Preparing your Linux computer for MX: Difference between revisions

Preparing your Linux computer for MX (view source)

Revision as of 19:08, 8 May 2022

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 ==Package tool==
-For the purposes of keeping this Wiki page simple, the package manager described in “apt” meaning “Advance Package Tool” e.g. <code>sudo ''apt'' install package_name</code>.
+You can add extra programs to your Linux computer.  Programs written to run in multiple operating systems are usually downloaded  as ''*.tar.gz'' files, although other file compressions may be used (.zip is effectively Windows specific, but as we shall see in [[MX on Linux]] can be used on Linux).  Programs written for Linux distributions like "Red Hat", "Fedora", and "centOS" are supplied as ''*.rpm'' files.
-In simple terms, the inclusion of "apt" runs the “package manager” used in Linux. That is certainly true if you use the Raspberry Pi operating system, and it appears it is true for almost all modern Linux operating systems.
+For the purposes of keeping this Wiki page simple, the package manager described here is the modern debian one “apt” meaning “Advance Package Tool” e.g. <code>sudo ''apt'' install package_name</code>.
-Some online tutorials refer to “apt-get” or "apt-cache" in examples they quote. My online research suggests using those directly is no longer advisable, and therefore you should leave off the part starting with a hyphen, i.e. it should be safe to replace these older package managers with "apt". I have included [[#Package Manager – a brief technical aside|a little technical explanation]] after this subsection, if this really worries you, it appears that in some variants "apt" is just a more user friendly way to call the older package.
+In simple terms, the inclusion of "apt" runs the “package manager” used in any modern Linux based on a Debian, or Ubuntu, distribution where programs are written in files ''*.deb''. That is certainly true if you use the Raspberry Pi operating system, and it appears it is true for almost all modern Linux operating systems.
+Some online tutorials refer to “apt-get” or "apt-cache" in examples they quote. My online research suggests using those directly is no longer advisable, and therefore you should leave off the part starting with a hyphen, i.e. it should be safe to replace these older package managers with "apt". I have included [[#Package Manager – a brief technical aside|a little technical explanation]] after this subsection, if this really worries you, it appears that in some Linux variants "apt" is just a more user friendly way to call the older package.
 If you are using an older operating system, it appears the tool available depends on the variant of Unix you have installed. The contributor of this section has done some online research, but is not familiar with all the Unix variants, so other contributors with fuller technical expertise may need to edit this section to make its applicability wider.
-According to online documentation seen, some UNIX variants use a tool called '''RPM packet manager''', and this involves a command line specifying "zypper" in the second part of the command e.g. <code>sudo zypper install package_name</code>.
+According to online documentation seen, some UNIX variants use  '''RPM packets'''. The modern package manager for these is "dnf" and in general you can substitute "dnf" for "apt" in my descriptions. However, there is an older package manager for RPM packets called  "zypper", again in general you can replace "apt" in my notes with "zypper" and it should work e.g. <code>sudo zypper install package_name</code>.  Other package managers used with "*.rpm" files include 'yum' (standard with "Fedora" distributions) which does not use the same syntax as "apt", and 'rpm' (which can only install packages that are already on your computer but currently dormant) again using a different syntax.
 == Package Manager – a brief technical aside==