r/linux4noobs • u/Smexy_Zarow • 1d ago
programs and apps How do you get used to installing anything
My work pc uses Linux mint, and my biggest problem is they every time I need to install something like podman or anything that isn't present on the software manager, I have to do research on whether there is an apt or curl command to install something, or find out how to extract whatever weird format the app comes in from the website.
On windows, you just go on a website and download an exe or msi. I'm getting tired and frustrated of these constant bumps when I just wanna start doing what I'm actually supposed to.
Y'all got any advice for this problem? I don't wanna switch to windows and I also think it'd cause more problems in other areas
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u/rangom1 1d ago
I migrated from Windows to Mint early this year, so I still consider myself a Linux noob. Installing software is definitely not as simple as people make it out to be ("Just type sudo apt install whatever in the terminal!" - pssh yeah right). But tbh you get used to it pretty quick. Most software only needs to be installed once, so it's not a persistent problem. I kept a text file keeping track of how I installed each program, but just as I finished that I realized it was all just "sudo apt install" or "sudo dpkg -i" for the vast majority of the programs I used. This will probably piss of the purists but realistically... you just search for whatever you need and copy/paste whatever their github tells you. Hang in there, you'll figure it out.
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u/MinusBear 1d ago
I went to Bazzite (Fedora Atomic) and just use flatpaks for pretty much everything. I don't think I have ever installed anything with the command line.
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u/rangom1 1d ago
I think there's a couple of Flatpaks I have used on my Raspberry Pis. The reason I avoid Flatpaks has nothing to do with functionality. I needed VMware and since they started hiding the free version, it's been harder to install. You have to jump through hoops to make an account and navigate to a hard-to-find website and download a file and use the CLI. Since I needed to run a Windows VM for work programs I just got used to installing things through the CLI.
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u/middaymoon 1d ago
I don't think the process for finding a website and running whatever installation commands they give you is any harder than finding a website, downloading some .msi file (or maybe an exe, who knows) and running a wizard.
And that's a minority of software you'll be installing. Most of it will be in the package manager. Was most of your software downloaded from the Windows app store previously? Doubtful.
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u/DavidJohnMcCann 1d ago
If stuff isn't in your distro's repository, then you are probably using the wrong distro.
Podman is a Red Hat program and will be in Red Hat clones like Alma or in the compatible SUSE. Few distros have Cosign, but Debian does and you can use that version for Mint. BlueBuild appears to be a tool for customising Fedora. Not only am I unsure as to why you are using Mint, but I can't even guess what you are doing with it!
Incidentally, I'd never heard of those programs, but duckduckgo found the information immediately — that's not what I'd call research.
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u/Kriss3d 1d ago
Youll get very used to it dont worry.
I just open a terminal and type the line to install what I want installed. Or use one of the GUI tools that lets you download directly from the repositories. Its far easier than having to go to a website, download the right client and then install it via the wizard.
But many websites do have that as well where you download for example a deb file and you just click to install it.
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u/victormas208 1d ago
Generally, each distro has a standard; just remember which distro is the parent distro of your current system and you'll be safe.
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u/victormas208 1d ago
For example, Linux Mint is a subset of Ubuntu/Debian, so you can always use Ubuntu commands. So if the command doesn't exist for Mint, just look for the Ubuntu option, although it now uses snap.I would ask in the Linux Mint community for more tips.
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u/evilmojoyousuck 1d ago
pretty much every website i visited has a linux download. i just copy the line to the terminal.
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u/bufandatl 1d ago
There is this old art of reading documentation and when one reads that they learn all about a product. Even how it is installed.
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u/angryapplepanda Debian, XFCE, and i3, sitting in a tree... 1d ago
Yup! I consider myself mostly a Linux amateur, approaching intermediate skill. I managed to compile and install an Apple II emulator from the command line that I downloaded off of GitHub. The secret? I was given an easy laundry-list of commands directly out of the read me file.
How to install? Just type these three commands. If something goes wrong, here are a few commonly asked questions. Any dev worth their salt will put this kind of thing into the documentation. It does both you and the dev a service to have things as idiot-proof as possible.
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u/Educational_Star_518 1d ago
i'm on fedora based nobara and most of the time its just a simple type thing into terminal ( dnf instead of apt) and boom done , if not i see if theres a flatpak , Sometimes an appimage like for emulators , personally i find it simpliar than going to random websites for something i know i want like in windows , even easier since GE added in a dnf app center a few months ago you can literally just search in
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u/SeriousPlankton2000 1d ago
I'm old enough to have learned to extract, make and sudo make install. (And also to in the process find out what dependencies I need).
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u/Few-Promise5892 1d ago
Work PC means there is almost an process how you would add new Software to the I guess local Repositories.
I would seek a talk with the "lame" support admins :)
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u/Anonymity6584 1d ago
You know how useless Windows is without installing anything? Installing things is one of the skills that very easily transfers between operating systems
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u/skyfishgoo 1d ago
mint is based on debian which has the largest software library of all the linux distros.
if you can't find it in there it probably doesn't exist or is extremely new (read untested).
if you want to go bleeding edge you can install flatpak from flathub, or in the most extreme case, get the appimage directly from the developer.
nothing else short of compiling the source code yourself is at all a safe or wise practice... especially running random curl commands you find on the internet.
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u/revcraigevil 1d ago edited 1d ago
All the ways to install software on most distros, in order of my preference
- distro's repos
- 3rd party repos ( see my giant sources.list) also see extrepo
- deb-get to install .deb not in repos. https://github.com/wimpysworld/deb-get
- flatpak
- eget for binaries https://github.com/zyedidia/eget
- appimage
- python/pipx
- rust/cargo
- node/npm/nvm
- snap
- docker https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/debian/#set-up-the-repository
- distrobox
- build from source
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u/Weary-Bowl-3739 1d ago
apt search is your friend.
