Ubuntu Software: Installation and Startup

On Ubuntu, people often switch after a long time using the Windows operating system. Since these OSs differ significantly from each other, an inexperienced user may experience problems while working. Sometimes it comes to the absurd, a person simply does not understand how to install programs for Ubuntu.

This article will just touch on this topic. All popular methods of installing programs will be considered, as well as their launching.

Installation using Synaptic

First of all, let's consider the simplest method using Synaptic. This software comes in any Linux distribution, and you can find it in the "Menu". There, hover over the "Administration" and on the right, select "Synaptic Package Manager".

This program is not the only one of its kind, but they all work on the same principle, so there are no significant differences in them. A good program is that it has a graphical interface, to which Windows users are so used.

So, in order to install programs for Ubuntu, go to the package manager. At startup, you will be prompted for the password you provided when installing the operating system. Entering it, open the program itself. First of all, update all the packages by clicking on the button of the same name.

Now you see a list of all the programs that are located in the repository. After finding the required one, click on it twice or you can right-click and select "Mark for installation" in the context menu. Once you have done this, you can proceed with the installation. To do this, click in the top panel "Apply". Immediately the installation will begin, you will be shown which packages will be installed and give a brief information about them.

Now you know how to install programs for Ubuntu using the package manager Synaptic.

Installing through the repository using the terminal

To install the program for Ubuntu, you can still use the terminal, or, as it is called, the command line. To call the terminal, press the corresponding icon or Ctrl + Alt + T.

This method is good because the information about the program is provided many times more, plus a flexible setting is available. But a significant drawback is that for a newcomer to Ubuntu, it may seem complicated and incomprehensible, and it's not surprising, because the work is done without a graphical interface.

So, there is an open terminal in front of you. First, by typing sudo apt-get update, update the program lists. Now you can go directly to the installation. For this it is necessary to write:

To be clearer, it is worthwhile to give an example:

It is also possible to install several software at once. To do this, simply enter their name in the space bar.

A small remark. When you enter the first line in the terminal, you can request a password, so, when you enter it, nothing is displayed - this is normal. For example, if you have the password "0000", just press four times zero, and then press Enter.

Now you know one more way how to install the program in Ubuntu.

Installation from the dep package with a graphical interface

It also happens that the file you need in the repository was not found. It's not scary. Most likely, the author of the program simply does not have its own repository. In this case, the program can be distributed using the deb package.

On the Internet, find the necessary package and download it to your computer. The plus of this method is that you do not need the Internet to install the program. The package can be reset to a flash drive and installed on any PC. But there is a minus significant, the fact is that after installing this way the program will not be updated on its own, since the system will not find it in the repository.

So, the deb package was downloaded to the PC. To install it with Nautilus (this is the same as Explorer in Windows), open the folder where the file is located, and click it twice. Before you will open a window in which you will be asked to authorize the installation of this program, click "Install package", and the installation process will begin.

Installation from the dep package using the terminal

The deb package can also be installed with the help of the terminal, for this you must run it first. It's important to know that installing this method involves having dpkg, and if you do not have this utility, you need to install it.

Direct installation of the deb package via the terminal is performed using the command:

As you noticed, you must pave the path to the file, for example this will look like this:

After the command is entered and you press Enter, the installation process will begin. As a result, you will be informed that everything went well or not. If not, read the reasons and fix the problem.

Also with the help of the terminal you can install absolutely all deb packages in the folder. To do this, just ply the path to the folder in the line and end the line "... *. Deb". For example:

Do not forget also that when you are prompted for a password, you will not see it when typing.

Running applications

Well, that seems to be all. About how to install programs in Ubuntu, we talked, it remains only to explain how the launch of Ubuntu programs.

Here you can use several ways. The first implies launching through the "Menu". Just click the corresponding icon and in one of the sections find the program you need. After clicking on the icon, it will be launched.

The second way is much faster, it involves the use of the same terminal. Open it and in the line just enter the name of the program. For example, you want to run the text editor Gedit, for this simply type:

After pressing Enter the program will start.

Also worth mentioning is that on Ubuntu, Windows programs are also launched, only for this you need to install a special program called Wine. Its installation and configuration can be found on the Internet. Well, that's it, you learned how to install programs on the Ubuntu operating system.