How to Install Programs in Kubuntu Linux
Installing Applications on Kubuntu Linux – The “Easy” Way!
Hey all. Today’s guide is going to cover how to install programs in Kubuntu Linux. This is very important for someone who is new to the Linux operating system because it allows you to install the programs you need to work on your computer.
As I have mentioned before I am gearing this series of articles towards people who are new to Linux and need guides on how to perform basic functions. There are a lot of guides out there that cover the advanced features of Linux but not many that will walk people through the basic things they need to know to get started.
(This guide pertains to using Adept Manager in KDE on Kubuntu, this information will not apply to all versions of Linux)
For this guide we are going to be working with a program called “Adept Manager”. Now if you are new to Linux (like me) and you are coming over from a Windows System (like me) you are probably used to working with EXE setup packages and the “Add / Remove Programs” manager in control panel.
Adept Manager is similar to “Add / Remove Programs” in some respects and working with it can have the same feel, although Adept Manager actually gives you much more control over what applications you are installing or removing.
The first thing we need to do is open the program. It can be found by going to the following location:
K Menu > System > Adept Manager – Manage Packages
When you click on this program you will be prompted for your root password. Go ahead and enter your password and the program will open.
Once the program opens you will see a list of available software you can install onto your system. A really nice feature of Adept Manager is that is allows you to search for a program name, so instead of needing to scroll through the list you can use the “Search” feature at the top of the list.
For our example let’s install a program called “GIMP”. Gimp is an image manipulation program similar to Photoshop that allows to create and edit graphical image files on your system. This can be very handy for designing images for websites, editing digital camera pictures and just passing the time when you are bored.
Now let’s type “Gimp” into the search window at the top of Adept Manager. Once you have typed the program name Adept Manager is going to bring back any instance of the keyword in program titles and descriptions.
When Adept Manager is done searching you should see a list of several programs. The GIMP installer should be close to the top of this list of programs.
If you are unsure of what each item is your can check over to the right column where it will give you a description of what you are installing. In this case we are going to select the package that just says “Gimp” and you can see by reading the description that this is “The GNU Image Manipulation Program”
Once you click on the package name you will see two buttons, “Request Install” and “Details”. To install GIMP you will want to choose the “Request Install” button and then you will notice the information in the “Requested” column change, letting you know this program is going to be installed once you apply the changes.
Now would also be a good time to look at other packages and their descriptions to decide if you need install anything else that will go along with this program. For the sake of our example you should be okay by just selecting Gimp.
Once you have your programs selected you will want to go to the top of Adept Manager and choose the “Apply Changes” button. (with the green check mark)
When you click on the “Apply Changes” button you will see Adept Manager connect to the internet and download the program/s you requested. Once the files have downloaded Adept Manager will proceed to install them on your system. If you would like to see exactly what it is doing you can click on the “Details” button for more information on what is going on in the background.
Once the files have been download and installed Adept Manager will take you back to the programs screen, and you should now see the status of the program you selected set to “Installed” (displayed in green). Anything that is not on your system will reflect the status “Not Installed” (displayed in blue)
Once Adept Manager has finished installing the program you can go to your K Menu and check out the new software you installed. It will usually be organized under the appropriate menu for the type of application you choose. In this case since we chose a graphics manipulation program we would want to check under “Graphics”
K Menu > Graphics > GIMP
Now you can see that when you click on Gimp, the application opens and you can now use your new software.
Congratulations! You now know how to install programs in Linux (Kubuntu). There are actually other ways to install program in Linux by downloading Linux based versions of programs, or using command line methods but for the sake of simplicity this is the method we are going to cover today.
Now let’s say you accidentally installed a program you don’t need? Not a problem. Go back into Adept Manager, and removing the program can be done is much the same way as installing an application.
In Adept Manager do a search for the name of the program you want to remove and you should see it come up on the list of applications. You can verify if the program is actually installed on your system or not by checking the “Status” column. If the status is “Installed” you know that you have found the correct program.
