... i am missing the install wizards from the windows world. Firefox is the only program so far i have come across that installed itself in a simple fashion and in a similar way to what i am used to.
Ok, this is probably going to be a "re-hash" of what CrashedAgain said, but, I might be giving you a little more information, or a different slant an it...
You can install "packages" three ways, here is a list of those ways, from the "easiest" and more "native", all the way down to "harder" and last effort, which would be done if you cant do them the other two ways...
( 1 ) Use apt-get, or any one of the "front-ends" that use apt...
( 2 ) Use "alien", which would be if the "package" only comes in a ".rpm" - which would be for a RedHat Distro... Debian / Knoppix / Kanotix use ".deb" packages...
( 3 ) As a last effort, source code - which some programs only come in source code, you download the source code, un-tar the "tarball", then compile and install the program...
As CrashedAgain said, Linux doesnt have those "easy" Windows Wizard Installers, but, as you get used to using "apt-get", you may find that "it" is actually a lot easer than the Windows way of doing things...
Lets try an example of start to finish, step-by-step, using apt-get... You can always look at the "manual pages" or man, for any command... In a "terminal" screen, just type man with the command you want to see after it... Like this:
man apt-get
You will get a screen of the manual for the command, you can scroll the text with your coursor keys, and exit the manial screen text by pressing q
Some of the "commonly used" commands you will be using:
apt-get update
apt-cache search something
apt-cache show something
apt-cache policy something
apt-get -s install something [ ... ]
apt-get install something [ ... ]
apt-get remove something [ ... ]
apt-get --purge remove something [ ... ]
Commands, above, with the [ ... ], mean you can add more on the command line, actually, all of the commands ( except for update ) can have multiple "something" after them...
You should really get used to using apt, even if you want to go with a GUI "front-end" program, like KPackage, Synaptic, etc... because they all use apt, and you may find, that you cant do some things with these "front-ends", that are easier, and faster, if you just use apt...
Lets see if we can do a "walk-through" on some of these commands, and how you would probably be using them...
First, and foremost, you will want to be sure that the "list" of packages available to apt, is currently updated. "apt" keeps a database on your system of what it "knows" is available, and from the "sources" that you tell it where to look for them. The file that tells apt where to look, is called the sources.list file, a simple text file, found in /etc/apt/sources.list - it contains locations on the internet, where it can search and "get" these packages...
To make your apt updated, you do the following command:
apt-get update
When that completes, your local database now contains all the packages that apt can "get", and where it can find them...
Since I have mozilla installed, I will use it for some of these commands, just so you know, you can replace "mozilla" with something that you would be interested in seeing...
To see what is installed on your system, you can use the "show" and "policy" options of apt-cache, like this:
root@Morpheus:~# apt-cache show mozilla
Package: mozilla
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 24
Maintainer: Takuo KITAME <
[email protected]>
Architecture: i386
Version: 2:1.7.3-5
Replaces: mozilla-dmotif, mozilla-smotif
Depends: mozilla-browser (= 2:1.7.3-5), mozilla-mailnews (= 2:1.7.3-5), mozilla-psm (= 2:1.7.3-5), dpkg (>= 1.10.9)
Suggests: mozilla-chatzilla (= 2:1.7.3-5)
Conflicts: galeon (<< 1.2.8-3), skipstone (<< 0.8.3-4)
Filename: pool/main/m/mozilla/mozilla_1.7.3-5_i386.deb
Size: 1030
MD5sum: 721505b9363f3ad8f5dc6e569883b2f3
Description: The Mozilla Internet application suite - meta package
This is a meta package that depends on the main components of the
mozilla web browser. It is here to ease upgrades, installations, and
provide a consistent upgrade path from previous versions.
.
It can safely be removed with no ill effects.
