It’s not cryptic, just technical. In Windows, if you have to install an application, you download the setup file from the Internet, and run it, right? And to uninstall it, you go to Add/Remove Programs, in the Control Panel? Well, it’s a bit different in Linux. Actually quite different. And simpler! For this post, I’m going to take up the case of Ubuntu, which is the Linux distribution I use.

Software, in Linux, consists of packages. And packages are managed by package managers. There are several package managers, like dpkg, rpm etc.. Anyway, I’ll concentrate on dpkg, which is the one used by Ubuntu. dpkg uses the .deb file format for its packages. But, the command you’ll generall by using is apt.

The problem is that apt has to be used from the Terminal, which is the equivalent of MS-DOS in Linux. Actually, it’s much more powerful… The format for the command will be something like:

sudo apt-get install <packagename>

sudo is for giving administrative privileges to the command. apt-get is the command. install is an argument well, install <packagename>.

Anyway, typing out all the commands yourself can be kinda cumbersome. So, an application was designed to be the front-end for apt, where you could click-select-aah-it works, and so on. This application is called Synaptic Package Manager. Find it under System -> Administration. You’ll need to give your password to open this application.

The system is pretty simple, you open Synaptic. Now, a list of ready-made packages is downloaded from the Ubuntu servers. This list is not just Ubuntu software, and pretty much anything and everything Linux can be found here, short of other Linux distributions. You ideally will not need to hunt around the Internet for packages to install. It should all be accessible from Synaptic. So, all you need to do is find the package you want to install, and double click it, to mark it for installation. A package already installed will have a darkened box next to it. To remove a package, right-click the item, and select Mark for Removal. Mark for Complete Removal also removes the setup files, so if you decide to reinstall the package, you’ll need to download the package file again. Mark for Upgrade, well, upgrades the package if a new version is available. Simple?

Let me explain the Toolbar. Reload refreshes your list of packages by downloading a fresh list from the Ubuntu servers, Mark All Upgrades, is self-explanatory. Apply begins the process of downloading the packages and installing them. Properties gives more detail info about the package, than that available in the pane at the bottom. Search let’s you search for packages by name and/or package description.

The list on the left gives a list of categories into which the packages are sorted. Makes it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.

Oh, and one last thing. You can add more places to get packages from. These web addresses are known as repositories. Click on Settings -> Repositories, or alternatively, from the main System menu in Ubuntu, select Administration – > Software Sources. Here, under the Third Party Software tab, you can add more web addresses. If you like to experiment with Beta software, go to the Updates tab, and select the third and/or fourth check box, depending on your level of adventurism!

There’s another thing. See, in Linux, software is made up of several packages. So, if you’re installing Firefox (which, by the way, is pre-installed on Linux), you’ll need to install other packages Firefox depends on. If you try to manually download each of these packages, you’re likely to lose your marbles, because those packages Firefox depends on will themselves depend on others! So, you’re likely to be banging your head on a wall sooner or later. Synaptic makes it easy, by automatically installing the dependencies.

Once you’re done marking all of the packages you want, click Apply, and Synaptic will download all of the packages for you, and also install them. You’ll need to do nothing. And by the way, unless your changing an important system file, you won’t need to restart your PC, like Windows loves to.

If you bother to search on websites for ways to install your software, the websites may also give the Terminal commands. Running those commands is not unlike selecting the packages from Synaptic. It’s the same thing.

Also, whenever you get update notifications, it’s actually apt and Synaptic working in the background. And they say Linux is complicates. Personally in this front, Windows is much more complicated, because software often make Registry entries, that may/may not be erased during uninstall, cluttering up the Registry.

Ubuntu doesn’t pay me to post about them, and they give me their CDs for free, and the CDs don’t blow up Windows. Coexistence is the key. Try it out. Go to shipit.ubuntu.com/login and order a copy for yourself.