If you are switching to Ubuntu you should know that this distro is based on Debian so the software comes as .deb packages instead of .rpm as we have used on Red Hat based distros. Here is few command line tips for Ubuntu:
You can install .deb package 3 different ways:
- you can use the GUI tool by right click on the .deb package and you will see option to install it
- use a command sudo dpkg -i package-i386.deb , you will be asked to enter your root passsword before installation takes place
- use a command to download the softare from repository and install sudo apt-get SOFTWARE , you will be asked to enter password and installation will proceed
How to kill application/process:
Example: I want to end Firefox
- $ ps -ef | grep Firefox – you will se a number attached to this application, you will need it to kill it
- $ kill 676677 – this will end the application
How to remove package on Ubuntu:
$ sudo apt-get remove –purge package.deb or right click and select Uninstall/remove and all is done for you.
Some applications/software comes as TAR(ball) package .tar. This TAR package first must be unzipped and then you will run installation commands:
Package.tar
- $ chmod 700 Package.tar
- $ tar -xzvf Package.tar
- $ cd Package*
- sudo ./configure
- make && make install
This is usually what you have to do to install software on Ubuntu. If you have .rpm package and you want to install on Ubuntu you can use tool alien to convert the .rpm to .deb package before you can install it. However this sometimes may have issue as you may missing some library files and you will need to install it before the package.
- $ sudo apt-get update
- $ sudo apt-get install alien – this will download and install the alien (convertor) on Ubuntu convert
- $ sudo alien -i package.rpm — this will convert the package to .deb