I find more and more that software firms are providing binary distributions for various flavors of Linux, including Ubuntu. Usually that means downloading a .deb package file and double-clicking to open it with the package manager. Other packages (e.g. ColdFusion Server) are distributed as installer files (I think CF is the mother of all installer files, but I could be wrong). In that case, you make the file executable via chmod (or the file manager) and run it in a terminal as root e.g. sudo ../ColdFusionInstaller.bin.
Many packages, especially cutting edge versions, are still distributed as source packages, usually tarballs that are gzipped, so .tar.gz or .tar.bz2. In that case, you need to extract the source files, find the README and follow the directions. Usually it is something like: make<enter> make install<enter> but that varies a lot, and when your build fails the first time around you will need to Google the error message, usually it means you are missing a dependency. Honestly, missing dependencies drove me away from Linux for years, but the sheer volume of useful material on the Web now makes it possible to get an answer to dependency questions. Rob On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Ray Champagne <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm finally taking the plunge into the world of Linux with a fresh install > of Ubuntu on a spare Dell desktop, and I have to say I'm kind of excited, > confused, enlightened, and overwhelmed all at the same time. It's kinda > hard to convert from Windows to Linux, things are done quite differently. > For instance, Ubuntu makes it pretty easy to install programs via the > package installer, but I'm finding it difficult to get my head wrapped > around how one goes about installing something like Navicat, which isn't in > the list of available packages. > > Guess I'm going to be a Google-aholic for the next few weeks in my "off > time". > > -- --------------- Robert Munn www.emergentpath.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:283424 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
