Software installation on Debian squeeze
 

Hi to everyone.

I'm new in linux. I already installed debian in my PC. I downloaded thunderbird(email client) linux version from mozilla.org and winrar but to installed it. The file is compressed in tgz what should I do after I extracted. I'm stock to this. Please help with this matter.

Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forums and to Linux!

For political/ideological reasons, Debian has their own rebranded (but otherwise identical) versions of the Mozilla applications. Firefox is called Iceweasel, and Thunderbird is called Icedove. You can easily install it with (as root):

Typically you do not need to download and install individual apps in Debian (like you would in Windows) because Debian has easy access to an enormous "repository" of stable, tested, and trusted software. :)

Hi,

you should generally use your built in package manager to install software from the repositories. Debian has a rebranded version of thunderbird called iceowl. Either search for iceowl in your graphical package manager, or as root in a terminal run:
Please read up on package management. The new Debian handbook is pretty good.
http://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/
Have a look at the package management section:
http://debian-handbook.info/browse/s...ng-system.html

Cheers,

Evo2.

Where can I see the list of repository?

Opps, as snowpine says icedove is the package you should install.

Cheers,

Evo2.

In case the software you need is not in the repository and you need to download it. What is the procedure for installing the software?

Hi,

It depends on what form it is in. Typically you decompress and unpack it. You then may need to configure and compile it before finally installing it. For the exact procedure you should read the installation instructions that come with the software.

Evo2.

Hi,

Well you could browse http://packages.debian.org but it is probably better to use your package manager.

Evo2.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. The package manager is a software that manage the softwares in linux. So, this where you can search for the software you need for a certain task and not the software that install application you are downloaded from internet.

Yes you are right. Package manager helps you download and install packages that are available for your distribution.

If you download some package yourself from the internet, then you can not use package manager to install it, but you can do the installation manually.

Correct! Please see the 2nd link in post #3 above for details about package managers in Debian.

Cheers,

Evo2.

One last question. Is the package manager of linux is internet dependent?

Hi,
just to clarify, there is no "package manager of linux". There are a number of different package managers used by a number of different GNU/Linux distributions.

Most packages managers primarily use the internet to download package files, however some of them can also fetch package files from CDs/DVDs or even a filesystem on your computer.

HTH,

Evo2.

Your question would take too long for me to type the answer :) but I recommend you read the excellent documentation on the Debian website (such as the above-mentioned Handbook), or even a basic article like this one on wikipedia will begin to answer your question.

Did my suggested command apt-get install icedove work? Are you now successfully using icedove? It is a friendly thing to let people know if their advice has been helpful. :)

You can use Synaptic, the GUI package manager, to browse through whatever software's available and install what you want.