Installing Stuff on Linux

[cmar001]

Okay...I read the How To's on other sites...and, I cant figure out how to install stuff on Linux beyond what is on the Add/Remove and Synap thingy. Im trying to figure out how to get these Tar files to work, but...I cant. This seems like a lot of work just for an OS, but I would appreciate an idiots guide.


PS: I only installed Linux today...and Im frustrated, annoyed, angry and have a headache.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Compile from source:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingEasyHowTo
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingSoftware
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CheckInstall
(all three are together and are cross-linked)
Compile from source, Installing software (MANY links):
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3086417.0
and Rog131:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3085626.0

=> How to Install Anything in Ubuntu!!!
http://monkeyblog.org/ubuntu/installing/

[cmar001]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Gee...Like I havent looked through them about 500 times already today and scratched my head.

[Snowhog]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

PS: I only installed Linux today...and Im frustrated, annoyed, angry and have a headache.

If after having been exposed to Linux for less than one day, and you are "frustrated, annoyed, angry and have a headache." then maybe Linux is not for you.

Really, and not meaning to put you off, but Linux isn't Windoze (or Mac), and it takes time and patience in order to become comfortable with it. Before attempting to figure out how to use tar balls, take the time to understand and use the default package manager (Adept Manager) that comes pre-installed. After activating the other repositories and adding the medibuntu repository, you will have access to over 22,000 packages.

[cmar001]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Ummm...I dont have Adept Manager.

[cmar001]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Nevermind...Ive installed it. And yes...Im frustrated. And no...Im f'ing not going back to windows because I think Linux is too high and mighty for me...but does it seriously have to be THIS complex?

[Snowhog]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Doubt that.

K Menu > System Settings > Adept Manager This assuming your are using Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon or Hardy Heron running KDE 3.5.9. If you are using Hardy Heron with KDE 4.1, then it's K Menu > Applications > System > Manage Packages

[Snowhog]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

...but does it seriously have to be THIS complex?

Again, you're commenting on this after less than a day of exposure to Linux? One needs to understand how anything works if one is going to have any success in using it. If you didn't know how to use a stick-shift in a vehicle (all you have ever used was an automatic) would that make the vehicle complex?

Unless you are willing to accept that Linux is not Windoze, and that you will have to learn how to use it (remember the very first time you used a computer at all?), well you are in for a tough time. Kubuntu is a good distribution of Linux. If you have Hardy Heron running KDE 3.5.9 then you have a very good distribution. It's one of the three I'm using on my laptop.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

We're always glad to have new Linux users who have chosen Kubuntu as (one of) their distro(s).
That said,
Linux Mint
=> somewhat "more" ready to go;
http://distrowatch.com/

[MoonRise]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Just be patient. I've only been on Linux for almost 5 years. I've been strictly M$ before then (still am only because that is what I do, but ALL systems at home are Kubuntu..except a test machine that is Xubuntu). It was a challenge, but if you look at it and approach it like you did when you first started using M$, it will start to work out. Really, after getting use to how 'nixs do things, it really isn't that different (to me anyway). Packages are only by how they function compared to an exe. But if you look at an exe on most installs now, there are Package like. Give it time. Learn. Take it from this Geek/Nerd...it's fun

[cmar001]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Its not fun at the moment. Its infuriating. I want it to do what I want it to...now. Like I could with windows but it wont. Root access? What the hell is that? How do I do it? I have to compile my own programmes?

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Mint
Xandros
are two;
Linspire (ready to go, but it's a bit different)
what else? Maybe MEPIS, sort of?
Puppy, but it's confessed light-weight;

[Troberg]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Its not fun at the moment. Its infuriating. I want it to do what I want it to...now. Like I could with windows but it wont. Root access? What the hell is that? How do I do it? I have to compile my own programmes?

As with anything new, there's a threshold to get over. Give it a weekend and it will feel better, give it a week and it's easier than using Windows. You do not need a lot of patience, but you do need some. It's a smaller step than switching from XP to Vista...

Root access is basically what's called an admin login in Windows, except that in Linux, you can get it for a signle program/command as well. To run a program with root privileges, either use the sudo command (for command line) or kdesu (for GUI programs).

You do not have to compile, it's something you can do if you are curious or likes to modify program, or if you want them specifically optimized for your hardware. I'm a programmer myself, and even I don't bother with it.

[Fintan]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

Its not fun at the moment. Its infuriating. I want it to do what I want it to...now.

Enlighten us. What is it exactly you want / have to do now?

If you let us know what it is that is bothering you and we probably can help.

I don't want to repeat what has been said, but there is truth in the fact that just because one does not yet know how something works, doesn't mean that it is too complex. Just a bit foreign.

Try going to russia and chat up a girl in deep south (missisippi) english. She might like you and try and comprehend, or she might just walk away. If you learn her language everything is easier.

Linux is that girl. It is not just a toy. Learn how to talk with it and it will bedazzle you with all kinds of charms

Take it one step at a time.

Tar files are just like zip files in windows. To unpack them right click and go to unpack.....
What happens next depends on what is inside that file. We cannot help if we don't know.

Having said that it took me a long time to understand them and I don't know many apps that are not installable with either adept manager or synaptic (that synap thingy). Once you have understood how they work (5-10min of concentration) you will be wondering why you thought that installing anything on widows was easy.

Bottom line: let us know what you want to achieve. That is what this forum is here for.

Most of us were in the same boat at one time or another.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Stuff on Linux

and on the subject of "root access," if you think that's easy or clear in XP, then you haven't really used XP to the max. There's some very subtle (and some not-so-subtle) problems with how XP is set up that way when you have multiple user accounts set up. I don't have time to type out examples, but most people know what I mean ...