I do cover it in my Mint beginner's guide, but it's basically this:

- Unpack the archive to wherever
- Run the start script or executable (you may need to give it permission to run first if it was packed into an unsuitable type of archive that doesn't store that information)

It's possible that you may be missing some dependencies, so if it doesn't run then try running it from a terminal to see what error messages it produces. You can also use the ldd command to inspect executables to view their dependencies.

If you're using Mint 19.x you can simply install my common dependencies meta-package to deal with all of the dependencies you're most likely to need.

If the archive contains source code (as opposed to a binary), you need to compile it first. To do so:
* Make sure you have a compiler installed. (On debian based systems, the package build-essential includes a compiler and other tools; depending on the program, you may need to have some other development libraries installed.)
* Extract the file (tar xzf filename.tar.gz I believe); I recommend doing this in a new subdirectory, as not all .tar.gz files are well behaved if you don't.
* Run the following commands:
./configure
make
* If the compilation succeeds, there should be an executable file in the directory you're in. Run it by typing something like
./program_name
(the "./" is required)

sorry guys but none of those answers was newbie friendly really (though thanks for the responses). i think dtgreene got closest, but didnt even state where to run the commands

- in the terminal? is this in the compiler? what compiler?

this is often why people think linux is a difficult thing to make the transition to.

Well as I said, my beginner's guide goes into much more detail. I'm assuming you're trying to run something that's already compiled like a game downloaded from the Humble Store or so rather than compile something from source, in which case it's usually the same as it is on Windows:

- Double-click on the archive in the file manager to open it with the archive manager
- Extract the contents (I usually just select the files and drag them to where I want them)
- Run the start script or executable

However some developers use inappropriate archive formats for their Linux builds, that don't store additional information such as executable flags - in this case you need to mark them as executable. You can usually do this by right clicking the script/binary in the file manager, then selecting "Properties", then "Permissions" and checking the "Allow executing file as program". Or you can do it from the terminal with the command: chmod +x <file>

There's also the possibility of not having the dependencies installed; it's best to run it from the terminal and seeing if it complains about there being anything missing. Or you can use the ldd command to do it: ldd <executable>

Installing my common dependencies meta-package largely eliminates the dependency issue though.

And as I already said, there's more detail in my beginner's guide (and images to go with it), so consider checking that out.

Usually something like right click in the file manager --> select "Open in terminal", or just click the "open in terminal" button if the file manager has one.

you could have quoted a page though - which would give others more incentive to download it if they find it comprehensive enough - and while i do have it downloaded the page menu makes no mention of it (maybe worth looking at for your next update?).

im not trying to sound unappreciative or anything
Edit: though i understand it could come across as such

Read sections 7 (The File Manager and Linux Filesystem) and 8 (Installing Software Outside of the Repositories)

ta!

your edited post makes a lot more sense too - though in everything that ive downloaded from humble, there appears to be no start script or executable.


this is part of whats confusing the hell out of me with all this right now! O____o~

^ this
Right click -> permissions -> execute

Disclaimer: I'm not o Mint righ now but it should do the trick

im not on mint either. :D

Which game is it? If I have it I'll take a look. I'm guessing you're confused about the file extensions, since Linux doesn't really use file extensions like Windows does (this is something I should probably add to my guide).

Scripts usually (but not always) have .sh extensions, while executables often have no extension, or are named something like game.x86-64 or game.bin. You should be able to identify them from the file manager, either by their icon, or by hovering the mouse over them & checking the tooltips or doing right-click --> properties and checking for something like "Type: Program (application/x-executable)". From the terminal you can use this command to identify a file: file <file>

Examples of the executable names of some of the games I have (most are GOG games that are normally started from a start.sh script though):

Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive: desperados32
Dust: An Elysian Tail: DustAET.bin.x86 and DustAET.bin.x86-64 (also a start script named "DustAET" that checks the system's architecture and picks which executable to run based on that)
eDuke32: eduke32
Hotline Miami: Hotline and hotline_launcher
Ion Maiden: maiden_nodrm.bin
Shadow Warrior 2013: ShadowWarrior.bin.x86
Spec Ops: The Line: specops.i386
XCOM: Enemy Unknown: game.x86-64

thats informative. ill have a look either later tonight or tomorrow day.

and yes, thats really something newb friendly you should cover - a good searchable glossary is always a bonus on such things.

thanks!

well, i got a couple of executable games running, so im off to a start! :)

Can someone explain why arch is considered "harder" than others? I've looked into it several times and found it to be pretty much the same as everybody else. The only "difficulty" is that because it isn't popular enough, you might not get the exact help you need (e.g. a lot of "help" is in the form of sudo apt-get ..., which is Debian-derived-only, and not the way I would do it in Debian, either, since it bypasses aptitude). Maybe if you start getting into the AUR, but even then, everything is pretty automated, so it's not really any different than using alternate package sources in other distros.

Disclaimer: I use gentoo (only recommended for insane users)). Feel free to recommend an alternative that provides the flexibility of USE flags, though (and also allows me to reject systemd and pulseaudio, among other things -- I guess a completely Python-free system is too much to ask for these days). At least gentoo is easier to use than going from scratch or Sorcerer. And, unlike the other gentoo-descended distros, tends to still be fairly complete and up-to-date (in spite of gentoo's delete-happy attitude in recent times).

why can't we have separate forum for Linux users? It would be nice to have all Linux related howtos, discussions in one place.

there's couple of reasons: to install it you need to spend 20-30 minutes in bare terminal, you will have to type all installation and primary configuration commands by yourself. manually pick your HDD partition to format and install, manually determine your network adapter name and bring it up etc. Then you will have to manually install all starting packages like xorg, session manager, desktop environment (if you need any :)). That's in terminal and all up to you.
Second point is the way it handles updates, things can break if you're not careful and will need your manual intervention . It's better to have an idea what you're doing rather than copy-pasting things from google.

Thanks, I guess I can see your points. I didn't notice them myself because I install differently and never kept most experiments on my systems long enough to notice update issues. I will say that Debian and its derivatives, for all their claims of an excellent dependency system and well-developed packages, failed infuriatingly often during updates. It's gotten better over the years, but I still get failures on my tablet (which is the only machine I still run a Debian-derivative on, and I'm too lazy to look for something better, again). I don't hear Ubuntu or Debian being called user-unfriendly for that, though. Then again, maybe I'm just not listening in the right places.