Former Win XP user, now Ubuntu 12.04 user: how to handle “tar.gz” file?

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As a 25+ years user of Win,
I’m trying to find my way in Ubuntu 12.04, (love it!)

I’m still in the dark
about d/l & installing a “tar.gz” compressed prog in U.
The XP vs U 12.04 file hierarchy is quite different…

for ex:
prog TiEmu – a TI89 calculator Emulator for Linux.

Once I d/l the zipped file: TiEmu3 – GDBL,
called:
http://www.ticalc.org/pub/unix/tiemu.tar.gz
how do I “unzip” its contents into a folder I create?

In Win XP,
I always uncompressed .zip and .7z files,
and move the contents to a new subfolder.
Easy!

But I don’t know how to handle the extension: “tar.gz”,
in U 12.04.

Q1 – How do do I “uncompress” a “tar.gz” file?

Q2 – In which Ubuntu std. folder,
can I create a new subfolder (say, called “TIemu”),
and how do I move
the “uncompressed” files & folders to folder “TIemu”?

Thanks for any baby steps & pointers.
SF99

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I suggest you buy a book on Ubuntu Linux or find a tutorial online.

Most versions of Linux now contain a GUI which can zip and unzip files. You generally place uncompressed files in a folder under your “home” folder.

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Generally you can use the Ubuntu archive manager to handle the archived files, and the package manager to install the packages. Linux is not Windows, i.e., there is no single platform. Packages are compiled to work on specific distributions and versions (Ubuntu is Debian), which have their unique requirements for libraries, dependencies, etc.

I have no idea whether this emulator is appropriate for Ubuntu or not, but you can Google it. Also check out the Ubuntu forums.

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Use the following:

Code:

tar -xvwzf tiemu.tar.gz

This will untar the file into the current directory. As the others have said, there is no fixed location that you need to place the files.

The tar’d file referred to contains several readme files and an Install file. You will need to read and follow those instructions to ensure a clean installation. You may also need additional libraries as described in the instructions.

To get a feel for what is required for this particular package, you can unzip the tar.gz file using 7-Zip in a Windows environment. This will allow you to read the installation notes and readme files so that you understand what is required when you go to install it on Linux.

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Thank you all, and in particular Tinto Tech
for your clear answers and patience.

Will follow your instructions with:
…. tar -xvwzf tiemu.tar.gz (via Terminal).

Will also try to “untar” the tiemu.tar.gz file,
using a GUI file mgr. such as Krusader or Dolphin.
Maybe it’s easier and a non-event.

Gonna miss my “Total Commander” file mgr. from Windows,
when I finally move 100% into Ubuntu (or dual-boot),
on April 2014.

That’s when MS stops the monthly Security Updates for Win XP
…so Ubuntu is my way out.

That’s why I’m try to find my way in Ubuntu,
a year ahead of time…:rolleyes:

SF99

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Thank you all, and in particular Tinto Tech
for your clear answers and patience.

Will follow your instructions with:
…. tar -xvwzf tiemu.tar.gz (via Terminal).

Will also try to “untar” the tiemu.tar.gz file,
using a GUI file mgr. such as Krusader or Dolphin.
Maybe it’s easier and a non-event.

Gonna miss my “Total Commander” file mgr. from Windows,
when I finally move 100% into Ubuntu (or dual-boot),
on April 2014.

That’s when MS stops the monthly Security Updates for Win XP
…so Ubuntu is my way out.

That’s why I’m try to find my way in Ubuntu,
a year ahead of time…:rolleyes:

SF99

Midnight Commander, which runs in a terminal can be installed with “sudo apt-get install mc”. There is also a Gnome Commader, which is its GUI counterpart.

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Thanks, Hemeloser.
Looking at “Gnome Commander“, right now…

Also, looking at Krusader and Dolphin.
Whatever makes your life easier,
(ie: untar files w/o terminal commands, etc)….

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Well, as long as you have a lot of time to give and lots of patience, you should be successful. I love the idea of LINUX but just have never had the time and patience to get analog replacements for all the Windows software.

I did find a way of “cheating” though. I once used Paragon’s GoVirtual product to virtualize a XP install, and VMWare Player has LINUX drivers so I set up an XP VM on Ubuntu. Once I actually figured out how to get the player installed and running it worked great.

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Well, you hit an important point there, F.U.N….
specially after April 2014
= no more monthly MS Security Updates for XP.
So, you can’t use XP to surf the net.
XP needs to be isolated….

Yet, many of us have XP progs we need to use,
with no good Ubuntu equivalent.

So, how to use XP in a Virtual Box, INSIDE Ubuntu.
But…without “exposing” the XP inside that Virtual Box
to external threats, via the Internet connection.

In this ideal scenario for many of us (after April 2014),
only Ubuntu would have Internet access,
not the XP inside the Virtual Box.

XP would only be used to run those critical win progs.
But w/o Internet access.

I don’t know if it can be done or even how.
Maybe, the subject of a whole new thread….

