Downloading???

[Kai Staats]

Ray,

> > I AM TOTALLY NEW TO LINUX AND HAVE NEVER USED A LINUX OS BEFORE PS3, IV
> > ONLY USED WINDOWS BEFORE, WHAT I NEED TO BE EXPLAINED TO ME IS HOW TO
> > DOWNLOAD CODECS LIKE REAL PLAYER, QUICKTIME, FLASH, ETC. EVERYTIME I
> > TRY TO DOWNLOAD I GET SOME KIND OF ERROR MESSAGE OR THE DOWNLOAD
> > INSTRUCTIONS TELL ME TO WRITE SOME KIND OF COMPUTER SCRIPT IN A
> > "TERMINAL" WHAT IS A TERMINAL?? AND HOW DO I FIND IT??? CAN SOME HELP??

The terminal and shell are simply a means of interacting with your computer. 
Seemingly archaic at first, and by no means mandatory for Linux users, the 
reality is that one of the benefits of Linux is in fact the option to use 
command line tools which are often faster, more precise, and more functional 
that their graphical equivalents.

For instance, I can launch an .ppt (PowerPoint) prezo in Open Office by simply 
typing:

	ooimpress prezo.ppt [ENTER]

... amd wha-lah! the prezo is launched. MUCH faster than using a mouse to hit 
the YDL menu, then Applications, then Office apps, then OpenOffice, then 
Impress and when it launches, the File menu, Open option, and navigation to 
the desired file. Ugh. It kills me anymore to use a mouse for anything other 
than drawing and moving my email windows around.

But what helped me many years ago, when first diving into Linux, was the 
realization that EVERYthing a graphical program does is nothing more than 
editing of a text file, somewhere, on my drive. Technically speaking, a 
database does not edit a "text" file, but most apps do.

So the GUI then is an a translator, taking the motion of your mouse and button 
and writing text into a file which is stored for later use. You can often 
edit this same file by hand and achieve the same results.

So when you are asked to launch a terminal or shell, you are being asked to 
get under the hood a bit, to take a look at the text file that gives 
something on your computer guidance, form, and function.

Sincerely,
kai

p.s. I wrote the Getting Started with Yellow Dog Linux book, which shipped 
with Yellow Dog Linux box sets for a number of years. We will be publishing 
this book via YDL.net Enhanced accounts soon, but we have a few hundred left 
on our shelves. We will go live with these this coming week, if you would 
like to pick up a copy (<$10, I think) --don't get too frustrated, relax, and 
yes, there are a lot of people who will assist you.