Install RAR package

Download the RAR package from

http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Now log in as root in terminal

Go to the folder where you have saved the file 'rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz' using terminal

Extract the file using the following command

tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Go into the extracted folder

cd rar

Type the following in terminal

./unrar

Then copy the rar and unrar file to /bin

cp rar unrar /bin



Now when you right click over the rar files which you want to extract, you will be get extracted file without any issue

Update Firefox Browser in Scientific Linux

Scientific linux/Redhat linux instal Firefox bowser by default. However if you want to use the latest version of the browser you need to follow the steps given below

1. Download the latest Firefox package form the link

 The downloaded package will be with .tar.bz2 format (like firefox-6.0.2.tar.bz2)

2. Using terminal extract the package using following command

  tar -jxvf firefox-6.0.2.tar.bz2

 A folder named 'firefox' will be created

3. Now log in as root in terminal and copy the folder 'firefox' into '/opt' folder.

cp -Raf firefox /opt

4. Finally we will create a shortcut for our new firefox browser

Right click on Desktop and click 'Create Launcher'

Type the following in interface

Type: Application

Name: Firefox

Command:/opt/firefox/firefox

A new shortcut will be created in Desktop

Install Opera Browser in Scientific Linux

Access the Opera browser Download Page by clicking here

Download Opera browser 11.51 rpm package

The downloaded RPM package will be named as opera-11.51-1087.i386.rpm

Using terminal, log in as root and then go to the folder where RPM package  is downloaded

Type the following command in terminal  to install.

yum install opera-11.51-1087.i386.rpm

After the dependencies are resolved Opera browser will be installed successfully

You can then access the application from Internet section

Install Adobe Reader in Scientific Linux

Access the Abobe Reader Download Page by clicking here

Download Adobe Reader 9.4.2 rpm package

The downloaded RPM package will be named as AdbeRdr9.4.2-1_i486linux_enu.rpm

Using terminal log in as root and then go to the folder where RPM package  is downloaded.

Type the following command in terminal  to install.

yum install AdbeRdr9.4.2-1_i486linux_enu.rpm

After the dependencies are resolved Adobe Reader will be installed successfully

You can then access the application from Office section

EPEL software repository

EPEL packages are  free open source software. It is  EPEL community effort from the Fedora project to create a repository of high-quality add-on packages

su -c 'rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm'

Enable GUI after booting

Some times when we boot our linux systems, we get terminal screen(tty) instead of GUI screen or windows X screen.

To have graphical screen we have to manually do this by typing command 'init 5' as root.

If you do not want this manual method and want your system to automatically do this to you whenever you boot your system, you need to configure as given in steps below

Steps:
1. Log in as root
2. Open file /etc/inittab
    Command: vi /etc/inittab
2. You will find a line 'id:3:initdefault:'  at the end. Edit the line by changing it to 'id:5:initdefault:'

Install Libreoffice

Go to the following site and download the rpm

http://www.libreoffice.org/download/

You have to extract the downloaded package

Assuming that the extracted folder will be LibO_3.3.0rc1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US (might be any folder name)

Steps

1. Open terminal and login as root

   # su -

2. Go to folder LibO_3.3.0rc1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US

   # cd LibO_3.3.0rc1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US

3. There will be some folders including RPMS

   Go to RPMS

   # cd RPMS

4. Run the command

   su -c 'yum install *.rpm'

Some part of installation is complete

5. Go into folder desktop-integration

   # cd desktop-integration

6. su -c 'yum install libreoffice3.3-redhat-menus-3.3-301.noarch.rpm'

Installation is complete