New problem with Ubuntu

[greylica]

In Ubuntu Linux, into the package manager , there is more repositories than what comes enabled by dafault in your distro. They call them Universe and Multiverse packages. Most of them are Debian based packages. The FGLRX drivers from ATI are proprietary, then they are in the Universe packages, not in the default driver distro.
The Ubuntu distro comes with package managers such as apt-get and adept, ( you can install adept easily ). In the adept, you can go to manage repositories and enable the repositories from Multiverse and Universe.
Enabling this repositories will give you access to more than 4000+ packages.

 

[Nothinman]

I've read the instructions you provided, but I don't understand half of what you're saying, such as "Enable the Universe and Multiverse on your repositories under your package manager." ??

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu

 

[drag]

besides the official help websites for Ubuntu, there is also http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy which is not officially part of Ubuntu, but it has good information anyways.

Reading through these sort of things (don't have to have a detailed read, just glance through them and then read the more interesting parts so you know were to find answers if you have a problem in the future) and you can cut down on a lot of the frustration in learning to use Ubuntu as a new user.

Not perfect, of course, but it's better then nothing.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: TJones2

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Now I try to install new programs with the updater, and more times than not it tells me I can't install it because it won't install on my type of computer (it says i386, but I assure you, I have a P4). Just lots of weirdness.

The verbatim error message would be more helpful, but you also need to realize that a P4 is compatible with i386 so that's how most of the apps are bundled so i386 packages are correct for your P4.

"* cannot be installed on your computer type (i386). Either the application requires special hardware features or the vendor decided to not support your computer type." More than half of what I got to install tells me that.

what "updater" are you trying to "install new programs" with?

Synaptic? Apt? what packages, and where did you get them from.

 

[TJones2]

Its getting to be like being dropped in the middle of a country where you don't know the language, only I find that easier than this. Is "new user" a code word for something other than, "hey guys, I'm a new user?" And the updater I'm using is the one that comes with Ubuntu Ultimate, the one labeled "Add/Remove programs". I tried installing the ATI supplied drivers (its ATI Updater) and it kept telling me I had to be a Super User. This all seems like an awful lot of work just to get an operating system up and running.

 

[Nothinman]

This all seems like an awful lot of work just to get an operating system up and running.

Only because you don't understand how it all works right now, once you get a feel for the system and how it's broken down it makes a lot more sense. Linux is made up of lots of tiny pieces working together while Windows is made up from fewer, larger ones. On the surface the Linux system seems more complicated because there's more going on, and in some ways it is, but this also means that once you figure out where the problem really is you have less area to cover to figure out how to fix it.

And I had the exact same feelings when I installed XP a few months ago. It was a huge PITA because it had virtually no drivers for my hardware out of the box so I had to use another box to find and download a bunch of drivers, and none of them have a GUI on them so navigating nVidia's site via w3m was not very fun at all. It probably took me a good half hour just to find what to download to get my NIC working because all of the Windows crap is drowning in marketing and names that make no sense unless you already know what you're looking for.

 

[greylica]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I've read the instructions you provided, but I don't understand half of what you're saying, such as "Enable the Universe and Multiverse on your repositories under your package manager." ??

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu</a></a>

Thank you Nothinman, I am using Kubuntu and I did not remember that day that is synaptic the name of the package manager in Ubuntu ( Gnome based ). I love the functionality of KDE.