Help an idiot install Linux oolite

[Cmdr Monte]

I thought I'd give linux oolite a go since windows oolite has a couple of bugs and my linux box is much more powerfull than my windows machine.

To proove my idiocy, I shall admit that I dont' know what type of linux install I have. The login screen says fedora core so that's a start but I don't know what version it is, I've had the PC for about 12 months I think so that should get us in the ball park I guess.

I ran the installer and just clicked on no password as I dont' have the admin password. It ran through and told me that it had installed fine, no error messages.

So I opened a terminal, typed 'oolite' and got the message; 'command not found'. I've had a bit of a look arround the HDD, it's not in /usr/games but it ain't there.

So if anybody has a spare clue lying arround, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,
Phill

[Lucidor]

To proove my idiocy, I shall admit that I dont' know what type of linux install I have.

That's not idiocy, that's ignorance. :^) Sorry I'm not able to help. It's been a while since I was on linux, and I've never run Oolite on it.

I'm confident someone else here will help you though.

[Cmdr Monte]

the good nes is I found it. It's in ~/l.local/lib/Oolite/oolite.app The bad news is if I navigate to that directory and run ./oolite I get

./oolite: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL_gfx.so.13: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

So I'm guessing the installer didn't put the neccersary directories in the path. How do I do this?

[winston]

Try the GNOME (or KDE if you're of that orientation) menu instead.

Select Applications -> Games -> Oolite off the menu.

If you run it from the command line it is ~/.local/bin/oolite (lib means library file - bin means things you run, typically binaries, but shell scripts too. Generally, you shouldn't try and run stuff in a lib directory). This should have been in your path (the installer normally adds ~/.local/lib to your path).

[Cmdr Monte]

Thanks,

oolite hasn't appeared in the menu. I think that's to do with the fact that I don't have admin access. I think I read that someplace.

I managed to run oolite from the command line. It's jerky though. Perhaps I don't have openGL drivers for my graphics card? Can I install those without admin access?

[winston]

You'll need root access to install drivers. You say it's "your" box - if it is, there are ways to recover root access if you've forgotten the password.

If you are running Fedora Core then add the Livna software repository - it has prepackaged easy to install drivers for nvidia and for ATi. See http://rpm.livna.org but you'll need to at least know what release of Fedora Core you're running.

[Cmdr Monte]

Well mine as in it's on my desk and people have to ask me if they want to run jobs on it . Not mine as in I don't actually own it and I don't have the root password. The sys admin has set it up so I can type sodu and do things like reboot it and format HDDs on it but that's about it.

Trying to install a game on a shared resourse may not be the best way to learn more about linux so I think I'll stick with the windows port for now.

Cheers,

[winston]

By the way, on Redhattish like systems (Fedora, CentOS, WBEL and of course RedHat itself) you can look at the file /etc/redhat-release to find out exactly what you're running. For example:

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$ cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 4.3 (Final)

The file may be named 'fedora-release' on Fedora Core, but it's likely it'll be /etc/something-release. If not, knowing your kernel version can make it possible to track down what release of a distro you have, using 'uname':

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$ uname -a
Linux athena 2.6.9-34.EL #1 Wed Mar 8 00:07:35 CST 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Uname works on any UNIX, for example:

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$ uname -a
OpenBSD camaro.example.com 3.9 GENERIC#617 i386

[Cmdr Monte]

Thanks, at least now I know I have fedora core 2

handy to know.

Maybe someday I'll find an excuse to update the graphics drivers