Re: Making Linux Easy for Newbies

kurt wrote:
Christopher Hunter wrote:
kurt wrote:
Regardless of what the other posters have said, software OTHER than
what's included in a distrubution is USUALLY more difficult to install.
As a recent convert, I still have some difficulty getting programs to
work. And then there's the dependencies to deal with.

Either you can't (or won't) /read/ /the/ /instructions/ for the package
manager for your distro. Modern methods like /synaptic,/ /apt,/ or /rpm/
handle dependencies automatically for you. There are invariably programs
packaged for /your/ distro available on the 'net - just find the right
repositories. If there's some obscure program that isn't packaged suitably for your
distro, email the software developer and request an appropriate .deb or
a .rpm - if the original developer doesn't do it, he'll pass you along to
someone who can. However, it's rare to find something /so/ obscure that
it's unavailable for your distro.

Sometimes there's a package. Sometimes it installs and runs problem-free. Plenty of times not. Flash player for Firefox is a perfect example. Sure, there's a script - that must be launched from a shell. Then you have to tell it where to put the files.

Didn't have to run any install script, didn't even have to go to adobes home page to download it, I just used the package manager for my distro and told it that I wanted flash and it fixed it for me, try that on microsoft.


--

//Aho
.

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