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Having Troubles With Etch :( Please Help

Hi i have currently just switched from windows to linux, i want to know what all the fuss is about ;).

But after installing etch onto my computer, i have tried to install some things via the source, but my compiler doesnt work, it says i dont have a C compiler. If i do not, how do i get one? Its really frustrating :( please help?

Thanks

As a beginner, there is probably no reason for you to be compiling things from source. Google for the "Aptitude User's Manual", and spend some time reading.

You would install the compiler by using the following commands.

aptitude update
aptitude install build-essential

But rickh is quite right, as a new user maybe you should use Synaptic or aptitude to install pre-compiled packages.. I mean one of the benefits of Debian is the HUGE repository of ready to install software just waiting for you in the repository..

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/

ok thanks.

But could i ask you 1 question, if i was wanting to install a IRC client such as xchat-2.8.4.tar.bz2, how would i go about it. ive tried the aplitude-install but it always says it cant find the package.

thanks

# aptitude install xchat

omg lol

thanks very much, it all seems so clear now.

Thanks for your help :D

you can use the search feature to locate packages if you need to know the name of an application you are trying to install.

for instance you know you want to install xchat so you would do aptitude search xchat

Code:

it-etch:~# aptitude search xchat

p  xchat                                        - IRC client for X similar to AmIRC

p  xchat-common                                  - Common files for X-Chat

p  xchat-gnome                                  - a new frontend to the popular X-Chat IRC client

p  xchat-gnome-common                            - a new frontend to the popular X-Chat IRC client

p  xchat-guile                                  - Guile scripting plugin for XChat

p  xchat-systray                                - xchat systray notification icon

p  xchat-xsys                                    - x-chat plugin that can display your current system stati

then you would install by using aptitude install xchat

or to be a little trickier.. you want to install Suns version of the Java Runtime environment but what is the package called ?

Code:

it-etch:~# aptitude search java

p  coco-java                                    - Coco/R Compiler Generator (Java Version)

p  entity-javascript                            - XML-based GUI builder for GTK+ (JavaScript bindings)

p  free-java-sdk                                - Complete Java SDK environment consisting of free Java to

p  java-common                                  - Base of all Java packages

v  java-compiler                                -

p  java-gcj-compat                              - Java runtime environment using GIJ

p  java-gcj-compat-dev                          - Java runtime environment with GCJ

p  java-gcj-compat-plugin                        - Web browser plugin to execute Java (tm) applets using gi

p  java-package                                  - utility for building Java(TM) 2 related Debian packages

v  java-runtime                                  -

v  java-virtual-machine                          -

v  java1-runtime                                -

v  java2-compiler                                -

v  java2-runtime                                -

p  java2html                                    - Highlight Java and C++ sources for WWW presentation

p  javacc                                        - A parser generator for use with Java

p  kdebindings-java                              - KDE Java bindings metapackage

.

.

Some content removed to keep the post a reasonable size.. 

.

.

v  postgresql-8.1-pljava                        -

p  postgresql-8.1-pljava-gcj                    - Java procedural language for PostgreSQL

p  slice2java                                    - Slice to Java translator

p  slice2javae                                  - Slice to Java translator for IceE

p  sun-java5-bin                                - Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 (architecture

p  sun-java5-demo                                - Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 demos and example

p  sun-java5-doc                                - Sun JDK(TM) Documention -- integration installer

p  sun-java5-fonts                              - Lucida TrueType fonts (from the Sun JRE)

p  sun-java5-jdk                                - Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 5.0

p  sun-java5-jre                                - Sun Java(TM) Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 (architecture

p  sun-java5-plugin                              - The Java(TM) Plug-in, Java SE 5.0

p  sun-java5-source                              - Sun Java(TM) Development Kit (JDK) 5.0 source files

p  tightvnc-java                                - TightVNC java applet and command line program

p  vnc-java                                      - VNC java applet and command line program

p  wipl-client-java                              - A client for wipl-daemon, usable through a web interface

it-etch:~#

so then seeing there is also a browser plugin you could install suns jre and the plugin in one fell swoop..

aptitude install sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin

Yes Debians package manager rocks.. and once you learn the basics you'll see how simple it is to use.

wow that is useful. Thanks so much, thats saved me loads of time!

:D:D

Thanks for bringing aptitude to the front of my attention. I have used the text-based interface before & was impressed by its potential (to me) usefulness. I don't think I was aware of its CLI commands. I read through the man page & I think I should start using it. I use apt-get interchangeably w/ KPackage, but I have a hard time mastering apt-cache, aptitude seems to combine the features of both & therefore seems to be easier to learn to use for operations beyond "install".

Options that impress me:[list][*] -sV[*] -sr[*] patterns[list]

Just to be safe, If you wish to move from using apt-get to aptitude (a really good idea), your first aptitude command should be "aptitude keep-all"

I have hardly seen the ncurses interface. I'm sure it's great for those who master it, but the cli contains all the functionality that I can imagine needing.