Installing new programs
 

Here's where I have a lot of trouble with Linux. I constantly get notifications that updates are available. These get downloaded and installed seamlessly.

Other times and other programs require knowledge and expertese far beyond what I possess. For example, I attempted to make my computer available to SETI@home. This required a program called BOINC which I downloaded. Had no clue how to install and run so I asked for help from a SETI volunteer.

No joy! Still incomprehensible and error messages that meant nothing to me. I asked if I could buy or download a CD. No answer to this query.

Sent followup saying that I was a Linux newbe and needed more specifics. 2nd response no better than the first.

Why can't all programs be installed as easily as those that come with update or those which can be installed from the 'add/remove'system.

Dick Rounds

Well, a lot of Linux programs are released like that as RPM packages or whatever. This is actually a better system than Windows, IMHO. But yes - some stuff requires the joys of "untar/configure/make/make install" which is a total pain and if I can, I steer clear of programs that are released like that unless I really really want them and have the time necessary to figure out how to install and run the damned thing.

I thought the SETI program was available trough the usual automatic package management. You didn't specify your distribution (or then I missed it), but for example in Ubuntu you have (in the System menu) a program called Synaptic which lets you "do more" than the add/remove utility, so you could check that too. Second best choice is to hunt for a distribution specific .deb (Debian/Ubuntu/similar) or .rpm (Fedora/SuSE/similar) from the net and install that (by double-clicking on it after downloading). Third choice is either a program distributor provided install script, or compiling from source as the "last resort" (that has some benefits over pre-compiled packages, but for newbies might be confusing at first). In that case the downloaded, then usually extracted, package contains documentation - often at least README and/or INSTALL text files - that describes the compilation process and software needed to run the program in detail.

Dear Dickrounds (I thought my name was daft)

I don't know the program you refer to but installing any program on linux is a pain. Updates are easier because they are just that,updates.Depending on which version of linux you have there is a degree of automation avialable.The more recent the more automated. The type of file also dictates the manner of installation. In my limited experience 'rpm' files are the easiest to install and if you have no automatic installer can be introduced from the command line, or shell.
Type:

rpm -Uvh (name of package including number ref).rpm

Hope this helps.

Roy

In my package manager, I find:
kboincmgr
ksetispy
ksetiwatch

I don't know anything about how SETI works, but this suggests the SW is available thru package managers. If my system (PCLOS) has it, then Debian/Ubuntu/Mepis surely does also.

Actually, it's quite the opposite. If something is available in the package manager / repositories, the process is extremely simple. Even when you install something manually, it is not always an issue.

It is true that some SW can be frustrating. On occasion, one has to hunt down all the required libraries and--if the SW needs to be compiled--there can be more issues. But, consider this: Maybe the reason that some things take a bit of effort is that there are so many things available. In some respects, there are already more choices for Linux than for Windows.

For the vast majority of "mainstream" SW, the Linux process is faster and easier than on Windows.

Thanks for the help, guys! I'll try your suggestions.

I'm just surprised that SETI doesn't make it easier for us novices to help them out.

Dick

Color me stupid!

I'm using UBUNTU 7.10 and, sure enough, I found the BOINC packages in Synaptic and have installed them.

Thanks again for the help.

Dick

By my definition of "stupid", you would not even be an also-ran. This is a very normal occurence for new Linux users. Because Windows has nothing like the modern Linux package manager, new users often don't even know to look for it.

I hope ALL your Linux stories have happy endings.

installing on linux 'is a pain'
 

Dear Sir,
thanks for commenting but it remains a problem when trying to install programs on linux. I suspect this is because windows will run the install anyway,at least until xp, ie, no dependency checks etc.Running Wine, for example,seems to be frought with problems. Getting and installing the dcom95 enabler seems problematic or perhaps I am using out of date information, or am just thick.

are you installing a program in wine?, that is alot different then installing a program naitivly, and you can't automatically expect everything to work properly in wine

There's no question that there are a lot of things that can go wrong with installing packages. As some have mentioned in this post, the more mature the distro the (hopefully) easier the installation.

One of the reasons that I went to Ubuntu and haven't looked back is because I've found the package management to be extremely good. I very rarely have any issues installing packages from the Ubuntu repos and it's made my life a lot easier.

Your mileage may vary...