installing software on linux mint version 10
 

Hi,

Some of the updates have broken my software manager and I am not able to install software packages either through cmd or the software manager.Please suggest me with some tip to get rid of this problem.

Can I directly install software packages from the INTERNET. If so, please guide me through the rest of the process involved in the installation.

It would help if you actually give us the commands you used and what exact error-messages you get.

Post the output of:
Are you using any third party repositories on Mint 10? This includes those all too problematic PPA repos from https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas

the output I got was as follows.
When I entered 'sudo apt -get update' I was asked to enter the 'sudo password for vikram'. After I entered the password I got the following output

sudo apt -get update
[sudo] password for vikram:
apt
Usage: apt command [options]
apt help command [options]

Commands:
autoclean - Erase old downloaded archive files
autoremove - Remove automatically all unused packages
build - Build binary or source packages from sources
build-dep - Configure build-dependencies for source packages
changelog - View a package's changelog
check - Verify that there are no broken dependencies
clean - Erase downloaded archive files
contains - List packages containing a file
content - List files contained in a package
deb - Install a .deb package
depends - Show raw dependency information for a package
dist-upgrade - Perform an upgrade, possibly installing and removing packages
download - Download the .deb file for a package
dselect-upgrade - Follow dselect selections
held - List all held packages
help - Show help for a command
hold - Hold a package
install - Install/upgrade packages
policy - Show policy settings
purge - Remove packages and their configuration files
rdepends - Show reverse dependency information for a package
reinstall - Download and (possibly) reinstall a currently installed package
remove - Remove packages
search - Search for a package by name and/or expression
show - Display detailed information about a package
source - Download source archives
sources - Edit /etc/apt/sources.list with nano
unhold - Unhold a package
update - Download lists of new/upgradable packages
upgrade - Perform a safe upgrade
version - Show the installed version of a package
This apt has Super Cow Powers
vikram@vikram-Aspire-4738Z ~ $ sudo apt -get dist-upgrade
apt
Usage: apt command [options]
apt help command [options]

Commands:
autoclean - Erase old downloaded archive files
autoremove - Remove automatically all unused packages
build - Build binary or source packages from sources
build-dep - Configure build-dependencies for source packages
changelog - View a package's changelog
check - Verify that there are no broken dependencies
clean - Erase downloaded archive files
contains - List packages containing a file
content - List files contained in a package
deb - Install a .deb package
depends - Show raw dependency information for a package
dist-upgrade - Perform an upgrade, possibly installing and removing packages
download - Download the .deb file for a package
dselect-upgrade - Follow dselect selections
held - List all held packages
help - Show help for a command
hold - Hold a package
install - Install/upgrade packages
policy - Show policy settings
purge - Remove packages and their configuration files
rdepends - Show reverse dependency information for a package
reinstall - Download and (possibly) reinstall a currently installed package
remove - Remove packages
search - Search for a package by name and/or expression
show - Display detailed information about a package
source - Download source archives
sources - Edit /etc/apt/sources.list with nano
unhold - Unhold a package
update - Download lists of new/upgradable packages
upgrade - Perform a safe upgrade
version - Show the installed version of a package
This apt has Super Cow Powers

Please type in the commands exactly the way that they are given to you, or better use copy and paste. The command you need to run isAlso, please use code-tags for posting the output, this will make the post much more readable.

apt
 

one, what are 'code tags' and two it looks like the chap has got some kind of man page up.He has left a gap between apt and the hyphen so it has finished on apt. Then you get the info. Retry?

Fred.

You get code-tags when you press the #-button on top of the text-editor. It looks like this:If you put text between those tags the formatting will be preserved and you will get a scrollbar is the text is longer.