redhat/yellowdog???

[Jamie LaRue]

Welcome, fellow newbie!

I've been using YDL 2.3 on a G3 iMac for the past two months or so. No
real experience with Linux before that, although I knew a smattering of
Unix commands. A few comments on your questions.

1. rpm is a program that seeks to do precisely what worries you --
manage dependencies. Linux is Linux, generally (meaning YDL can install
Red Hat packages) -- with one big exception. Sometimes, a package is
precompiled to take advantage of the Intel processor (or a clone), OR to
take advantage of the PowerPC processor -- the one in your Mac. So don't
download rpm's for X86 machines. 

Alternately, and this speaks to your third question, you can still
download the raw file (i.e. not precompiled), and follow the
instructions (inside the tar.gz file there's usually an "INSTALL" file).
This builds the program for your own computer -- hence the value of the
"development station." If you choose Home/Office, you don't get some of
the tools you need to compile programs for your system.


> 
> 1) first, i know that ydl is taken from the redhat flavor, but does that
> mean that it will allow any rpm made for redhat to work with ydl.i guess
> what i am saying is, i am still confused as to what i can and cannot
> useunder ydl...when i go and download a new version of mozilla, what do
> i need to look for...when i am looking for a flash plugin, what am i
> looking for, etc, etc.  installing new programs and updating old ones in
> ydl is still a new concept to me...how to do it and do it safely.
> 
> 2) moving on...mol...i see that mol now supports osx, so how would i go
> about upgrading to the new version...the whole dependency issue boggles
> my mind.  how are they resolved, by hand?? is there an easier way....i
> would love to run osx on mol, but i need some direction.  once again,
> back to installing programs.  dependencies scare the hell out of me,
> don't know what they are, and how to deal with them when something says
> there is a dependency issue.
> 
> 3) when installing ydl, i chose "developmental workstation" or whatever
> it was.  it had (recommended) to the side of it.  i figured the
> home/office one would be the reccommended one, but i chose what was
> recommended even though i am not a developer of any kind...more of a
> simple hobbyist.
> 
> 4) lastly, i love mac, ppc, and especially my g4, but i wanted a taste
> of a true hardcore os....linux.  i like to learn, i like to be able to
> get more out of my os, therefore that is why i am giving ydl a shot.  i
> just don't want to be scared away from the os...it is easy to install,
> straight forward in many regards, and even though i am learning the
> command line rapidly, some things still scare me.  i don't want to mess
> anything up i can't fix, ex. dependencies, doing something wrong with a
> config file, etc.  any problems with mac os 7.5-10.2, i can help, but
> for ydl, i will be turning to you guys alot.
> 
> much appreciation
> jonathan metts
> 
> 
> 
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