Package: mozilla
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 24
Maintainer: Takuo KITAME <
[email protected]>
Architecture: i386
Version: 2:1.6-5
Replaces: mozilla-dmotif, mozilla-smotif
Depends: mozilla-browser (= 2:1.6-5), mozilla-mailnews (= 2:1.6-5), mozilla-psm (= 2:1.6-5), mozilla-xft (= 2:1.6-5), dpkg (>= 1.10.9)
Suggests: mozilla-chatzilla (= 2:1.6-5)
Conflicts: galeon (<< 1.2.8-3), skipstone (<< 0.8.3-4)
Description: Mozilla Web Browser - dummy package
This is a dummy package that depends on the main components of the
mozilla web browser. It is here to ease upgrades, installations, and
provide a consistent upgrade path from previous versions.
.
It can safely be removed with no ill effects.
Package: mozilla
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 32
Maintainer: Takuo KITAME <
[email protected]>
Architecture: i386
Version: 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1
Replaces: mozilla-dmotif, mozilla-smotif
Depends: mozilla-browser (= 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1), mozilla-mailnews (= 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1), mozilla-psm (= 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1)
Suggests: mozilla-xmlterm (= 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1), mozilla-chatzilla (= 2:1.0.0-0.woody.1)
Filename: pool/updates/main/m/mozilla/mozilla_1.0.0-0.woody.1_i386.deb
Size: 1160
MD5sum: 80d2a3d6893d5dae4c06a92c8b44daee
Description: Mozilla Web Browser - dummy package
This is a dummy package that depends on the main components of the
mozilla web browser. It is here to ease upgrades, installations, and
provide a consistent upgrade path from previous versions.
.
It can safely be removed with no ill effects.
Task: desktop
root@Morpheus:~# apt-cache policy mozilla
mozilla:
Installed: 2:1.6-5
Candidate: 2:1.7.3-5
Version Table:
2:1.7.3-5 0
990 http://ftp.de.debian.org testing/main Packages
500 http://ftp.de.debian.org unstable/main Packages
*** 2:1.6-5 0
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
2:1.0.0-0.woody.1 0
500 http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main Packages
500 http://ftp.de.debian.org stable/main Packages
root@Morpheus:~#
The "show" option will display the "description" stuff of what you are giving as an option, and in the case of "policy", you might guess, a new version exists of my install of "mozilla", it shows I have version 2-1.6-5, and the newest version is 2:1.7.3-5... Here is what happens if I use "firefox" for the "policy" option:
root@Morpheus:~# apt-cache policy firefox
W: Unable to locate package firefox
root@Morpheus:~#
Hmmmm, appears that no package exists called "firefox", lets explore this...
So, lets say I want to install "firefox", but, from the above output, appears that no such "package" exists called "firefox"... So, maybe a "search" might gleem some idea???
root@Morpheus:~# apt-cache search firefox
gtkcookie - Editor for cookie files
latex-xft-fonts - Xft-compatible versions of some LaTeX fonts
mozilla-firefox-locale-eu - Mozilla Firefox Basque language/region package
mozilla-firefox-locale-it - Mozilla Firefox Italian Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-ko - Mozilla Firefox Korean Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-nb - Mozilla Firefox Norwegian Bokmål Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-sv - Mozilla Firefox Swedish Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-tr - Mozilla Firefox Turkish Language/Region Package
libflash-mozplugin - GPL Flash (SWF) Library - Mozilla-compatible plugin
mozilla-firefox - lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
mozilla-firefox-dom-inspector - tool for inspecting the DOM of pages in Mozilla Firefox
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support - Support for Gnome in Mozilla Firefox
mozilla-firefox-locale-ca - Mozilla Firefox Catalan language/region package
mozilla-firefox-locale-de - Mozilla Firefox German Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-fr - Mozilla Firefox Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-ja - Mozilla Firefox Japanese Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-pl - Mozilla Firefox Polish Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-locale-uk - Mozilla Firefox Ukrainian Language/Region Package
mozilla-firefox-gnome-vfs - Support for Gnome-VFS in Mozilla Firefox
root@Morpheus:~#
Ahhh Haaaa, looking through the output of "search", it appears that "firefox" is not a package, but, I do see "firefox" as an install - its called mozilla-firefox, if I wanted more information on this, I might do a "show" option, to see if it says anything more than the single line explaination in the above search...
