate as well (KDE Advanced Text Editor), which uses the same underlying editor component as KWrite, but offers more functions (like calling “make” inside the editor f.e.).

A side-note: KDevelop uses the same editor component as well as it is a KDE program.

And KDE’s texteditor component (so KWrite, Kate, and KDevelop) has a VI-like mode as well…

I will likely run windows in virtual box in Linux. Dual Boot not my thing. My important files are all in a non system partition so no problems deleting system partition.

Then there’s no need to use BCDEdit at all, I’d say.

Just format the Windows system partition, and the Windows entry should disappear from Grub’s boot menu (after re-creating the config, f.e. by just entering YaST->System->Boot Loader and clicking “OK”).