Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

[pep]

Someone can suggest me where to find any of them?

Maybe 'cause of a troublesome installation i cannot make adept working and have no clue at all on how it is supposed to do...

[pep]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

This, from
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/...g-kubuntu.html

helped a little.

Ubuntu has several software package repositories: Main, Restricted, Universe, and Multiverse. The first two are officially supported and are available by default. Universe contains free and open source software that is not officially supported. Multiverse contains nonfree/open source software. Kubuntu follows the Debian model of placing non-FOSS packages in a separate repository, so that users can easily choose what they want to use.
Enabling the Universe package repository (and Multiverse as well, if you like) is simple. There are two ways to do this: use System -> Package Manager (Adept), or edit /etc/apt/sources.list directly.
In Adept, go to Adept -> Manage Repositories and right-click on deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy universe main restricted universe, and then left-click on Enable. Scroll down and do the same for deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security universe. (Do the same for the Multiverse lines if you like.) Click on the Apply button at the bottom, and then on Fetch Updates at the top to download the latest package lists.
In /etc/apt/sources.list, uncomment the lines you want, and then save and close the file. Then run the command:
$ sudo apt-get update
Now you have access to a much wider range of packages.

Now i have 41 upgradable packages. How do i do it?

I see a big full upgrade button but i don't want to take random actions.
I struggled already enough to risk messing all over for a wrong click...

[pep]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

... Here again.

You can search for specific packages by keywork with tickable options, and right click package name to "Request Install." Then click on the Apply Changes button and your package as well as dependencies are downloaded and installed.

In this way you can install a package at a time.
Better then all at once to understand what went wrong if something did.

Help yourself if no one does

[Josh]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

This site helped me out a lot when I was just getting started

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/index.php

Josh

[Matchless]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

Hi,
Obviously you are using Kubuntu, I have tried and dropped Adept everytime a new version of kubuntu came out I use Synaptic that comes as default with Ubuntu and do not really understand why Adept has to be developed seperately for Kubuntu, as it is not a very user friendly application.
Use Adept to install Synaptic, it is a steady, stable and easy to understand Package manager.

[pep]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

Thanks for answering.
The link seems a impressive lot of information. I'll dig it to the last byte.

What is exactly Synaptic? With the few clues got until now, i could manage to find, download and painless install a lot of apps:
Firefox, Audacity, Blender, Cinepaint, Scribus, Xaos, Kino, Bootup-manager.
I could even install a flash plugin for mozilla and to disinstall it after a lot af crashes.
Adept seem OK. Can you explain why you prefer Synaptic? Better documentation ? Can they cohexist?
The only thing i still have to figure out is how to add repositories and where can i find the addresses for them. I still miss Inkscape...
Thanks again for your help

[Josh]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

Synaptic is a graphic package installer, similar to Adept. The primary difference is that Synaptic is generally more stable, and it is easier to fix and diagnose problems if they arise in Synaptic than in Adept.
In addition, some packages, such as flashplugin-nonfree, can only be downloaded in a terminal or through Synaptic, not Adept.
They can both exist (but not run) simultaneously, and both run from the same repositories list.
If you want to enable extra repos, check this page of the psychocats site. This is the same list I'm using right now.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/sources.php

Josh

[pep]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

Thanks again for your attention Josh.
so let me ask one more question:

I really have a bad verbal memory, while i can manage a fairly complicate sequence of steps in visual manner. That's why i like Kubuntu.
In the link you posted seems that i have to write (copy) a lot of commands in bash. Now the question: can i add a repository address (whatever it is) in Adept or Synaptic so the program knows that it has to look also there? And more, are there more repositories? Where?

It seems that i can edit the list in Adept, like in a line oriented text editor;
actually i already did it removing a lot of lines telling
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:

My system installed in a faulty way and i had all the repositories commented out, but with the right mouse button trick i enabled some of them. Now they appears like this, just like the /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main
# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe

as you see, i took a cautious approach uncommenting only what seemed to be the "system or official" repositories. No backports, no multiverse, no security. What are they? is it safe to install from there? what if i don't find the software i look for? are there some other address i could add? What if the programs i found are a little aged and i would like to have the last official release? is it safe to install from the multiverse? i have to disinstall the previous versions or can i just intall on top of them?

