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Wouldn't using the synaptic package manager work better? I've heard it touted as one of the reasons for Linux being superior than Windows and Mac (except for Ap

by Joakal 15y ago

Wouldn't using the synaptic package manager work better? I've heard it touted as one of the reasons for Linux being superior than Windows and Mac (except for App store) by having a central repository of many programs. Want Gimp? sudo apt-get install gimp or mark Gimp in the package manager and it'll download and install all the related packages and dependencies. My only gripe is that the search is not good but Google spoiled me.

brown9-2 15y ago
Isn't Synaptic just a GUI front end to apt-get?
- roel_v 15y ago
  Yes it is.
- mbubb 15y ago
  Yes somewhat and apt is a wrapper on top of dpkg ... So on a Debian/Ubuntu or related system your common options are: * dpkg * apt-get and apt-cache * aptitude * synaptic All the apt-based programs use the same /etc/apt/ files. There is a lot of overlap but specific reasons I might use one or the other. I use aptitude to do global updates as in: aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade Apt-get has the most commandline options. I have not figured out how to do the following two on aptitude - so just use apt-get: "apt-get dist-upgrade" "apt-get -f" (which is not to say it doesnt - just havent found it in 'the fine manual') Synaptic is fun to browse. almost like an android app store. I use it looking for a fun new game for my kid to play on my laptop, etc. And dpkg is useful for local installs (dpkg -i) and also for dpkg-reconfigure when you have to change something in the config of an installed package. I also deal with yum/rpm (which is a similar pairing as apt/dpkg). I first learned on Debian so I have a fondness for apt. In my experience it is pretty stable and easy to use. When I read the OP I thought the 'actually this shows how cool apt or yum can be to use'.
mbubb 15y ago
The search is not an internet based search. It is looking though the repositories that you have selected (cached on your system). If you don't have the right repos you will not find what you need.
- Joakal 15y ago
  There are over hundreds of thousands of packages. When I look up something like python to use for development, I'm getting a lot of non-main packages.

by Joakal 15y ago

brown9-2 15y ago

Isn't Synaptic just a GUI front end to apt-get?

roel_v 15y ago
Yes it is.
mbubb 15y ago
Yes somewhat and apt is a wrapper on top of dpkg ... So on a Debian/Ubuntu or related system your common options are: * dpkg * apt-get and apt-cache * aptitude * synaptic All the apt-based programs use the same /etc/apt/ files. There is a lot of overlap but specific reasons I might use one or the other. I use aptitude to do global updates as in: aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade Apt-get has the most commandline options. I have not figured out how to do the following two on aptitude - so just use apt-get: "apt-get dist-upgrade" "apt-get -f" (which is not to say it doesnt - just havent found it in 'the fine manual') Synaptic is fun to browse. almost like an android app store. I use it looking for a fun new game for my kid to play on my laptop, etc. And dpkg is useful for local installs (dpkg -i) and also for dpkg-reconfigure when you have to change something in the config of an installed package. I also deal with yum/rpm (which is a similar pairing as apt/dpkg). I first learned on Debian so I have a fondness for apt. In my experience it is pretty stable and easy to use. When I read the OP I thought the 'actually this shows how cool apt or yum can be to use'.

mbubb 15y ago

The search is not an internet based search. It is looking though the repositories that you have selected (cached on your system). If you don't have the right repos you will not find what you need.

Joakal 15y ago
There are over hundreds of thousands of packages. When I look up something like python to use for development, I'm getting a lot of non-main packages.