Can you run XP inside Virtual Box in Ubuntu,
without XP in the box having ANY Internet access ?

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Virtual Box will definitely support what you want to do.

I normally run virtual machines the other way round (Linux guests on Windows hosts), but have run both XP and Win 7 on Ubuntu using Virtual Box. Spend a little time playing with the VBox configuration and read up in both the Ubuntu and VBox forums, but it really is quite straightforward. If you can master Ubuntu, you will have no problem installing and running VBox on it and XP inside that.

The easiest way to isolate the XP guest inside Virtual Box is simply to disable the virtual host network adapter. It’s a single check box under Network Settings in the VBox control panel and has the same effect as pulling the ethernet cable from the back of a physical PC. The XP guest will run exactly as normal, but it will have no connection to the outside world, except if you re-enable the network connection, setup shared folders, enable USB connections or storage pass through to the host disk subsystem.

Take your time to play with it – and come back here to ask if you need specific help.

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Virtual Box will definitely support what you want to do.

I normally run virtual machines the other way round (Linux guests on Windows hosts), but have run both XP and Win 7 on Ubuntu using Virtual Box. Spend a little time playing with the VBox configuration and read up in both the Ubuntu and VBox forums, but it really is quite straightforward. If you can master Ubuntu, you will have no problem installing and running VBox on it and XP inside that.

The easiest way to isolate the XP guest inside Virtual Box is simply to disable the virtual host network adapter. It’s a single check box under Network Settings in the VBox control panel and has the same effect as pulling the ethernet cable from the back of a physical PC. The XP guest will run exactly as normal, but it will have no connection to the outside world, except if you re-enable the network connection, setup shared folders, enable USB connections or storage pass through to the host disk subsystem.

Take your time to play with it – and come back here to ask if you need specific help.

Well Tinto Tech, a BIG thanks again
for your clear & specific answer to my question.

Besides, UNchecking (ie: disabling) the “Virtual Host Network Adapter”
under Network Settings in the Virtual Box control panel:

– which other Virtual Box Settings do you suggest I should disable,
in order to run XP in a “locked down” secure mode?
(XP as a guest OS inside the Ubuntu host,
where ONLY Ubuntu IS connected to the web, not XP).

thanks!
SF99

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For the most part, disabling the network adapter in the Virtual Box control panel will do enough. After that you are on the path of diminishing returns.

The network settings are here:

33636-Network-settings

Then for belt and braces you could also ensure serial ports, USB ports and shared folders are disabled:

33637-Serial-Ports
33638-USB-ports
33639-Shared-Folders

Removing or disabling these prevent any communication from the guest to the host. The rendering of the guest is unaffected though. The only method to get data in or out is to use the optical drive or to mount a separate volume on the host as an additional hard drive in the guest, both of those require specific human input to enable.

If you are paranoid you could ensure that the optical drive is not attached in pass through from the host, but that makes it difficult to install XP in the virtual machine in the first place.

Bear in mind that complete isolation means nothing in or out: no printing, no email, internet… nothing. Of course you can easily enable something temporarily if you need to get data in or out.

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@TINTO TECH:
thanks for that super-clear, direct answer!

Me thinks, you are an AWESOME professional.
(will keep that in mind,
if there is ever a tech support need in your part of the world).

btw:
your material is so good and clear,
that it really deserves its own thread.:D

Thanks!!

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In reply to your original question, there is no need to complicate things by using command line tar .. if you just double-click on the tar.gz file/folder Ubuntu will open up a window to ask you which directory you want to “unzip” to …. just remember to tick the “All Files” box and click OK … job done. :rolleyes:

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after April 2014
= no more monthly MS Security Updates for XP.
So, you can’t use XP to surf the net.
XP needs to be isolated….[/quote]

I’m afraid you’re misinformed about that – though I certainly wouldn’t want to discourage your foray into linux if that suits you.

The basic truth is that no operating system connected to the Web is totally secure from attack, but most can be made sufficiently secure for normal use. For example, I still use Win2K for most of my activity (including sometimes surfing murkier portions of the Web) and haven’t had even a malware alert in years (and no actual infections in over a decade).

The first line of defense is running a reasonably up-to-date browser (Firefox 12.0 is the last that supports Win2K without third-party tweaks, and it still works fine for my purposes) with appropriate add-ons (NoScript is the only one I run that’s relevant to malware). For anything that makes it through that barrier, you need a good anti-malware application (Avira AntiVir works well for me: while its current releases don’t support Win2K, one less than 2 years old still does and still gets current updates) and a good firewall (Online Armor 3.1.0.26 is my choice – not a youngster any more but still admirably competent). Sitting behind a hardware router/firewall that discards random attack probes before they ever get to the computer is also helpful.

Windows updates only protect against things that manage to get through all the above, and at least for me the number of such things has been zero for many, many years. By April, 2014, XP will have had nearly 4 additional years of Windows Security Updates beyond my current Win2K system’s, so will be that much better positioned (not that from my experience this will be important) to forge on ahead into years of additional productive use should you wish to continue to use it.

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