Newbie to linux and a question

[Linux for blind general discussion]

sudo apt-cache search package_name|less is also very useful.  That one
allows users to search for packages and presents available choices one
screen at a time.  If a user finds a package they want to install on a
screen, they can type control-z which backgrounds the sudo apt-cache
search package_name command then they can type sudo apt-get install
package_name to get that package.  Then they can type fg <enter> to
foreground the original sudo apt-cache search package_name command and
continue reading from where they left off.

On Sat, 15 Dec 2018, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:

> Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 16:22:51
> From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
> To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
> Subject: Re: Newbie to linux and a question
>
> great info thanks.
>
> On 12/15/2018 7:25 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> > Okay, I'm not sure how to help a newbie get started, but one thing I
> > think worth mentioning given the most recent message:
> >
> > Manually downloading, compiling, and installing application software
> > on a Linux machine is something even experienced users typically have
> > little reason to do on a daily basis. This is because most modern
> > distributions come with a built-in package manager that will,
> > instructed to install a given piece of software, automate the process
> > of downloading a precompiled for that distro package of the
> > application, packages for all its dependencies, and installing those
> > precompiled packages.
> >
> > Sadly, package management is one of those things that differs from
> > distro-to-distro, though distros that are closely related often share
> > the same package manager(e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, Knoppix, and most other
> > distros derived from Debian or one of its derivatives all use apt as
> > their package management system and offer a few standard frontends).
> >
> > Plus, many "newbie friendly" distros err on  the side of including as
> > many different packages in their default installation as can be
> > compressed to fit on the install media.
> >
> > I'm really only familiar with debian derivatives and the apt package
> > manager, but some of the most important commands are:
> > sudo apt-get update
> > To refresh the package lists.
> > sudo apt-get upgrade
> > To install all available upgrades for installed packages.
> > and
> > sudo apt-get install [packagename]
> > To install the named package along with all its dependencies.
> >
> > Also,
> > sudo aptitude
> > will laucnh a console frontend for apt called aptitude which provides
> > many useful features such as:
> > A tiered list of all available packages divided first by install
> > status(upgradeable, installed, not installed, obsolete or locally
> > installed), section(Admin, editors, libs, net, utilities, among
> > several dozen others), and license(differs on distro, but Debian
> > itself uses main for free software, contrib for non-free software that
> > meets some criteria I'm not entirely sure about, and non-free for all
> > other non-free software), and then alphabetically by package name.
> > pressing enter on a package name brings up lots of information on that
> > package, such as description, maintainer, size, dependencies, and
> > available versions.
> > many keyboard shortcuts for quickly marking a highlighted package for
> > upgrade/installation/removal/etc.
> > Built-in serach(useful for finding a package when you don't know its exact
> > name.
> > Easy to read preview of pending actions prior to them being applied.
> > powerful conflict resolution capabilities.
> >
> > And synaptic provides many of the same features in a gui application.
> >
> > Oh, and if you really need to download and install something manually
> > because it isn't available through apt, Debian and its derivatives use
> > .deb packages, which can be installed by running:
> > sudo dpkg -i nameofpackage.deb
> >
> > And as Debian and its derivatives are among the most widely used
> > distros, many devs will include .deb packages on their download pages.
> > Note: you're also likely to see .rpm packages, which are packages for
> > the Redhat Package Manager, used by Redhat Enterprise Linux, Fedora,
> > and their derivatives, and .tar.gz or .tar.bz2, which are compressed
> > tarballs, which usually contain a copy of a program's source code.
> > .rpm packages can be installed on Debian-derived systems, but this
> > requires the use of alien to handle the foreign package format and is
> > generally not recommended, and compiling from source generally isn't
> > needed unless you're part of active development.
> >
> > I hope you find this information useful.
> >
>
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