Programs for Ubuntu: installation and launch

On Ubuntu, people most often migrate after a long time using the Windows operating system. Since these OSs are significantly different from each other, an inexperienced user may experience problems during operation. Sometimes it comes to the point of absurdity, a person simply does not understand how programs for Ubuntu are installed.

This article will cover this topic. All popular methods for installing programs, as well as their launch, will be considered.

Install using Synaptic

First, let's look at the easiest way using Synaptic. This software is supplied in any Linux distribution, and you can find it in the "Menu". There, hover over "Administration" and select "Synaptic Package Manager" on the right.

This program is not one of a kind, but they all work on a single principle, so there are no significant differences in them. A good program is that it has a graphical interface that Windows users are so used to.

So, in order to install programs for Ubuntu, go to the package manager. At startup, you will be required to enter the password that you specified when installing the operating system. By entering it, open the program itself. First of all, update all packages by clicking on the button of the same name.

Now you see a list of all the programs that are hosted in the repository. Having found the necessary one, double-click on it or you can right-click and select “Mark for installation” in the context menu. Once you have done this, you can proceed with the installation. To do this, click "Apply" in the upper panel. The installation will begin immediately, they will show you which packages will be installed and give brief information about them.

Now you know how to install programs for Ubuntu using the Synaptic package manager.

Installation via repository using terminal

To install the program for Ubuntu, you can still use the terminal, or, as it is also called, the command line. To call the terminal, press the corresponding icon or the key combination Ctrl + Alt + T.

This method is good in that information about the program is provided many times more, plus flexible configuration is available. But a significant minus is that for a newcomer Ubuntu user, it may seem complicated and incomprehensible, and this is not surprising, because the work is done without a graphical interface.

So, you have an open terminal. To get started, by entering sudo apt-get update, update the program lists. Now you can go directly to the installation. To do this, enter:

To make it clearer, it is worth giving an example:

It is also possible to install several software at once. To do this, simply enter their name with a space.

A small remark. When you enter the first line in the terminal, you may be asked for a password, and so, when you enter it, nothing is displayed - this is normal. For example, if you have a password of "0000", just press four times zero, and then Enter.

Now you know another way to install the program in Ubuntu.

Installing from a Dep Package with GUI

It also happens that the file you need was not found in the repository. This is not scary. Most likely, the author of the program simply does not have its own repository. In this case, the program can be distributed using the deb package.

On the Internet, find the package you need and download it to your computer. The advantage of this method is that the Internet will not be required to install the program. The package can be dropped onto a flash drive and installed on any PC. But there is a significant minus, the fact is that after installation in this way the program will not be updated on its own, since the system will not find it in the repository.

So, the deb package has been downloaded to the PC. To install it using Nautilus (this is the same as Windows Explorer), open the folder where the file is located and double-click on it. A window will open in front of you asking for permission to install this program, click “Install Package”, and the installation process will begin.

Installing from a dep Package Using a Terminal

The deb package can also be installed using the terminal, for this you must first run it. It is important to know that installation in this way implies the presence of dpkg, and if you do not have this utility, you need to install it.

Direct installation of the deb package through the terminal is performed using the command:

As you noticed, you need to pave the path to the file, for example, it will look like this:

After the command is entered and you press Enter, the installation process will begin. As a result, you will be informed whether everything went well or not. If not, read the reasons and fix the problems.

Also, using the terminal, you can install absolutely all deb packages in a folder. To do this, simply in the line, lay the path to the folder and end the line "... *. Deb". For instance:

Do not forget that when you are asked for a password, you will not see it when you enter it.

Launch applications

Well, that seems to be all. We talked about how to install programs in Ubuntu, it remains only to explain how the Ubuntu programs are launched.

Here you can also use several ways. The first involves launching through the "Menu". Just click the corresponding icon and in one of the sections find the program you need. After clicking on the icon, it will start.

The second method is much faster, it involves using the same terminal. Open it and in the line just enter the name of the program. For example, you want to start the Gedit text editor, for this just type:

After pressing Enter, the program will start.

It is also worth mentioning that Windows programs also run on Ubuntu, only for this you need to install a special program called Wine. Its installation and configuration can be found on the Internet. Well, that’s all, you have learned how to install programs on the Ubuntu operating system.