Alright, so, my lack of knowledge shines through the the /opt matter. I made the directory via the Terminal just fine, but Laminar's software seems to be just the same as it is on Windows and Macintosh as it is in Linux: as long as the applications are in the same folder as the program's resources, you can move that folder anywhere you want. You know, portable!
Of course, extracting it and moving it wherever is the first baby step, and I'm over that. Now I need to get the 32-bit application to run. After learning a few more functions/programs in the terminal, namely ldd (List Dynamic Dependencies) and file, I'm starting to make some progress. However, I'm now about as far as I can go with my limited knowledge on Linux matters in general. Here are my notes on the installation so far:
Space Combat 140 initial file output:
**@** /Desktop/Space Combat 140 $ ls
README Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686 'Space Combat Resources'
**@** /Desktop/Space Combat 140 $ file Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686
Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.0.0, stripped
**@** /Desktop/Space Combat 140 $ ldd ./Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686
not a dynamic executable
Files installed from the Software Center, Part #1:
- lbstdc++-32bit
1a... This was installed after reading a suggestion from DataDrake in another thread in relation to a similar problem.
- libelf-32bit
2a... Dependencies for libelf-32bit also installed.
**@** /Desktop/Space Combat 140 $ ldd ./Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686
linux-gate.so.1 (0xf7f6d000)
libGL.so.1 => not found
libGLU.so.1 => not found
libXext.so.6 => not found
libX11.so.6 => not found
libpthread.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libpthread.so.0 (0xf7f2d000)
libdl.so.2 => /usr/lib32/libdl.so.2 (0xf7f27000)
libm.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libm.so.6 (0xf7dde000)
libc.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libc.so.6 (0xf7bd7000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /usr/lib32/ld-linux.so.2 (0xf7f6e000)
Files installed from the Software Center, Part #2:
- libglu-32bit
3a... Dependencies for libglu-32bit also installed.
- libxext-32bit
**@** /Desktop/Space Combat 140 $ ldd ./Space-Combat-140-lin3-i686
linux-gate.so.1 (0xf7f06000)
libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib32/libGL.so.1 (0xf7e82000)
libGLU.so.1 => /usr/lib32/libGLU.so.1 (0xf7e02000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libXext.so.6 (0xf7de7000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libX11.so.6 (0xf7c7b000)
libpthread.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libpthread.so.0 (0xf7c59000)
libdl.so.2 => /usr/lib32/libdl.so.2 (0xf7c53000)
libm.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libm.so.6 (0xf7b0a000)
libc.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libc.so.6 (0xf7903000)
libGLX.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libGLX.so.0 (0xf78de000)
libGLdispatch.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libGLdispatch.so.0 (0xf787c000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6 (0xf7691000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /usr/lib32/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xf7670000)
libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib32/libxcb.so.1 (0xf763e000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /usr/lib32/ld-linux.so.2 (0xf7f07000)
libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libXau.so.6 (0xf7638000)
libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib32/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xf7630000)
...The application now seems that it almost wants to work, as it now outputs a Data.out and Error.out file, but does not write to them. Don't know what to do next...
...As an aside, it might be a cool feature if looking at a file's properties could run something akin to the "file" and "ldd" programs via the drop-down GUI rather than having to run the Terminal. I am under the impression that shady files and ldd might not mix well on that note, but the security stuff is still beyond me by a longshot. I find needing to run the Terminal rather interesting to be honest - it's not that different from a GUI, except that it's not "tactile" (with the obvious exception of the keyboard) and the visual element is limited in some ways to your knowledge of commands in general. Of course, if you know no commands, it's useless to you if you don't want to learn them. And, if the GUI is failing to do a function, doesn't that just mean the programming that links it to the same stuff that the Terminal is doing is badly done?