KpackageKit problem

[Guest]

Hi, Just installed Kubuntu on a tablet PC but can't get much working, it has taken me all weekend to get the Wireless connection to work, from info on the internet it sounds like there is software that might get some more of the PC's features working but now I can't get KpackageKit to do much, it does not display anything when it starts, I imagined it would show what is installed on the PC, and if I enter the name of software I have read about it says search done in 1 second 0 results and searches have not turned up much info on using it, the help button at the bottom is inactive and the only help installed on the PC seems to be an index for KDE but there are no contents.
After further reading I tried some sudo apt-get commands I found but nothing seemed to work.
Any ideas?

[Rog131]

Re: KpackageKit problem

Rule of Thumb

When you get a mysterious error/no start with the gui, use the cli.

With the cli you usually get a full error message and could do a net search with the error message.


What do you get when you ?:

a) Update the package database:

sudo apt-get update

b) Try to install an application:

sudo apt get install <package_name_here>

About the package managers

Many users are using the synaptic package manager > FAQ: Package Managers and > Synaptic and the Kubuntu


Everything and the kitchen sink (about 50 MB):

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Only the essentials (about 3 Mb):

sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends install synaptic

[dibl]

Re: KpackageKit problem

I can't get KpackageKit to do much, it does not display anything when it starts

That's a feature.

I can neither explain nor defend the KpackageKit design -- I have no use for a package manager that opens up showing you exactly zero packages, and forces the user to enter obscure, non-obvious names of packages prior to providing any information.

Open your terminal, aka "Konsole" and install the Synaptic package manager.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install synaptic

Then open synaptic, and you can browse the available packages and decide which you would like to try. You "mark" a desired package by clicking on the box in front of the name, then you click the "Apply" button at the top menu to actually install it.

[Guest]

Re: KpackageKit problem

I had tried 'sudo apt-get install <package_name_here>' with different things I had found, including Synaptic and got nothing but all sorts happened with sudo apt-get update, it seemed to get a long list of files and shortly after KpackageKit came to life reporting that I needed 200+ updates and bug fixes.
So am in the middle of downloading the updates and Synaptic.

Is there any particular format for using 'cli' I tried it in terminal to see what it does and just got 'unrecognised command' or something.

[dibl]

Re: KpackageKit problem

First, in FAQs linked in my signature, there are links to Linux documentation, and other useful things for the new user.

The "CLI" is the Command Line Interface -- the so-called "DOS-like prompt" or character-mode prompt. There are basically two ways to use it:

1. Open one of the many terminal applications. The one that comes with Kubuntu is called "Konsole". You can get to it from the KMenu > System menu, or use Alt-F2 "konsole" with no quote marks.

2. Exit from X, with Ctrl-Alt-F1, and you will be presented with the console login prompt. Enter your user name, and then your password when prompted, and you have the system at your fingertips (even though it doesn't necessarily look that way ...). Your interface is a so-called shell program -- I think it is dash, but it might be bash. The differences are not important to the new user. Most of these commands are available to you:

http://ss64.com/bash/


Ctrl-Alt-F7 will return you to the X desktop.


"Man" shows you the manual for each command. So

man apt-get

will show you all the options for the apt-get command,

man fdisk

will show you that one, etc. etc. The prefix "sudo" for CLI commands directs that it will be used in "root" or "super user" mode.

So, in a Konsole window, or at the actual console, you can enter

sudo apt-get update

to update your package database and

sudo apt-get install synaptic

to actually install the synaptic package manager application.

Hope this helps!