How to install stuff in Ubuntu...?

Hey,
I just got Ubuntu 8.04, i need flash player for a bunch of sites I goto. So i followed the link they give me to download it. Now Ive got a tar.gz sitting on my desktop that doesnt seem to do anything when i double click to install it. Its just a folder with 2 other folders in it, and they dont do anything when i double click them. I just need flash support. Suggestions?

 

When you go to a site that uses Flash, a bar should pop up near the top of the browser window, and it will ask you whether you want to enable non-free repositories and install Flash.

Or if you're comfortable with the command line and editing config files, edit /etc/apt/sources.list to uncomment the non-free repositories and then install the flashplugin-nonfree package.

 

There is no bar that pops up, in either firefox or opera. Just a link that brings me to adobe's flash download page where i choose which one i want. I also tried a .rpm and didnt do anyhting.

 

Install alien so that you can convert the RPM to a Debian archive.

sudo apt-get install alien

Then, cd to the directory of your archive:

cd /home/username/Desktop

Next, use alien to convert the RPM package:

sudo alien -d rpmpackage.rpm

Wait for it to finish, then:

sudo dpkg -i debianpackage.deb

That'll install the package. Or you can just double-click on the Debian package to install it too.

 

or you could just open up synaptics package manager (its somewhere in the menus). search for software you want to install , select it and hit install.

if your getting stuff from sites, make sure its in .deb format for easy double click install, otherwise you'l have to compile it yourself

 

I cant find the terminal... its not under preferences or administration. How do i get to it?
I know linux isnt windows... but why cant they just make files to double click on and install?

 

ah ok, i searched in synapt package manager and found flash- NONFREE. i installed it and now flash works in firefox, but not opera?

EDIT TO ADD
NM, i restarted opera and now it works fine. thanks guys. but... why are there so many ways to install stuff...
package managers, terminal, add/remove programs, but nowhere to just double click on somehting you download...

 

The options are available for flexibility, really. You don't have to use all the methods described above; just install it however you like.

 

haha, i guess flexability is good, but i like to double click on icons to install stuff. Which i havent been able to do once since i installed. ubuntu. i know that some programs come like that, its just that all the ones ive needed so far havent been.

 

i feel like you guys are giving a new guy difficult options first of all your terminal is in applications -> accessories and really you should put it on your panel so you can get to it easily.

the best way to look for programs to install is to go through synaptic package manager, or if you already know what you want to install specifically you can use the terminal- i.e. sudo apt-get install amarok

installing things through a tarball should really be your last resort, as almost all programs have been packaged by the ubuntu team already.

 

You can install a deb like this. It's just much easier to find the package using the package manager than having to go browse the internet trying to find the installer for a program. If you really don't like installing packages using the package manger, all of them are also available at GetDeb. I don't suggest doing this though, as the built-in package manager keeps track of all the packages you've installed and automatically provides updates for all the software. This is something that's really annoying on Windows, where you get each program running its own background process (such as jusched.exe for Java) that checks for updates. In Ubuntu, all the updates are handled by just one program.

 

in ubuntu you can install a large number packages very easily with add/remove programs which is even easier than synaptic

 

try using the add or remove programs to find "ubuntu restricted extras," it comes with many useful tools (such as flash support i believe)

 

if they're source files, you can't do this in windows either. well, you can open the compressed file by double clicking on it in windows or linux but you still have to manually compile the source file(s) into a binary on any platform. in regards to the flash tar.gz file you downloaded, the only thing you need in there is the libflashplayer.so file.

 

haha, yeah a lot of this seems confusing but im sure ill figure it all out in time. like what file extensions relate to etc.
Fittersman, thanks for the "restricted extras" tip. I was wondering why i couldnt play mp3s... any other useful packages i should look into like this?

 

If you really want to double click to install, just look for .deb packages.

 

What program are you using to play the MP3s?

 

not sure now. i think it was something that came preloaded. but then i got vlc which worked fine. anyone know a media player that has a very precise ... not sure what u call it ... time bar.
For example, in VLC when i click somewhere on the bar to skip ahead in music or video, it will just jump it ahead in predetermined increments. But i want to to skip to exactly where i click on the bar.
MPC in windows was very good with this. Suggestions?

 

Try MPlayer and Kaffeine, or maybe Totem.

 

there are a bunch in that add or remove programs list, but personally i use rhythmbox. Many other people seem to like amarok too though, best bet is to try those two

 

amarok looks the sexiest. thats why you should use it.

 

I hate Rythmbox; its the interface. On the other hand, I can't bring myself to install Amarok; that would mean installing all the KDE libraries and running them along with Amarok as well.

 

that is true, and while im a gnome man myself i use amarok... in ubuntu you dont really notice it gentoo however compiling all the deps is a pain...

 

Only took me about 30 minutes to compile Amarok using the laptop in my siggy. What sped things up for me was mounting /var/tmp/portage on tmpfs (RAM), so it didn't write to/read the hard drive for compilation operations, which took a long time with my 5400 RPM HD.

 

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy

^^^ This is a really helpful walkthru for noobs just getting started with Ubuntu.