moRe: [Scottish] time spent on Linux stuff...

[Alan Pope]

On Wed, Feb 28, 2007 at 04:53:23AM -0500, babaguy wrote:
>  Dear All,  Well, I am now to the point where I realise that Linux is really only ever going to be a 
hobby, as it just seems to require so much time to simply make up its mind to *function*.......(or for me 
to read its mind and discover how to make it do stuff..!)I have Ubuntu (as I'm sure you know by 
now...5.10) -   
> 

It can be frustrating, and quite an uphill struggle, that's true.

> What I've been trying to do, just as a simple exercise really, to see if I can do *anything* - (well, I 
*have* managed to get online with the linux box! Whew!) - is to download and install even one pkg. -  
> 
> I've tried "apt-get"  I've tried "apt-get install" - I've tried the Synaptic Package manager - (I was 
looking for Ubuntu updates/upgrades and trying to apply them just to see if I *could* !)   
> 

Applying updates is simply a matter of running the update manager and clicking on the red icon when it 
prompts you there are updates available as per:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KeepingUbuntuUpdated

>  The problem I keep running into is that although software gets downloaded okay, I don't know where it 
*is* and neither does Ubuntu, and archive manager - the default installer (or so it tells me) can never 
open/install *any*thing....  
> 

When you download/install software using synaptic package manager you don't generally need to know where 
it is, it gets an icon on the Applications menu. You just click that to start the application you have 
installed.

The following page covers this in considerable detail:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware

> I've looked thru the "apt-get -help" instructions and tried them , but they don't work either...  
> 

If you are a beginner, forget apt-get, use synaptic:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto

> I'd LIKE  to install Opera on the computer (Mozilla in Ubuntu is pretty disappointing) but although the 
download of Opera for Linux goes all right, the same dead end occurs with the archive manager and I can't 
figure out which *other* pkg might open it . When I *do* look through other packages, they're usually 
empty when I finally work on down the directory or file tree...    
> 

To install opera follow this guide:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OperaBrowser

> It really *is* most annoying - and very time-consuming...... 
> 

It's a learning exercise, that's for sure.

Cheers,
Al.