I've been using Linux Mint for 2 or 3 yrs now and i have to admit something embarrassing to everyone. I haven't got a clue how to install downloads!
I've just downloaded a browser and it says tar.bz2 at the end of it, now it doesn't matter what the end of the file says i just have no idea how to install these things.

Here is what i usually do: double click on it, a new page pops up and i highlight the file and click on extract, then it'll go somewhere else and i'll hit on 'show the files' and then i'll click on 'install' of something else. Often i'll do it all again and again!
Sometimes some of these things do actually end up being installed by accident!!! Other times i have to go thru' all this again everytime i turn the pc on, luckily the computer stays on for weeks!

I've read so called 'easy' tutorials on how to do this properly but they go over my head. I'm not a stupid person,but i am stupid when it comes to anything technical, especially when something contains names or abbreviations i've never heard of such a tar, bz2, and others.
I was just looking a a video tutorial on youtube and it looked pretty good.However it was assumed i already knew particular things already, and i didn't, so it was a waste of time.
I do prefer video tutorials or something with lots of pictures, i find i can understand them easier, but they all seem to think i should already know stuff!

I yearn for the days of Windows when i think, if i recall correctly, it only took one click to install something. I simply cannot understand why the creators of linux made it harder than 'one click' to install things, it makes no sense to me!

Anyway, i'd love to be able to understand all this, but i believe i never will tbh.

cheers.

Generally, in Linux, installing random files downloaded from the internet is not an issue, because most users obtain their files from their distro's repositiories. Those files will be installed by their system's package manager (in the case of Mint, that would involve the use of Synaptic or command line package management tools such as apt-get).

Sometimes, a user might download a package in the format used by his system. For Linux Mint, that would be a *.deb (for "Debian," as Mint uses Debian-style packages). Those can be installed using package management tools. I like gdebi for that purpose on Mint.

If you have downloaded a *.tar.gz file of a software package, you would normally need to compile that from sources (which is not as complicated as it sounds). A search for "compile from sources linux mint" will turn up a number of articles that you should find helpful, whereas a search for "install downloaded program linux mint" is likely not be be much help because of less precise terminology. Here's a good intro from the web search referenced above: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1525

There's your mistake. You should only ever install via the package manager unless you are going to be editing the code itself. If you're at that level, you will already know how to work with a tarball. So, I ask:

What problem are you trying to solve with chasing tarballs?

Use instead the built-in package manager and its database of packages. Use that and only that for getting or removing your browsers. Your package manager is probably Synaptic in Linux Mint.

Using the package manager not only installs a package and all its dependencies, it will also uninstall them. Perhaps most importantly, it will also track versions thus making it easy to know when to upgrade or when to do a security update. And when it is time for either, it is handled more or less automatically, including updating dependencies. Additionally, there is a fair amount of vetting that goes on to get a package into an official repository, unlike random tarballs. Tarballs are for those that plan on reading and modifying the absolute latest code. Otherwise, there are source packages, also available via the package manager, which include the source code but all prepped for making a package.

TL;DR; Please only get programs from your distro's repositories.

Hello froufrou,

I agree with frankbell, usually you can install most things from the distro's (Mint in your case) repositories just fine using either apt-get, aptitude or Synaptic.
If it's no special software like Steam, those things usually are also verified for safe use when going this way.
To back you up however, those things really aren't nice to look at, especially for beginners or people that come from either Windows or macOS, I agree with that.

There's AppImage for example that lets you download and run software within a single file, that's neat.
Other software like Firefox can also be downloaded from the developer's homepage as you mentioned in a tar.bz2 archive.
However, in both cases you need to make the program's file executable which can either be done by either going to the software's directory inside a terminal and make it function 'chmod u+x firefox' or doing a right click on the same file and set permissions to something like "read, write and executable" for the user (that is your system's account).

If you're still unsure, you should consider watching videos on how to install software from the repositories instead as this is - especially for beginners - a much safer way.


Kind regards

What browser are you wanting to install?

Use your systems package manager to install software - Linux is not MS Windows.

By using the package manager, you will have no trouble installing anything that is in their repositories.

(You will likely need to update it's list first.)

Mint is Debian based, Debian uses apt (& dpkg), so learn how to do it at the command line/in a terminal.

Followed by installing your program that you want, let's say it's firefox,

It really is that simple.

The question "install downloads" is nebulous at best.

First, as others have said, your first stop should be installing through your package manager, which gives you the....
...'magic Windows one-click' install. That's what it's there for.

Secondly, when you download a source code package, there are typically installation instructions on the web page where you downloaded it from. EACH ONE WILL BE DIFFERENT...there is no cookie cutter way to install source. There are also typically instructions in the form of a text file named something like README, INSTALL.TXT, or something obvious of that nature...a good thing to do is to read and follow the instructions. They will usually list commands to run from a terminal, such as:
or some other things...whatever they are...DO THEM. If it tells you to install something before you do this, then do THAT. Also, have you just tried looking up what a .tar.bz2/.tgz/.tar.gz/.zip file actually IS and what to do with it???

Cheers guys.

I have downloaded an old version of Opera browser, it's a brand of browser i've used since being online from the beginning.
I do have an up to date version thru' the package manager but i hate it.
It's has gotten rid of many things i'm used to and i don't like the whole lay out. Every year the guys at Opera cannot keep their hands of this browser.
They are always tweaking things and adding and removing stuff. There are so many versions it's unbelievable!
'lEAVE THE THING ALONE!'
Sometimes things are ok as they are, stop tampering.
Anyway thats why i downloaded it from the 'net.

I wish i knew someone in my area who to show me in person how to understand Linux. I just find it impossible to 'get it' when reading about understanding Linux, no matter how many times i read it, it doesn't make sense!

I don't know if it's that smart to stay with an outdated browser just because you prefer its usability over newer releases.
Firefox users often go mad whenever things seem to become more Chrom'ish and yet they get used to it.

But since you mention Opera, perhaps you might like Vivaldi, a new browser from former Opera developers that installs just like software you expect from Windows.

Download the deb variant (deb is essentially as you use Mint that uses the deb packaging as a base) for either 32bit or 64bit from the page linked above and double click it to install the browser.

If no installer window pops up, you might still need to make it executable but that's really just a security mechanism.

some people try new things and still say I prefer the old more.
Learning curve it was their when one first used Windows, and it does not go away when one changes to something similar but different.

Hang in there, and ween yourself off of windows. Hopefully you'll find yourself getting more comfortable with Linux by cutting the apron strings to Windows.

the new Opera is yet another chromium clone - there's been a rift a while back.
while Vivaldi indeed claims to be based on the old Opera, it is now closed source. Just saying.

imho there are much better alternatives for gnu/linux, a free and open source operating system.

some distros still ship the old opera in their repositories, please check that out.

@ondoho the old opera is also closed source. Just saying

As it happens, all of the code changes that Vivaldi makes to upstream chromium are open source and can be downloaded from https://vivaldi.com/source/

Only the Vivaldi UI (written in HTML/JS/CSS) is proprietary. However, given that these languages are not compiled the source is at least viewable. The new Opera on the other hand is has closed C++ parts, whose source cannot be checked.

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Also we (Vivaldi, my employer) do not claim to be based on the old Opera. The only claim we make is that we follow many of the concepts of the old Opera and that we employee several ex-opera employees, including several long term members of the old desktop team.

sorry for missing that vivaldi is based on chromium, too.
that of course invalidates a part of my argument, because chromium is open source.

however, there must be something in the claim of vivaldi not being fully open source.
see vivaldi forums search results:
https://forum.vivaldi.net/search?ter...in=titlesposts
this thread sticks out:
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/715/...his-vivaldi/71
people discuss it for 4 years, and never once do the devs come out and commit to vivaldi being open source.
no, only 4 months ago we hear that some of it is. clearly at that point the marketing department said: "open source is a term that makes people feel good. we want to ride that train, but not really commit to it"

every news article i find about vivaldi uses the term open source , but never once commits to it:
"many big projects in the open source world",
"powered by libraries from more than 100 different open source projects" and so on.

look, there's nothing wrong with it.
you have a product, and while you're not selling it, you still see some financial gain and want to further & protect that.
that's ok.

but there's so many good & truly open source browsers for an open source operating system.

people often just assume that everything in the linux world is open source, and i like to at least make them aware of the difference.

i see.
https://vivaldi.com/story/
i think you can see how many people would have misinterpreted that "story".
in fact, there isn't really much left in the "story" after you demystified it for us. thank you.

Yes there is something to that claim. As I said before, all of our (Js/CSS/HTML) UI is proprietary. Only the C++ code and all of our changes to chromium are open source.

My main point being that you were comparing us with Opera. The new Opera (based on Chromium) is in a similar position to us. Large amounts of Open Source code with a proprietary UI. We are no worse than them.

The old Opera based on Presto was almost entirely closed source. We are clearly better than that in terms of openness and yet you seem to be suggesting that people should use Opera because it is more open. This is not true.

P.S. I worked at Opera since 2008, in the UNIX, Linux and MacOS teams working on both the Presto based and later the Chromium based browsers. Almost 2 years back I moved to Vivaldi Technologies. So I am very familiar with how open each of these browsers are.

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