LinuxQuestions.org
Download your favorite Linux distribution at LQ ISO.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General
User Name
Password
General This forum is for non-technical general discussion which can include both Linux and non-Linux topics. Have fun!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 05-24-2005, 12:19 AM   #1
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Rep: Reputation: 31
.deb is NOT easier than .rpm


I can't believe I believed the hype. I went through the hell of switching from Mandrake to Ubuntu just because people told me debian based distros were easier for installing programs. They are NOT! It seems like I have to use the 1980s terminal technique more than ever! At least with .rpm files I could just click them and they would go. I'm so pissed off and tired right now. I'm really getting sick of this. I can't use Windows because it draws in viruses and spyware. I can't use Linux because it makes simple tasks insanely difficult. And I can't use Mac because I don't have the money. Uggg... Oh, and gnome is terrible. If you have to use the terminal for everything, it could at least make files easier to access like KDE does and load up from any directory. I hear everyone talking about 'simplicity'. Simplicity is only good for IT professionals and advanced users! The GUI was invented for a reason. Until the Linux community finds a way to bring users more automation (one click install, icons that make themselves, etc), it will never become as popular as Windows - hence, it will not get the kind of software support it wants.

Last edited by Cinematography; 05-24-2005 at 12:22 AM.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:32 AM   #2
vharishankar
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,178
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 138Reputation: 138
Did you use the synaptic package manager? It is a one-click graphical installer that comes with Debian and all Debian based distros.

Or are you just trying to double click files?

If you want help, ask for help.

Last edited by vharishankar; 05-24-2005 at 12:33 AM.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:34 AM   #3
scuzzman
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2004
Location: Hilliard, Ohio, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Kubuntu
Posts: 1,851

Rep: Reputation: 47
Quote:
I'm really getting sick of this. I can't use Windows because it draws in viruses and spyware. I can't use Linux because it makes simple tasks insanely difficult. And I can't use Mac because I don't have the money.
Umm... DOS?
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:36 AM   #4
vharishankar
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,178
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 138Reputation: 138
There are also other OSes like Zeta (next generation BeOS for x86 architecture. But mind you: Zeta is not open source. It is a commercial OS.

So you don't need either Windows or Linux on a x86 machine. You can choose other alternatives as well.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:36 AM   #5
reddazz
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: N. E. England
Distribution: Fedora, CentOS, Debian
Posts: 16,298

Rep: Reputation: 77
I think managing packages in Debian (and derivatives) was better than in RPM based distros before apt/synaptic were ported to rpm. Now, I think its just the same, but there is still a lot of hype from some people in the Debian camp who still think think that rpm package management is still has difficult as it was a long time ago. Obviously if you download debs and rpms from third party sites, there is a high risk of facing dependency problems and other headaches associated with trying to resolve those dependencies.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:47 AM   #6
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by Harishankar
Did you use the synaptic package manager? It is a one-click graphical installer that comes with Debian and all Debian based distros.

Or are you just trying to double click files?

If you want help, ask for help.
Not everything I need is in synaptic. For example, Java. It's just as hard to install in Ubuntu as it was for me in Mandrake.

Quote:
Originally posted by Harishankar
There are also other OSes like Zeta (next generation BeOS for x86 architecture. But mind you: Zeta is not open source. It is a commercial OS.

So you don't need either Windows or Linux on a x86 machine. You can choose other alternatives as well.
I seriously think I might have to. Thank you for the tip.

Quote:
Originally posted by reddazz
Obviously if you download debs and rpms from third party sites, there is a high risk of facing dependency problems and other headaches associated with trying to resolve those dependencies.
I never had this problem with Mandrake. I would click a file, the package manager would get everything else that file needed automatically, and I was done and ready to go. Ubuntu also has a nice package manager, but .deb files suck. When I click them they don't automatically go. I have to type in programmers code. I gave up programming a long time ago. I didn't want to go back to it.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:49 AM   #7
vharishankar
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,178
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 138Reputation: 138
You can also add non-official third party repositories to your /etc/apt/sources.list file for packages which are not available in the official repositories.

Moreover, instead of using Ubuntu, you could try Debian Sarge itself. You'd find many more packages in the Debian repositories than in Ubuntu. (more than 15,000 packages!)

