Where are the programs I installed?

[pwright2]

Generally I use synaptic to find and install programs. I am still trying to establish the capabilities I had under windows. I guess I am 95% there in the critical processes but the last 5% are proving difficult. So I use synaptic to search for programs containing key words (last night the issue was RSS) and install programs which look meaningful.

Then I try to find the programs. Sometimes they show up in Kmenu. If not, XFCE AppFinder will often have them. But, all too often, there is no trace of them.

Windows installers almost always asked 'where shall I put this?'. Linux installers never seem to. And it is not obvious to me which of the many files having a program's name is the one to run.

So, is there a standard way to find programs which have been installed but leave no apparent trace in the menus?

-----Paul-----

[eriefisher]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Try pressing ALT-F2 and enter the name of the program.

You could also goto K>>Find Files/Folders and do a search.

I think most programs are in /usr/bin

[claydoh]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Sometimes it takes a little bit for the menu database to be updated (esp. for non KDE apps) so they may turn up later.

There is a program called kappfinder you can use, it finds alot (but not all) of the applications.

I notice that many of apps that exhibit this behaviour are from the (unsupported) Universe and Multiverse repositories, but unless someone files a bug report on this on http://bugs.launchpad.net it may not be addressed. Also note that there are quite a lot of apps that are purely command-line and wont have a menu entry at all.

[pwright2]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

And for the ones which are purely command line, how do I know that I have them and what to call them to run them? Even if I am taking notes (rarely), the programs don't necessarily seem to match what they were called in the database.

(I have discovered that Synaptic keeps a history log. That will help somewhat, at least to remind me that I downloaded something in a 2AM stupor.)

But, for instance, I downloaded Nautilus. Exactly why, I don't remember, but I did. And in the menus I find a Nautilus Configurator. But I don't find Nautilus anywhere.

Thanks for all your help.

-----Paul-----

[claydoh]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

usually, the name of the program is what the command is.
Nautilus (Gnome's file manager) can be called with the command 'nautilus'
Synaptic, and Adept both show what files are installed for each package, you will usually find the program executable or startup script in /usr/bin

Install the program kappfinder, run the command 'kappfinder' in the Run Command dialog and see what that brings up.

[lingenfr]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

I share your frustration. It would be great if the ~standard description in Adept/Synaptic would include the command to run the app.

[pwright2]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

OK, so I opened the terminal and typed kappfinder. And I got this.

pwright2@pwright2-laptop:~$ kappfinder

X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 166
Major opcode: 144
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

And then the kappfinder window opened.

And I decided to report the errorstuff to ask what that is all about. (I would normally expect that many errors to prevent the program from running.)

So I highlighted and copied the text from the terminal to put it here but now I can't find the kappfinder window. I suppose it will come back when I type kappfinder again but it seems odd how things disappear.

-----Paul-----

[cantab]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Those particular errors are very common and don't matter. I'm not sure why the window vanished though...

[claydoh]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Those errors are there as there is tablet PC/wacom tablet hardware bits in a standard (K)Ubuntu xorg.conf file. It can safely be ignored as it is just saying it cant find the devices. You can also run it from the "Run Command" in the main menu and avoid the terminal in this case

[monte48lowes]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Something I find rather helpful is to use the 'which' command from the command line. This tells me where the binary (or executable) file is located and if I have it spelled correctly. For example:

michael@racing:~$ which konsole
/usr/bin/konsole
michael@racing:~$

Then if I wanted to run konsole I would merely type 'konsole' and press <Enter> or use ALT-F2 and type 'konsole'.

If I have it spelled incorrectly:

michael@racing:~$ which console
michael@racing:~$

Nothing comes back. Then I would check my spelling and try again.

Mike

[pulpfile]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

You can also make a link to the program on your desktop by right-clicking there and choosing Create New > Link to Application from the menu that pops up. Under the Application tab, where the Command field is, type the command for running the program. (I haven't tried this with a command-line program, though.)

You can do something similar to manually add entries to the K Menu.

[pwright2]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

As Toody would say, "Ooooh, Ooooh, Ooooh, good ones". Both Which and the 'Create - New - Link" are news to me. Thanks.

-----Paul-----

You guys are probably too young to remember Toody. Unless maybe TVLand has picked up 'Car 54, Where Are You?'

[pwright2]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

Hmmm. OK, I use the Create - Link process and I get a blue gear icon for the app. Is there a way to assign a unique icon to the app? And have that icon show up in the task list on the panel?

I have discovered that if I establish an icon on the desktop and then drag that to Quicklauncher and then delete the desktop icon, the Quicklauncher icon won't work anymore. Not so much counterintuitive as counter the way Windows handles shortcuts. Is there a way to beat that?

-----Paul-----

[komyg]

Re: Where are the programs I installed?

If you put your mouse over the quick launch bar you will see that a small arrow shows up right beside your last icon. If you click on the arrow a menu will pop up.

In this menu go into Add Application to Panel. There you can add any kde application to the quick launch bar.

If you wish to add an application that is not listed on the kde menu go into Add Non-Kde Application and specify the button title, it's description, the path to the executable file and any arguments you might want to pass to the program when you run it.

If you click on the button icon (the blue gear) you can change that icon to whatever you want.

Also if you right click one of the buttons you can reconfigure them.

Komyg