ORA-01034 error after install

I just installed Oracle 8.1.5 on Red Hat Linux 6.1. Everything seemed to go okay during installation and during the setup of the database. Now, I connect as SYSOPER to try to create some users etc.:

Enter user-name: CONNECT / AS SYSOPER
Enter password:
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> select * from product_version_number   2 ;
select * from product_version_number
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available

The above SQL is just an example to show the error I get every time I enter any query. Now, I know the first reaction is that $ORACLE_SID is not properly set, but I've already done that.

Any suggestions?

        Jeffrey Barrett

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Before you buy. Received on Fri May 26 2000 - 00:00:00 CDT