How to install *.deb, *.rpm and Source Code Files

*.deb files and *rpm files are commonly available to us users when we search for installers of applications on the internet. If you have never encountered these files before it’s best to know which ones are applicable for the Linux distribution. Both packages apply to different distributions. There are different methods you could use to install them on the respective distros where they apply. On the other hand, source code files are applicable to any system.

When learning about installing applications, it’s best if you’re familiar with using repositories. Repositories contain the packages of the application/s you might need. Repositories could be added to your package manager as needed.

How to Install an RPM Package on a Debian Box

There are times when you cannot see a specific package you are looking for in the repositories for the distribution you are using. There are times I personally see rpm files of applications I want to use but no *deb packages. What does when do when this happens? Install the rpm package! Alien will do the trick.

HOWTO: Use dpkg to Install .deb Files

If you have downloaded deb files of the application you want, you could install them using the dpkg command. This will solve your dilemma of what to do with the file. However, dpkg actually has other uses. You could simply unpack the package, show the options available and you could also remove the application via the dpkg command.

Being a new Linux user might not appear to be easy but if you give it time you will see for yourself that it’s not as bad you might think it could be. You need time to familiarize yourself with Linux as well as the whole free and open source community as a whole. And if ever you find it difficult to do any of those and yet you already need something done, you could look all over the internet there are many ways to work on Linux, as well as open source projects too, so you don’t feel too burdened at the end of the day.

Post from: New Linux User

Fedora

PlanetOSS even has a review of Fedora 11’s pre-release. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols listed down Fedora’s 5 best features even.

On the best features list, I saw that the fast boot up time was included. I saw that on one of the tweets of one person I’m following. The list includes Fedora using Ext4 by default, better graphics because of X.server 1.6, as well as improvements with Synaptics to the point that it made him appreciate touchpads more. Another one is the extra security provided by DNSSEC.

The PlanetOSS review has more screenshots in case you are curious and it gave a more detailed writeup of his user experience with Fedora 11. That includes the good and the bad. Although as other commenters have pointed out, not everything that was mentioned was the same for them. Some agreed to having difficulties with the graphical package manager though.

For me, package managers are critical because users who are new to Linux must be guided about instaling packages. They might get the usual exe files and other such installers online without knowing that they won’t work. So where do they turn to for their favorite kinds of applications, right?

I like that the PlanetOSS also included a lot of screenshots for those who are not familiar with Fedora, like me. The review also mentioned other stuff like Palimpsest which might be a replacement for Gparted.

Post from: New Linux User