missing programs, books for beginners?

[Tony Baldwin]

Sharon Ruck wrote:
> Howdy!
> I'm new to Linux, my ex was the guru.  I have worked a tiny amount in 
> Unix about 10 years ago in Antarctica.  Windows xp expert (installs, 
> repairs, etc), piece of junk....
> 
> Anyway, I really like Linux so far (9.04 Jaunty version), but when I 
> try to use a few programs referenced to by a book I have, they are 
> not in the menus where the book states they are.  Like network 
> manager, and a couple other system programs.  Did they change the 
> locations, did they not install on their own, or are they something I 
> have to find and then install.  I understand the outside "archives" 
> for Linux programs, I have found and installed a few.

> 
> I can not get the system to recognize my airlink 101 usb adapter for 
> internet, so I am using windows to do research and Linux to just 
> figure it out.  I barely understand the command/shell/root type 
> system, but I'm a fast learner.


Yeah...the command line is your friend.
To find a program do this

$ which program

where "program" is the program name.
Like this:
tony at deathstar:~$ which gimp
/usr/bin/gimp


See. It tells me that "gimp" (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is in
/usr/bin/gimp

I can now start the program from command line with
$ /usr/bin/gimp
(in all truth, /usr/bin is in the PATH, so you could just type "gimp". * 
Most programs will be in /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /opt, /usr/games, and 
a few other locations.  Some, especially ones for sysadmin, and only 
able to run as root/su will be in /sbin ).
(* or, do alt-f2 and get a "run program" dialog, in most cases, 
depending on your DE or WM, and simply enter the name "gimp".  Should 
work with KDE, Gnome, Xfce. ON my sys, using Ion3, this would be simply 
F3.  You're probably using gnome, I imagine, since you likely did a 
default jaunty install).


If you are looking for "network-manager", and do
$ which network-manager

and you get no response, either you don't have it installed, or you're 
using the name wrong (or mispelled).

"whereis" will give you even more information.

ie.
tony at deathstar:~$ whereis gimp
gimp: /usr/bin/gimp /etc/gimp /usr/lib/gimp /usr/share/gimp 
/usr/share/man/man1/gimp.1.gz

It tells me where the config files and man pages are, too.

You might try
aptitude install network-manager
if you don't find it.
If it tells you there is no install candidate, then the name is 
definitely wrong or the package doesn't exist.
If it tells you that it's installed, well, then which or whereis should 
have told you where, of course.
If you get a no install candidate message, try this:
apt-cache search network manager

You'll get something like

tony at deathstar:~$ apt-cache search network manager
addresses-goodies-for-gnustep - Personal Address Manager for GNUstep 
(Goodies)
addressmanager.app - Personal Address Manager for GNUstep
boinc-manager - GUI to control and monitor the BOINC core client
cheops - Network swiss army knife
d3lphin - File manager for KDE focusing on usability
dhcdbd - D-Bus interface to the ISC DHCP client
glpi - IT and Asset management software
gnome-main-menu - GNOME start menu applet
gnumeric - spreadsheet application for GNOME - main program
kde - the K Desktop Environment official modules
kget - download manager for KDE
konqueror - KDE's advanced file manager, web browser and document viewer
ktorrent - BitTorrent client for KDE
kwifimanager - wireless lan manager for KDE
kwlan - wpasupplicant frontend for KDE
lft - layer-four traceroute
libevent-rpc-perl - Event based transparent Client/Server RPC framework
libextractor-dbg - extracts meta-data from files of arbitrary type (debug)
libextractor-dev - extracts meta-data from files of arbitrary type 
(development)
libextractor-java-dbg - Java bindings for GNU libextractor (debug)
libextractor-java-dev - Java bindings for GNU libextractor (development)
libextractor-java0 - Java bindings for GNU libextractor
libextractor-plugins - extracts meta-data from files of arbitrary type 
(plugins)
libextractor1c2a - extracts meta-data from files of arbitrary type (library)
libnm-glib-dev - network management framework (GLib interface)
libnm-glib0 - network management framework (GLib shared library)
libnm-util-dev - network management framework (development files)
libnm-util0 - network management framework (shared library)
libslab-dev - development file for libslab0
libslab0 - beautification app library file
lxnm - Lightweight X11 Network Manager
lxpanel-netstat-plugin - network monitor plugin for lxpanel
netdisco-frontend - Web front-end for the NetDisco network manager
network-manager - network management framework daemon
network-manager-dev - network management framework (development files)
network-manager-gnome - network management framework (GNOME frontend)
network-manager-kde - KDE systray applet for controlling NetworkManager
network-manager-openvpn - network management framework (OpenVPN plugin core)
network-manager-openvpn-gnome - network management framework (OpenVPN 
plugin GNOME GUI)
network-manager-pptp - network management framework (PPTP plugin)
network-manager-pptp-gnome - network management framework (PPTP plugin)
network-manager-vpnc - network management framework (VPNC plugin core)
network-manager-vpnc-gnome - network management framework (VPNC plugin 
GNOME GUI)


(this is clipped, and on a debian system...my laptops have ubuntu, my 
desktops run debian, but you'll see something quite similar.  Note that 
"network-manager" is listed, so if you don't have it, you can aptitude 
install it.  You should have it, in all truth.
I think to run it, you need to do
network-manager-gnome
to get the gui.  I don't know...I use wicd or wifi-radar on my machines).

I recommend:
http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/
and
http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/
to start learning how to use this excellent, powerful tool that is the 
Bash shell.
This list, and also linuxquestions.org are good sources, too, of course.

good luck, and welcome to the world of gnu/linux

/tony

-- 
http://www.baldwinsoftware.com
free/open source software
tcl yer os with a feather...