[Tfug] Newbie Follow-Up Question

[johngalt]

Craig Smith wrote:
> 
> My last question concerned a cryptic error message I
> was getting trying to use an "atp-get install
> 'anything'" command while trying to set up Debian. I
> asked if anyone had any suggestions. Two people
> suggested that I try Red Hat.

(Evil laugh)
Two? Are both of them named Bowie, 
or are you counting Yan's reply to Bowie TOO?
Newman! er.. Bowie!

> I don't want to start any flame wars here but I took
> their advice and it works for me and I am up and
> running. After I have a chance to take CIS 225 at
> Pima, perhaps I will switch to Debian but for now Red
> Hat works just fine for me.

rm'ing the .deb and re apt-get'ing didn't work? 

> I had a boxed set of Red Hat 7.2 and it came with
> Mozilla 0.9something. I understand that the current
> version is Red Hat 7.3 and Mozilla 1.0. How do I
> upgrade to the current versions? I went to their sites
> and download the tar.gz download files to my desktop
> but I am not sure how to install them.

Yikes. That's a messy way of upgrading. (although you get the latest, 
bleeding edge version) If you were to do it this way, you would gunzip 
to get a .tar, tar -xf the tarball to get a install source.
Then you would follow the instructions inside to install the package.
I wouldn't recommend this to a newbie unless you are prepared for extra
learning curve. (your rc.d scripts might need fixed and the potential 
for spreading additional instances of apps around your filesystem is high.)

Since every distribution seems to do things in a different way and puts 
files in different places, at first you ought to do upgrades as they 
recommend. With Debian this is apt-get. In Red Hat, this is with RPM files. 
The whole reason for choosing a distribution is how they 
provide updates to their packages as new versions come out. Often these 
updates result from discovery of security compromises. But I digress.

You could download dozens of RPMs individually, but look out for package 
dependency issues. (one package needs another to function)

The easy way to keep things updated is use RedHat Network. Besides 
the windowsupdate.microsoft.com-like privacy and subscription concerns, 
Red Hat allows you to update one system at a time for free, and the
update application, up2date takes care of the dependency issues, etc. 
Use rhn_register to get started after visiting redhat.com to get signed up.

RedHat supports lots of older, well tested versions for which they issue 
updates. I'm still using RH 7.2 & 6.2 and am in no hurry to upgrade. Unless 
there's some compelling reason, like hardware that is newly supported on 
the latest version, I see no need to battle for bandwidth on the mirror 
sites with the get-the-latest-version-asap maniacs.

As for upgrading to RH 7.3, you could use a network install boot floppy, 
but I'd download CD iso's and install from CD. Then get the stuff that has 
been updated after 7.3 with the latest RPM's or REdHAt network.

 
> Red Hat, in my opinion, is simpler for a newbie like
> me to handle but there is still a bit of a learning
> curve to overcome.

This is a story often repeated. I'd say RedHat is popular more than simple.
After learning it, some people find RPM to be inflexible and a pain 
in the ass. Then they see that apt-get or even better a BSD style cvs 
upgrade model to be much better....
 
> I am just using Linux as a workstation at home but
> will be using it as a server at work (FTP, DSN, Proxy,
> etc) at work, once I get comfortable with it and can
> ask intelligent questions.

Good luck. You'll do fine. 


And if you don't get help on the newsgroups in a timely fashion,

Keep your posts short.

<HUMOR>
Act stupid.
Make a showy display of your Christianity.
Use a separate web mail account with a female name on it to ask questions.
</HUMOR>