I said one question and they are already a lot but they are about a confusing question and it's not easy to understand the whole argument for a completely newbie in Linux.

While Kubuntu does a wonderful work if you want a office machine, if you plan to use it for something more then write letters (or books) and use internet, you need some more programs and there it cames: repositories, how to find them, how to use them, how to avoid a catastrophic crash.

Am i worryng too much? That's what you get after years of the "four crashes a day is normal" windows philosopy...

I am sure that a lot of people more than i appreciate your help

Pep

[Josh]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

I'm not sure about Adept, but to add repos with Synaptic, simply open it and select settings>repositories>new. Then enter the distribution, URI, and section. As for additional repos, while the repo list from the psychocats site has, so far, had every package I have ever looked for, there are other repositories. Probably the easiest way to get them is through source-o-matic (http://www.ubuntulinux.nl/source-o-matic). This will automatically generate a repo list with the repositories you selected. Just follow the directions carefully, and don't forget the keys.

As for Adept or Synaptic recognizing any repos you add, both will automatically treat any line in your /ect/apt/sources.list that isn't commented out as a download site. While helpfull for adding to your list, this means any typos or offline repositories are bound to cause some sort of error. The good news is that they rarely go down.

You may also want to check out automatix and easyubuntu. (http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/) (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=203294)
These aren't exactly repositories, but serve to automatically install popular packages. I have never used either myself, but the reviews are generally positive.

To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between all the sections is. As far as safety is concerned, any package from the default repositories should be safe from a security standpoint, but that is no guarantee that they wont do something weird to your computer if they run into a hardware incompatibility issue, or other bug. The problem is, some packages you will probably want aren't available in the default list, which is why I recommend one of the solutions above, of the psychocats list.

Regarding your installation error, a while ago I had a similar problem with the installer being unable to connect to the sources during installation and commenting out all my repos. Even after I uncommented them, some of them wouldn't work. If you haven't already, I would recommend uncommenting all the default repos and running "sudo apt-get update". If they all update, great. If they don't, you should post any errors here.

If you absolutely hate using the terminal, there is a cheesy "windows-ish" way to update your list, though it really isn't the best, or even a good way to do so. You can use konqueror to navigate to your /ect/apt/sources.list. Make a copy of your list with a different name, just in case. Right click on the original, and select actions>edit as root. You can then copy and paste individual repos or an entire list, just make sure you save before you exit. After you exit, open a terminal and run "sudo apt-get update"

Lastly, no, you are not worrying too much. Most of the people here are probably windows refugees, and learning a new system is never easy. The good news is that with Kubuntu, and Linux in general, it really is hard to do something that can't be undone.

Josh

[ravsas3]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

My problem is that iam ina LAN and need to access net through a proxy. how can i do that in adept with synaptic it was easy...but no clue on how to go about that in adept.thanks

[underdog5004]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

OK, I officially dislike adept. I tried to install some random file needed for g++ and it uninstalled half my system. I had to re-install kubuntu. [/RANT]

-Matthew

[pep]

Re: Adept manual, Howto and FAQ

What can i say? i still use Adept. It works for me and i keep looking for, installing, upgrading and deleting without trouble...
Well actually i have just one problem: i am running out of disk space, due to a minimalist partition for Linux. Looking for something to delete i found that in /var/cache/apt/archives i have a lot of files with a .deb suffix. I suspect that this is where Adept puts the packages downloaded in the compressed form that should be useless after the install. Someone knows if i can delete them and recover the hard disk space?

Also i have to mention that i do all the operations in a very cautious way. Adept allows to preview changes and abort operations. So i don't go on too lighthearted... It never pays with computers

Pep