The Perfect Desktop - Part 2: Mandriva Free 2007 - Page 5

6 Update The System

Most probably the packages on our new online repositories are more up-to-date than the ones we installed from our Mandriva CDs. Therefore let's update our system now. Again, this can be done either from the command line or from the Control Center, and again I will show you both ways.

6.1 Command Line

Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and become root by typing:

su

Then run the following commands to automatically select and install all available updates:

urpmi.update -a
urpmi --auto-select

That's it already.

6.2 Control Center

Open the Control Center and go to Software Management > Look at available updates and apply any fixes or upgrades to installed packages.

The system will contact the repositories to find new updates. Afterwards, in the Software Management window, select All updates:

Then browse the applications tree on the left and check all available updates in the right window:

If a package has some dependencies, the system will tell you in an extra window. Click on Ok:

After you've selected all packages, click on Apply:

The system shows you all packages that are going to be installed in an extra window. Confirm by clicking on Yes:

Afterwards, the updates are downloaded and installed:

Afterwards, the list of available updates should be empty in the Software Management window:

7 Find Out Your Kernel Version

Before we go on and install additional software, it's a good idea to find out about your kernel version because in chapter 8 we will install the package kernel-source which is needed by VMware Server (which we will install at the end of this tutorial). There are multiple kernel-source packages available, and to select the right one you need to know your kernel version.

To find out about your kernel version, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and become root:

su

Then run

uname -r

The output should look like this:

[root@localhost Desktop]# uname -r
2.6.17-5mdv

which means you have kernel 2.6.17-5mdv installled.