Linux installers

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Noidly1

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I am a new Linux user and have Debian (wheezy) installed.

Are there any Linux installers out there, other than Apper, that will open and install an app or program from a file, ie; tar.gz or raw file or from a file within one of those (zipped) files?

I have downloaded some (zipped) files and have extracted them and no matter which file I double click on, nothing happens... What gives???

BTW, they are the Adobe Flash Player tar.gz and raw download-ables that the Adobe site has that I am trying to install and will probably find others as well to install. I have 0 programming skills so command line is out of the question...

Thanks in advance,
Noidly1.
 


Installation
  1. Ensure your /etc/apt/sources.list file includes the contrib section ( for more information see sources.list )

  2. Install flashplugin-nonfree (from section contrib):

# apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
Click to expand...
---https://wiki.debian.org/FlashPlayer
 
Noidly1, hi, well I know that command line is out of the question for you but you can always use the console terminal and run one slick command to unpack those tar.gz or zip files. IT's quicker than the graphical way.
For ex: on the command line, you would "cd" into the directory of your tar.gz file and then you would type ion " tar -xvf foobar.tar.gz " this will extract the contents and create a directory for it . The thing about Linux is that one can learn more of it using the command line.
However any linux distro has a graphical archive application that can unzip those tar.gz files and create a directory ( just like doing it in the command line). Usually in Debian, you can use xarchiver (most likely installed by default in your Debian Wheezy Linux distro, perhaps under accessories in the menu or under Applications? ) that can do the same thing above. You can go to google and type in " xarchiver "
and the first link it shows would be " xarchiver a GTK+2 only front end ......." You would click on that and then on the left side click on Documentation. This will help you with it.
I hope this helps.
 
Unzipping is not the problem...

I used Dolphin to create a couple of folders in my home folder to put those tar and raw files into. After that, I unzipped them into the same folders they were in. After they were unzipped I tried to double click the individual files and nothing happened with any of them Except the "Readme" files, which opened in Kwrite so I could read them.
 
You clearly do not understand. There are many applications which are downloaded and installed automatically FROM REPOSITORY without any need to mess with .tars or individual packages.

One of the best explanations I know of is http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware . OK, it is about Ubuntu and not Debian, but Ubuntu is "based" on Debian and the basic story is the same.

Things are made available FROM REPOSITORY by being located in your sources list. I do not know what "Simple Text Editor" you have. I have "Leafpad". I can see my sources list by using the command (in Terminal) (As Root... You may have to do "su" first because "sudo" is probably not installed): leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

Be careful with this approach because it will allow you to READ and WRITE. (So don't mess it up!)

Can you Copy And Paste your sources list here, so we can look at it?

An alternative is to install "Synaptic" if it is not already installed. This is possibly the best Package Manager. This can show you your sources list if you go Settings> Repositories>Other Software. To get Synaptic (in Terminal)(again as Root^^^): apt-get synaptic.
 
Noidly1 said:
Unzipping is not the problem...

I used Dolphin to create a couple of folders in my home folder to put those tar and raw files into. After that, I unzipped them into the same folders they were in. After they were unzipped I tried to double click the individual files and nothing happened with any of them Except the "Readme" files, which opened in Kwrite so I could read them.
Click to expand...



What application are you trying to use ( was it Adobe flash that you are trying to install ) ?
Like arochester said, there are many ways of doing this and there are also numerous programs that come in Debian's repository
( which is where Debian gets the software to install ).
Basically most software can be installed by having Debian fetch and search it's repositories.
However, just like above, there should be a program called synaptic, that is a graphical program that searches your Debian's repositories for software that you specify that you like to install. Synaptic shows you all the packages available to you - and marks each one as installed or not installed. You can navigate and find packages, marking packages you want to install (or remove) by clicking the tick box (or by clicking with the right mouse button on a package), and then click "Apply" to make changes. ON the left it will show the types of packages. Or all you have to do is search ( click on the search icon ) and type in the one you need and press Enter. Then choose your program on the bottom plane ( by clicking the box next to the program ). Let me know if you do this.
 
