Have tried to install packages from an old November 2011 Linux format DVD. I believe they are zip files, and I am trying to install them as deb files in the terminal. I have tried this and won't work: I enter superuser with su
dpkg -i name_of_file.deb/zip(I tried both). When I download the package it automatically goes to download and is a zip. I tried extracting it and putting it in my home directory. Please include detailed instr. on how to download and install software and packages from websites and how to use the package manager and the like for I am completely new to Linux and have no idea what I'm doing. I have linux mint 15. Thank you very much!

You are more likely downloading the source of a program, which isnt installable by a package manager because it isnt a package. You have to compile the source.

Generally this means unzipping it to a directory, and from that directory running:

./configure
make
make install

But your experience may differ. Here is a good article on how to do it, with an explanation of the difference between packages and source.

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/06/...l-from-source/

So,I downloaded the package,\it goes to my downloads, I move it to home directory, extract it there, then open it in terminal, and type in the current name of the file, type in ./configure and it says there is no such file or directory. What's wrong?

It's generally best to use software from your distro's repository. The items distributed by magazines are often new, testing versions of programs which may not fit in with the rest of your installation. That sort of problem can be solved, but it's not a job for a beginner.

Just run the Ubuntu Software Centre or the Synaptic package manager and you can look through classified lists of available items, or use the search feature to find things like video editors or vector-graphics editors.

What have you got when you extract from the zip file? Is it a file or a whole folder? If you've got source code, it will be in a folder which will also contain a file called README. Not surprisingly, that's a good place to start!

Well, then tell which software, it is about : <name>.zip

it is in source code. How do I install it from source code?

Hi,
there is no simple one size fits all procedure that we can easily give you. However, we can likely help you quite easily if there is a *specific* piece of software you'd like to install. So, is there something in particular your like to install? If so, please give us details.

Evo2.

Unknown Horizons, Minetest c55, Python, and Flightgear.(I'm trying to download Unknown Horizons first as an experiment.)

Hi,

the starting point for installing any software should always be your package manager. for example, just now I did the following:
which returned the following:
I did the same thing for "minetest", "python" and "flightgear" with similar results. This confirmed that these programs are already pacakged for me and as such I can install them by running the following command as root:
And similar for the other programs. The bottom line here is that each of the programs you listed are most likely already packaged for you and as such are trivial to install: you should not need to be manually downloading things from the web or from magazine cds. If "apt-cache search foo" does not yield what you want then feel free to ask back for help on how to install "foo".

Evo2.

The above posts are GREAT advice
almost all the time it is MUCH easier to use the already built and packaged software for your distro
-- in your case a debian based distro

that said

it can be fun and very educational to build software
BUT it takes some time to learn things
-- A LOT of time sometimes --


in a source package there are normally ( but NOT always ) two files
README
INSTALL
or a folder called "Doc"
readme and install MIGHT ??? have the build instructions
but most of the time a standard "boilerplate" stating in 500 words
or they might tell you to read the documentation on there web site
the normal everyday tools on linux are gcc and "Autotools"
but not always
it might use "cmake" , " scons" or " qmake " or something else

--- example : cmake --

one example of a slightly non standard build process is the astronomy Planetarium program " Stellarium "
http://www.stellarium.org/
http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php...ation_on_Linux

it uses "cmake"

AND
you have to make sure that the source for ALL the build dependencies ARE INSTALLED and working !!!
http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Build_Dependencies

this is a lot of work

is much easier

-- example for scons ---

a HP calculator ( using the original HP rom's)
-- i use the hp 41c and the hp 15c on my openSUSE install
( i still have my 15c , but my 41 was stolen a few years back,it was my first REAL calculator )

http://nonpareil.brouhaha.com/
-- i will NOT go into detail on building this
------------------


example for "qmake"

the QT4 ( not the qt3/kde3 or GTK 2.4) build of Celestia

-- i have posted the instructions for this all over the web
and read the celestia forum
http://www.shatters.net/forum/



but building programs from source is a way to LEARN things
but it takes time, patients , reading , MORE READING , and a lot more patients .

A good and rather complicated project ( but easy to do )
is build " The Gimp" photo editor
it is VERY VERY well documented with a ton of guides on the web

1 members found this post helpful.

When I type in ./configure it says bash: ./configure: No such file or directory. And when I type in apt-cache search horizons, it continues on to a new line and nothing happens. The same happens for flightgear and minetest. When I type in python countless lines of code appear. Does my package manager not have those packages? I have Linux Mint 15(olivia).

I have looked in my package manager and done a quick filter search for minetest, flightgear, and unknown horizons and found nothing. I then went to Linux Mint Communities software portal and found flight gear clicked on it and clicked install. An error message then pops up saying could not find package flightgear. I tried this with a few others too and had the same result. Did I do something wrong?

for "unknown-horizons" what exactly did you download ?

from their download page on their website
http://www.unknown-horizons.org/download/linux/

they give you the debian/ubuntu/mint instructions
-- the first thing --
-- for mint --
install the repo it is in
then install it
and it is installed

for "installing from source" link
http://www.unknown-horizons.org/down...urces/s-linux/
you first MUST install ALL the build dependencies !
from the FACT that "scons" is in the REQUIRED SOFTWARE this is NOT a normal everyday build
but one that is using "scons"

there will NOT be any "autotools" "configure" file nor "Makefile" file .
the normal build instructions will NOT work !



Grab and build from github the "FIFE " program USING scons
( see the build intructions for this - a link is posted at the bottom of the page )
https://github.com/fifengine/fifengine/wiki/scons

Grab and build from github the "unknown-horizons" using the included Python build script

this is not a normal everyday strait forward build

and will be a lot of work

Hi,

Ok it seems that you are experiencing one of the big problems with using little boutique distros: lack of packages. I had a quick check and although all these games are in Debian they did not make their way down into Mint. Searching on packages.ubuntu.com I found that unknown-horizons, flightgear and minetest are all packaged in the universe section. AFAIK, Mint is supposed to be binary compatible with Ubuntu (but please check for yourself), so you should be able to install them using apt-get if you first add the relevant Ubuntu repositories to your sources.list.

However, as I said please first check for yourself about using binary Ubuntu packages in Mint. If it turns out they are not binary compatible then the cleanest and easiest thing to do would be do install from the source deb packages. I can help with instructions if you interested in that approach.

Evo2.