How to Install Software? Need general instructions

Booting, installing, newbie
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ezerhauden
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 28 Mar 2014, 17:22

How to Install Software? Need general instructions

#1 Post by ezerhauden »

Hello,
Let me first describe what I'm running. I'm using an HP Mini laptop; 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom with 1.0 Gb ram and running a
clean install of WinXP Pro SP3 with everything updated and absolutely great. I recently installed Slacko Puppy 5.7-No PAE
onto a 16 Gb flash drive and I have to say that it seems to work really well; fast, all hardware detected and wifi
doing great. I gave it a 4 Gb persistance file also.

I use this laptop primarily for gaming - I like my old games. I use DOSBox to run my Silent Hunter 1 and I have VICE for my
old Commadore 64 games. I started thinking about how cool it would be to have them on my Puppy flash drive to carry
around. I also wanted to have my chrome browser with me to make life that much easier.

I went to the package manager and located DOSBox. I clicked all the buttons that popped up about dependencies and it
all looked good. Question is; I can't tell if it installed! I can't find it on any of the menus. I'm not experienced
with Linux very much and I'm not sure what to do. I downloaded chrome also and the same thing...I can't find it and don't know if it even installed.

I tried using Mint 16 Petra Cinnamon before and it was super easy. However, I switched to Puppy because Mint was overheating
my laptop badly. Slacko is not overheating at all - in fact I observed my fan switch from to low speed to it's middle
speed the other day while running Slacko and now I'm sold on it!

You guys have forgotten more about computers then I'll likely ever know so I'm appealing to you for guidance. How does one
install software properly and then how do you find it once installed? Can desktop shortcuts be made? If I can't do those
things then how do I use them? Any good tutorials out there to lead this newbie around by-the-hand and show me how the
world of Puppy linux works?

Thanks for any assistance you can offer,

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solo
Posts: 389
Joined: Thu 14 Nov 2013, 20:33

#2 Post by solo »

Hello, and welcome.

I am also kind of a newbie, and I sort of had those things happen to me as well. You believe you have installed software, but there's no way to tell if it worked or not.
Sometimes a menu item is not being created, and I agree that can be quite confusing.
One of the simplest ways to check if the installed software works is through the Terminal.
You go to Menu-Utility, and choose Mrxvt terminal emulator or Urxvt terminal emulator, which ever you have installed.
In the terminal window, type dosbox and hit enter. Then see what happens.
If nothing happens, then something is not right.
The same with Chrome, you type chrome in the terminal window, hit enter, and see if it starts up, or if there is any message with information.
If your DOSBox and Chrome do start up through the terminal command, then the only thing that needs to happen is the creation of a menu item and/or desktop icon.
But that is phase 2.

So try this first, and see if there is any information, or if the software starts up.

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solo
Posts: 389
Joined: Thu 14 Nov 2013, 20:33

#3 Post by solo »

BTW, there is a Puppy distro especially designed for retro gaming. It's called Puppy Arcade, and you can find it here:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=92414

ezerhauden
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 28 Mar 2014, 17:22

#4 Post by ezerhauden »

Thanks for the advice, I'll check on it as soon as I can. I checked out the Puppy Arcade Distro today...major difficulties with wifi setup so I think I'll end up staying with Slacko. Thanks for the tip though, Arcade definitely has all the game support I'm looking for.

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ardvark
Posts: 1448
Joined: Tue 02 Jul 2013, 03:43
Location: USA

Re: How to Install Software? Need general instructions

#5 Post by ardvark »

ezerhauden wrote:I went to the package manager and located DOSBox. I clicked all the buttons that popped up about dependencies and it
all looked good. Question is; I can't tell if it installed! I can't find it on any of the menus. I'm not experienced
with Linux very much and I'm not sure what to do. I downloaded chrome also and the same thing...I can't find it and don't know if it even installed.
Hi...

I just installed DOSBox myself to see if Puppy would create an icon for it and it's listed under "Utility" in my system. Google Chrome is under "Internet." :)

Regards...
Last edited by ardvark on Mon 31 Mar 2014, 07:40, edited 1 time in total.
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ezerhauden
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 28 Mar 2014, 17:22

Re: How to Install Software? Need general instructions

#6 Post by ezerhauden »

ardvark wrote: I just installed DOSBox myself...
Gee, I hope I did this quote thing right...

So how did you install it?

I keep trying to install dosbox and I get nothing. The package Manager first tells me of a dependency for SDL...I download this and now good right? I retry the dosbox listing in the package manager and all it does is tell me that there are no dependency issues - I click Install and nothing happens. In terminal I type dosbox and get bad command.

Still scratching my head...

User avatar
solo
Posts: 389
Joined: Thu 14 Nov 2013, 20:33

#7 Post by solo »

Perhaps you could try the DOSBox package in this thread:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=44989

I would first uninstall the DOSBox package you have now with the Puppy Package Manager, and then install the one in the thread.
It also has the SDL libraries available for download.

You click on the download links of the PET packages you need.
You select save file at the pop-up window.
You go to Menu-Filesystem, ROX-filer Filemanager.
In the window you'll see a folder called Downloads. You click on that.
You'll see the downloaded packages. You install them simply by clicking on them.

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ardvark
Posts: 1448
Joined: Tue 02 Jul 2013, 03:43
Location: USA

#8 Post by ardvark »

Hi...

You can find version 0.74 at this thread. See my second post. If that doesn't work, you can try the portable version mentioned in my first. :wink:

Regards...

ezerhauden
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 28 Mar 2014, 17:22

#9 Post by ezerhauden »

Finally installed!
I tried the links you posted but they didn't work. So, I googled dobox.pet and found one. One-click and now it's installed.
Now to figure out how to set it up to run...I figured it out in XP so I'll keep working on it 'till I get it with puppy.

Thanks again for the help!

https://code.google.com/p/mywolfe/downl ... 6.pet[url][/url]

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