Apper is the program manager in Debian like Synaptis I suppose. It shows all of the stuff available in the repository or installed like you guys have said. The problem is that Apper does not show specifically the ADOBE flash plugin. For Iceweasel (the Firefox equivalent) nor does Mozilla.org's plugin manager. So, I have to get it directly from ADOBE After several attempts trying to install Adobe flash player using GDebi to install all of the various ones that I have downloaded from Adobe, apparently they don't have one for Debian since GDebi tells me that the ones I tried to install are not compatible with this OS so far. I have 2 left to try so hopefully one will work.
 
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Just for the hell of it, I installed Apper.

My Apper shows that "flashplugin-nonfree Adobe Flash Player - browser plugin" is installed.

As I said, the packages which are available are decided by the Sources List. In Debian this must include "main contrib non-free".

Adobe Flash Player is available when "contrib" is enabled.
 
Hmm,,, I can't find it in either manager.
no switch for "main contrib non-free"...
There is a switch for "non-free" but not for "contrib" or "main" that I can find.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong but, I have looked all through the apps in both managers and can't find it for sh!t...
Must be a Debian thing or something.
 
1) Install Synaptic.
Become Root by issuing the command: su
It will ask for your Root password.
Then issue the command: apt-get install synaptic

2) When Synaptic is installed.
Go Synaptic>Settings>Repositories
When you get the pop-up box tick the top three boxes on the front page. That is "Officially supported (main)", "DFSG-compatible software with Non-Free Dependencies (contrib)" and Non-DFSG compatible Software (non-free).

Don't check "Source code"

3) Then (still as Root) do:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install flashplayer-nonfree

If you get any error messages tell us fully and exactly what they are.
 
Screen shot.
 

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Noidly1 said:
Screen shot.
Click to expand...
add this to your sources list (/etc/apt/sources.list)
Code: 
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
or add contrib non-free to the entry right above the one you selected in your screenshot in the Section text box
then either use Synaptics or apt-get to install flashplugin-nonfree

Please read up on package management:
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html
https://wiki.debian.org/PackageManagement
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-pkgtools.en.html

You are clearly new to Linux so please consider using a more user-friendly version such as Mint or Ubuntu.
 
Last edited:
You are clearly new to Linux so please consider using a more user-friendly version such as Mint or Ubuntu.
Click to expand...

LOL No sh!t... I didn't think such a transition from Windows would be so difficult nor did I know it was more command line oriented. Kinda like jumping from algebra to trig... WooHoo.

Sorry if I'm ruffling feathers here but I just wanted to get a full-fledge non-windows OS and run with it. I have dabbled with Knoppix, Ubunto, Kubunto, Gentoo, DesktopBSD, BeOS, Beatrix, Slax, Puppy and OpenSuse.
Since most of the ones I liked were Debian based, I figured why not get the real Debian anyway. As for gui's, I prefer KDE since it is more Windows like.

Thanks for the help folks, I'll see what I can do and leave ya guys alone.

Later...
 
You are so close.

Your screenshot shows that you have a different Synaptic interface from me. You just need to edit the bottom line where it says "Section(s)" so it says: main contrib non-free

Then continue (3) as in post 12 above. Become Root with: su
then
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install flashplayer-nonfree

Unless you are a computer whizz you do not need source code, so untick lines which include: deb-src
 
arochester said:
You are so close.

Your screenshot shows that you have a different Synaptic interface from me. You just need to edit the bottom line where it says "Section(s)" so it says: main contrib non-free
Click to expand...
Done! That worked and I now have the Adobe plugin, It just doesn't work yet. Errr...

arochester said:
Then continue (3) as in post 12 above. Become Root with: su
then
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install flashplayer-nonfree

Unless you are a computer whizz you do not need source code, so untick lines which include: deb-src
Click to expand...
Still figuring that part out.
 
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I'm getting there...
 

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