I am dualbooting Ubuntu with Windows 8.1 for about a year. My intention is to completely step away from the Windows environment, but I keep returning to Windows. Mainly because installing and managing applications seem to take so much time.
Installing applications
I cheer when an app is packaged in .deb file. But when I have to install .tar.gz files I become confused about where to run the file from and how to assign the correct privileges. I am running my main apps from a different partition than /home. So what would be the proper way to install applications?
Uninstalling applications
I really like in Windows how you can get a list from installed apps and just deinstall them. Applications that are not packaged in .deb files seem to not be listed in the ubuntu software center. How can I keep track of my applications and de-install them in an easy way.
Installing and Uninstalling from command line
A great advantage of Linux seem to be the apt-get install things. But it can be dangerous if I do not know what I am doing. Often apps require dependencies and I install them. When I install another app that require the same dependencies, I do not have to install them. When I want to uninstall an app completely, how do I keep track that its dependencies is being used by another app at the same time?
I am desperate to step off Windows, but these issues results me into spending a lot of time configuring my Ubuntu desktop, which is keeping me off the actual tasks I need to do. I am about to invest into an OSX machine, but I really want to reconsider Ubuntu desktop. Does anyone have the perfect guide for me?
42 Answers
it's totally fine that you are new to UBUNTU...
You do know about "Software Center" in UBUNTU....
Go here : SynapticHowto. This article has all answers you needed.
More over to do it totally using Terminal: AptGet/Howto
I hope this will help you alot.
Regarding .tar.gz files and where to run the file. Usual place for such not-managed-with-apt software is /opt, e.g. Google chrome does this, or Eclipse.