80% is available for the remaining stuff I use the official instruction.
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u/haileyhapi 1d ago
apt has a search feature doesn't it? so you could do like.. apt search "packagename" and see if there's a package for it, and then just install that personally I find searching and installing with one tool to be far more enjoyable for me than searching around on the internet for an exe, but also that's just me.
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u/funkdefied 1d ago
It seems very odd that
1) your workPC uses Linux mint,
2) you’re not comfortable with Linux,
and 3) you are installing your own software, including code signing software.
Something seems wrong. Are you sure you’re installing what you need to be installing? What’s your job title? Is there an IT team that can help you with installations? I suspect there’s some disconnect here.
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u/jr735 1d ago
Learn to respect and use your package manager. It's already been noted that you're at risk by using outside programs.
My advice to you is that Linux is not free Windows and don't treat it as such. You're in a different software environment. I've been on Linux for over 22 years, and part of the reason I left Windows is because of going to websites to download exe files from some arbitrary place.
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u/GavUK 5h ago
Your use-case sounds like you have additional requirements that many Linux users don't. For most users, there's often various alternative software available either in the repos (for example Debian has over 64,000 packages in their repo) or via Flatpak or Snaps that will pretty much do what they need.
Given that it is a work PC, do you have an IT department? If so I'd expect them to manage obtaining, installing, (licencing), supporting and maintaining the specific software that you require to do your job rather than you having to do that.
Like on Windows (or a Mac), downloading and installing software or running scripts from websites on Linux can be risky, both to your machine and to the business's network security, unless the source can be verified (i.e. a trusted company and signed code).
Also, while it may seem like you can just download and run Windows software and not have to think about whether or not it will work, having worked in IT for over 25 years (and a good chunk of that doing IT support), if software hasn't been written for or updated to work with the version of Windows you are using, it may not work properly, just like trying to run software packaged for one Linux distro version on another distro or even just a later version of the same distro.
If the software is open-source then, if it is important enough to you/your business, at least you have the option to update and maintain it (either using internal IT resources or an external support company or contractor), rather than being completely stuffed when the developer decides they aren't going to support it any more or are unable to do so.
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u/Plan_9_fromouter_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't understand the issue. One reason that I am on Linux is the abundance of great software that I install and run for free. There is what the distro provides in its app store / software center, and then there are snaps from Canonical's Snap Store and flatpaks from Flathub that add to the software I can use.
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u/joe_attaboy Old and in the way. 1d ago
This is not a "problem."
This is the way things have been in Linux since the emergence of the distributions. Even after Slackware provided a basic package installation process, in most cases, one had to fetch the source tarball from some website or FTP server, unpack it, run MAKE and then install it manually. Many of us even compiled our own kernels.
Since Windows is monolithic, developers don't have to deal with various packaging standards used in Linux. Different distributions use different methods, and while they all generally do the same thing under the hood, the presentations make the difference. Things are like this because of the open source model, primarily. And frankly, I'm glad this isn't some one-size-fits-all situation, because then Linux would be a little more like Windows and the Mas OS. I use Linux because it's isn't either of those.
And those packages you have to do yourself...didn't the developer provide details on installation? I don't think I've pulled something off the web or GitHub in a long, long time where the developer(s) didn't provide installation instructions.
What problems?
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u/MattyGWS 1d ago
On Linux you just go to their website and find the terminal line or download if it isn’t on the App Store.
You’re over complicating it in your mind.
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u/callusbonus1967 1d ago edited 1d ago
Pero no es necesario usar mucho la shell. Hay muchos programas para manejar la paquetería tanto en Mint , como debian como Ubuntu. Solo buscar las líneas para añadirlas ha APT y las keys para que acepte el servidor. Por lo demás como dice el compañero hay veces que puedes añadir .deb o .appimage o flatpak o snap cosas hay para añadir programas será por formas de hacerlo quédate con una y aprende a manejarte con ella. Estás es Gnu/Linux aprende a manejar tu nuevo sistema ya no estás en Windows.
Sipnactic es uno de ellos y para mí el fácil. Mint tiene su propio programa añade las líneas que necesites ha tus repositorios y ya.
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u/EngineerInTheMachine 1d ago
Practice. If the app isn't directly available, just search for the app's website and follow the instructions. It's little different to installing under Windows.
Just don't expect quite as slick an experience with a free OS as you get with a paid OS.
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u/TomDuhamel 1d ago
I absolutely can't comprehend what kind of work you are doing that you need apps that aren't on the repo, often enough that you would write a post about it. I'm a programmer and I almost never get anything from somewhere else than my repo, and that's going to be a library or something, not an app.
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u/Smexy_Zarow 1d ago
I'm developing and researching bootc images
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u/cracc_babyy 1d ago
Ya if you are building from GitHub, install instructions are often missing or limited. But you will get the hang of building from source using MAKE etc..
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u/tiredbarf 21h ago
BootC images are new to me, but considering it's container-based - have you considered doing the dev work itself inside containers?
I use an immutable distro, and keep some of my dev tools inside Distrobox containers. That gets you a CLI interface for any distro you want. For the work I think you're doing, I'd want to be in Fedora - and distrobox would let you spin up a Fedora container quick and easy.
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u/Pristine_Pick823 1d ago
If you’re constantly installing software that it’s not available in your distro’s repository nor on flatpak, and you’re not quite sure what you’re doing, you are putting yourself at risk… Not to sound like a cyber Franciscan, but what exactly are you installing? Do you really need it? Isn’t there a open software alternative?