root@Morpheus:~# apt-cache show mozilla-firefox
Package: mozilla-firefox
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 26612
Maintainer: Eric Dorland <
[email protected]>
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.99+1.0RC1-4
Provides: www-browser
Depends: fontconfig, psmisc, debianutils (>= 1.16), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.6.0), libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-4), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.2.1), libfreetype6 (>= 2.1.5-1), libgcc1 (>= 1:3.4.1-3), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.4.7), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.4.4), libidl0, libjpeg62, libkrb53 (>= 1.3.2), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.4.1), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.7), libstdc++5 (>= 1:3.3.4-1), libx11-6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxext6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxft2 (>> 2.1.1), libxp6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxrender1, libxt6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1)
Recommends: mozilla-firefox-gnome-support (= 0.99+1.0RC1-4), xprt-xprintorg
Suggests: latex-xft-fonts
Filename: pool/main/m/mozilla-firefox/mozilla-firefox_0.99+1.0RC1-4_i386.deb
Size: 9462068
MD5sum: a26202489990d7178eac6be3f01af242
Description: lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
Firefox is a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to
Galeon, K-Meleon and Camino, but written using the XUL user interface
language and designed to be lightweight and cross-platform.
.
This browser was previously known as Firebird and Phoenix.
Package: mozilla-firefox
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 28024
Maintainer: Eric Dorland <
[email protected]>
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.9.3-5
Provides: www-browser
Depends: fontconfig, psmisc, debianutils (>= 1.16), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.6.0), libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-4), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.2.1), libfreetype6 (>= 2.1.5-1), libgcc1 (>= 1:3.4.1-3), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.4.6), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.4.4), libidl0, libjpeg62, libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.4.1), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.5.0-4), libstdc++5 (>= 1:3.3.4-1), libx11-6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxext6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxft2 (>> 2.1.1), libxp6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), libxrender1, libxt6 | xlibs (>> 4.1.0), zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1)
Recommends: xprt-xprintorg
Suggests: latex-xft-fonts
Filename: pool/main/m/mozilla-firefox/mozilla-firefox_0.9.3-5_i386.deb
Size: 9838518
MD5sum: 1bd2b52f99e4252633e09cc3a1adef29
Description: lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
Firefox is a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to
Galeon, K-Meleon and Camino, but written using the XUL user interface
language and designed to be lightweight and cross-platform.
.
This browser was previously known as Firebird and Phoenix.
root@Morpheus:~#
Very interesting, its "like" mozilla, and used to be known as Firebird and Phoenix, it will want to suggest that I also install, or have, "latex-xft-fonts", and it will recommend that I have, or install, "xprt-xprintorg" - hmmm... Now, if I was interested in installing this, I would first try a "dry run", or a "simulation" of the install, by doing the following:
apt-get -s install mozilla-firefox
If it appears that nothing had problems, then I would do the same command, but remove the -s, like this:
apt-get install mozilla-firefox
When it is done, it should have not only installed the program, but set it all up, and created a menu entry, probably under the catagory "Internet" - my guess...
To finish up the commands I listed, lets say I installed "firefox" above, and wished to remove it, not everything, just the "package" itself - i.e. any extra files, or configurations would be left behind - you might want to do this if you plan on re-installing it again later... I would do the following:
apt-get remove mozilla-firefox
Now, if I wanted to remove it completely, that means EVERYTHING that it installed, and possibly any files that I might have created using that package, then I could remove it completely by using the following command:
apt-get --purge remove mozilla-firefox
Other commands you can use are the "upgrade" and "dist-upgrade", for apt-get... You might want to read all the "horror story" posts here on the forums before doing either of these two apt-get commands though -=- The problem with Knoppix is that it is a Debian "Sid" based operating system, this is based on the Debian "unstable" version, and has additional "patches" that make it unique, and prone to having problems when you do a "blanket" command like the two above... Even if you use a "front-end" program like Synaptic, it can still do these two commands inside them, as well, and I speak from experience here, it isnt a pretty sight to do them -=- the best thing I have learned is to install only what you want, and then install any "updated" versions of those packages, one by one, and not allow anything to try and "upgrade" everything all at once, this includes apt-get or any "front-end" program that uses apt-get in the background...
I hope this helps, and sorry for the "lengthly" posting :D
Ms. Cuddles