Installing things usng shell

[gamer64]

Hey, I'm new to the whole Linux/kubuntu thing, and I'm having a few problems at the moment, but I'm sorting those out.

One thing I'm really struggling with, is installing "Packages". Those *.tar.gz things. I have extracted the directories, and theres loads of documents inside, but how do i actually Install them? There is a read-me, which makes no sense to me, and an install document, which simply opens in Kate, but how do get it to install?

It's really frustrating me, so can someone please help me solve this? If need be, i will post a snapshot of the directory contents.

Thanks in advance.

Also, i seem to be unable to add a new user to the Computer. I clicked on System settings --> User Management, but the New, Modify, and Delete Buttons are unavailable. So I try in admin mode, and still the same happens, so how do i add a new user?

Thanks again.

[claydoh]

Re: Installing things usng shell

tar.gz files are usually packages (think 'zip' files here) containing the source code to the application you want. this needs to be configured, compiled, than installed. While it isn't really difficult to do in and of itself, getting the needed libraries, tools, missing dependencies, and finding the correct configuration settings will be daunting and frustrating until you have tried a few times.

First off, you might find what you are looking for in Adept or Synaptic already. so you don't have to go wandering all over the internet finding ubuntu-compatible packages.

This link has more information on this.

If you still want to try your hand at compiling from source, try looking here or here