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From: Josiah Jenkins 
Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.ubuntu
Subject: Re: Ubuntu machine on the way Friday
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:08:44 +0000
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Whilst perusing Usenet on Mon, 05 Mar 2007 21:28:53 -0800, I read
these words from NoStop  :
>Pete wrote:
>
>> I've been surfing the web and not found a good answer to the question of
>> how to add a program/package from the Internet (not already in
>> repository). What "directory" do I download to from the Internet so I can
>> itstall it using synaptic?
>> God this could use a simple download and .exe file like Windows.
>
>If it's a deb file you just download it to someplace within your home
>directory. I have firefox setup to send all downloads to a "Downloads"
>directory in my home directory. Then you navigate to that directory with
>Nautilus (the Gnome file manager) and simply double-click on the deb file
>to install it. Couldn't be simpler. Much easier than Windoze.

Eckshully, that's almost identical to the Windoze procedure
(if you choose to set it up that way). A downloads folder, navigate
to there via file manager, double-click the .exe file and tell it
where to install the program.

The bigger difference is where the 'shortcut' to start the program
ends up ! In Windoze, you have to tidy up the Start/All Programs
menu manually or it can end up as a total mess.

And, like a lot of of things in Linux, that's probably not
a task that the inexperienced user wants to have a go at !

As an experienced Win user but a Linux newbie, I reckon both
systems have their good points . . . and bad.

The one major gripe that I have against Ubuntu is the inability
to log in _from_a_boot_ as 'su' (and a different password)
when you're trying to set the system up from scratch. Similar
to what you could do as 'administrator' on a buttoned-down
NT4 / W2K Win installation.

I've been trying to change 'permissions' on an .ogg file.
Even as sudo or gksudo and using a tag managing program,
I still can't find out how in Ubuntu . . . 'permission refused'.
Or you get it changed but it won't save !!!

The same file on a Win XP box. Not a problem, you can do
it easily in File Mangler and, remember, ogg is _not_a native
file system to M$. 

As I said, IMO both systems have their good points, and bad.

(I've even managed to get a 'chocolate screen of death'
in Ubuntu which made me feel right at home and makes
a change from the blue and black ones !)

I actually wonder whether all those years I spent 'tinkering'
with .ini and .bat files in DOS and Win makes it harder
to adjust. Whereas, to a new user, a GUI is a GUI is a GUI !
>
>All that being said, you're better off, if a package is available in the
>repos to use Synaptic or apt-get to download and install it. This may on
>occasion require adding new repos to your /etc/apt/sources.list.

Talking of which, anyone know if the Ubuntu 'universe' and 'multi-
universe' repositories are linked to the main Debian one ?
Or do all the distros tap into the same couple of repositories ?
Not that it matters, I'm just curious !
>
>Unfortunately, not all programs you may want to install are already packaged
>into a deb file. Those that are not are usually available as source code
>files that require compiling on your system to make them into functional
>binaries.

That last sentence can put the fear of death into a newbie !

"Source code" . . . like Cobol, Fortran, Pascal and Lisp ?

"Compile" . . . like put lines of 'ifs, ands and ors' together ?
 
"Binaries . . . aren't they just dirty pictures you download ?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh !
>
>Ubuntu with it's 20,000 packages in its repos, pretty much covers
>most of what you'll need.

Agreed. That's one of the *big* advantages.
And if you don't like the program and want to try a different one,
dump one and install another just by ticking a couple of boxes.

-- jjj
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