I think there is a repository which has DEB packages for Java.

Otherwise you could even download the official Java installer from Sun and run the install script. This should work always!

Last edited by vharishankar; 05-24-2005 at 12:51 AM.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:51 AM   #8
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by Harishankar
You can also add non-official third party repositories to your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

I think there is a site which has DEB packages for Java.

Otherwise you could even download the official Java installer from Sun and run the install script. This should work always!
That's easy. Getting it to work for Firefox is still hard for no reason. .deb distros are no better than .rpm distros. I should have stayed with Mandrake.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:53 AM   #9
vharishankar
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,178
Blog Entries: 4

Rep: Reputation: 138Reputation: 138
Yes. Java in Firefox/Mozilla is a bit tricky. This is a distro unspecific problem. I had this problem with RedHat and Fedora as well.

I think I read somewhere how to solve this problem in this site. I forget where it is. I guess a google search should help here.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 12:54 AM   #10
Ironi
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2003
Location: Lansing, MI
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 27

Rep: Reputation: 15
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=36618

Don't feed the crossposting troll, folks.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 01:01 AM   #11
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by Ironi
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=36618

Don't feed the crossposting troll, folks.
Don't you think I knew some people who are members here are also members there? I wanted to see if there were others who agreed with my sentiments.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 01:02 AM   #12
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by Harishankar
Yes. Java in Firefox/Mozilla is a bit tricky. This is a distro unspecific problem. I had this problem with RedHat and Fedora as well.

I think I read somewhere how to solve this problem in this site. I forget where it is. I guess a google search should help here.
A moderator at Ubuntu forums suggested this link for dealing with Java:
http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/

I'm going to give it a closer look later. Hopefully it'll install the needed browser plugins that are so complicated to install.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 01:05 AM   #13
craigevil
Senior Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: OZ
Distribution: Debian Sid/RPIOS
Posts: 4,883
Blog Entries: 28

Rep: Reputation: 533Reputation: 533Reputation: 533Reputation: 533Reputation: 533Reputation: 533
Try installing Kpackage, with it you click on the .deb file then click install. As long as the dependencies are Ok it will install.

Java is in the repositories try using apt-get.org. With the repositories in my sourcelist I have over 22k packages that I could install. The coolest game is Blob Wars.

I used Kanotix to install Debian Sid, Java came installed and works perfectly with Firefox.
Java(TM) Plug-in 1.4.2_06-b03
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050517 Firefox/1.0.4 (Debian package 1.0.4-2)

If you use Synaptic all you do is click the package you want to install then click apply.

It sounds like you won't be happy with RPM's or .deb files. Good Luck with whatever you find
that works for you.

"How to install J2SE Runtime Environment (JRE) with Plug-in for Mozilla Firefox?"
http://www.ubuntuguide.org/#jre

Last edited by craigevil; 05-24-2005 at 01:07 AM.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 01:10 AM   #14
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by craigevil
Try installing Kpackage, with it you click on the .deb file then click install. As long as the dependencies are Ok it will install.
I knew I should have went with my gut and got Kubuntu. I guess I could always just install KDE on Ubuntu. Thank you for the suggestion. and links. One of these days I'll find an OS that I can be happy with. Hopefully. Windows came close. Too bad it's a magnet for viruses and other garbage.
 
Old 05-24-2005, 01:14 AM   #15
Cinematography
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: openSUSE 13.1
Posts: 357

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 31
Welp, this post pretty much kills my argument: lol
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...2&postcount=11

I'm sure others will run into a similar problem with a Debian based distro. Maybe this thread could be of some use after all. A lot of these little help tools should be installed by default though.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What are the differences between .rpm and .deb? ZakuSage Linux - Newbie 2 05-31-2005 04:19 PM
how to manage both rpm and deb abd_bela Linux - Distributions 3 02-17-2005 03:07 AM
apt-get for both rpm and deb abd_bela Conectiva 1 02-16-2005 08:40 AM
RPM vs DEB eBopBob Linux - General 3 11-30-2004 12:42 PM
from .deb to .rpm sevenn Linux - Software 1 06-06-2004 09:03 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:57 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration