how do i install from the ubuntu desktop
 

I'm new to ubuntu can someone help with the command that i should type to install files that i saved on my desktop? is it sudo install filetype?
because this command doesn't work for me it says no such file or it can't be found or downloaded. And could someone tell me where i can find the list of all commands and what they do please?

When you say that you want to install files I take that to mean that you want to install applications contained in the files. Is that correct?

1) Only install applications from installation files created for Ubuntu. In fact, you have to be sure that the application installation files were created for your version of Ubuntu. Doing anything else will cause problems.

2) You normally install applications using the Adept Package Manager. This is in one of the pull down menus.

3) The Adept Package Manager will normally install files from the Ubuntu software repository on the Internet. If you stick to doing this you will have fewer problems.

Installing applications from files that you downloaded is really a project for someone who is more experienced. Please reconsider doing this.

Not if you use Ubuntu - you would use synaptic (System > Admin > Synaptic Package Manager).

As for manual installs, those are not recommended. Perfectly possible, yes, but generally more of a hassle what with checking dependencies first.

As for how to install downloaded packages, that would depend on what it is that you downloaded. Are they source packages (tar.gz, tar.bz2, ...), .deb packages, ...?

For your purposes the following is probably all you need:
There are too many to reasonably list. If you're curious, here is one approach to finding commands you can currently issue:
Or, get info about all commands:
But don't actually do the above two things, because they're ridiculous. Read some UNIX tutorials to get the important commands down, and read man pages frequently. All the time, whenever. What is man? Start here:
This one looks good http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/linuxcommand...._the_shell.php

Thanks for all the info I'm sure I'll find it very useful; as for the packages I'm trying to install they end on: tar.gz , .6b , .jar , .zip , .tgz . Also I got Ubuntu 9.04, how do i chesk if the files i wanna download from the internet are compatible?

So that is a popular way to install software on Windows, right? However, it's not really done that way in linux. Just worry about aptitude packages for now. There are lots of packages; there's probably one for whatever you think you need.

sudo aptitude install firefox
sudo aptitude install openoffice.org2
sudo aptitude install gimp
.....

I just tried to install ABC.zip file using sudo aptitude install ABC.zip after it installs i don't know how to run ir do I sudo unzip <filename> and if yes how do I run the program?

So most of the programs you want to run can be found on the drop down menu called "applications". If there is something that you want that isn't there look for it in "add/remove" if thats there. If not go to the drop down menu for application. Move to System and select "Synaptic Package Manager". This will give you a huge list of games and software you can download for free. Browse to your hearts content....

Open:

Applications->Add/Remove...

or

System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager

and search the available packages there. That's the safest way to install with Ubuntu.

If you want to install manually, I highly recommend you switch to a distro that is better configured for that, like Gentoo or Slackware.

Thanks for the info, but what if I see a file while I'm surfing the internet I'd like to download what do I do?

Shut down your computer and read a book.

If it's an .exe you can try running it with WINe, but you'll have an absolutely miserable time and will be posting back here.

If its a tarball (tar.gz or tar.bz2) it's probably already a package, someplace.

If it's a package (.deb, .rpm) then don't bother. Just use aptitude, because it's already in the online repository (with high probability, anyway.)

If it's a .bin, then just type the name of the file on the command line and it will run and (possibly) install.

If it's something else... seriously consider my first idea.

98% of all linux apps that are still alive and that can be found while you surf the net are in the repositories, too. The occasional ones that are not will most likely have to be compiled; they will typically come with instructions included. And then there are applications that were made for windows rather than Linux; providing they will run on linux at all, they can be installed with WINE.