Now click on the package name as if you were going to install it and you should see that one of the buttons now says “Request Removal” and you will see the status of the “Request” column change to “Remove”.
Once this has been done click the “Apply Changes” button at the top of Adept Manager. Now once again you will see a prompt that looks very similar to the installation procedure except this time once it finishes, the unwanted software should be removed from your system
Grats! You should now have a much better understanding of the main purpose of Adept Manager and how to install and remove programs from your Kubuntu, Linux system.
In this guide we have really only covered the basic functions within Adept Manager so feel free to explore and check out other options and menus that it offers you. The best way to learn about something is by exploring it, and since the purpose of these guides is about learning Linux this will provide you the most benefit.
As always thanks for checking out Pseudorant and please recommend us to your friends! We appreciate the support and having readers motivates us to strive to improve the site for everyone. Thanks again!
How to Install Windows on Linux
Setting up a Virtual Machine in Kubuntu
Todays guide is going to cover how to setup a Virtual Machine on Kubuntu so you can install Windows or any other operating system you prefer onto Linux.
The reason this may be useful is because sometimes new users to Linux can run into compatibility issues with certain programs, or may not be able to find a program that does what they need it to do.
A good example for me is that I have been a designer on Windows for so long I NEED to use Photoshop. GIMP is a nice program but I have 10+ years of training in Photoshop and I tend to use it on a daily basis.
This is a good example of where having a virtual machine is useful. Because I am new to Linux myself I can’t tell you if there is a version of Photoshop for Linux or not. But because I have already paid for my license I am going to continue to use this software for as long as possible to get my moneys worth.
So without further delay let’s discuss how to install Windows onto Kubuntu by creating a Virtual Machine.
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The first thing you need to do is install “Virtualbox”. You can do this using “Adept Manager”.
K Menu > System > Adept Manager
Once you have Adept Manager open do a search for “Virtualbox”.
Once the program returns search results find:
“Virtualbox-OSE” and click on the program title.
This will open a drop down menu that has a button that says “Request Install”. Press this button. Repeat these steps for:
“Virtualbox-OSE-Modules-2.6.24.16-generic” and…
“Virtualbox-OSE-Modules-generic”
(I believe I needed to install these files in addition to Virtualbox to get the program to work.)
Once you have these three items selected click the “Apply Changes” button at the top of Adept Manager.
You will now see some installation screens while Adept Manager loads the applications onto your system. Adept Manager is an easy way to add and remove programs from Kubuntu.
Once Adept Manager finishes up you need to open Virtualbox. Go to:
K Menu > System > Virtualbox (which should now show up in this menu)
Now we will want to setup our new operating system in Virtualbox.
Click the “New” button in Virtualbox. This will open the new Virtual Machine dialog. Click “Next”.
Now type the name for the new Virtual Machine. I am going to use a name that will describe what we are installing, so I’ll pick “Windows XP”.
You can also select the OS type from a drop down menu below this. Choose your OS from the list.
The next screen will allow you to choose the amount of base memory you would like to assign to the virtual machine. Going with the default will probably be fine. I selected 256mb for Windows XP and it runs great on my old laptop in Virtualbox. (I believe the default was 196mb)
The next screen allows you to setup a virtual hard disk. Since we are setting up our first Virtual Machine we will select “New” which will open another dialog box.
In the “Create New Virtual Disk” wizard click “Next” to begin.
For our “Disk Image Type” let’s go with the “Dynamically Expanding Image” to make a more efficient use of our hard drive space. (Keep in mind I am doing this on a laptop so space in a factor)
Then select an image file name. I am going to name mine “Windows XP” so it matches the virtual machine name. Then select an image size.
Since you will be using the OS to work and test things you probably won’t be installing games or downloading so you shouldn’t need a really large disk size. (Unless you plan to do those things.)
For a Windows installation I would recommend between 4 to 6gb keeping Windows updates and service packs in mind.
Once you have selected a size, click “Next” this will take you to the final screen where you can click “Finish”. You have now setup a virtual hard disk and will be taken back to the previous setup dialog.
Click “Next” and then click “Finish”. You should now see the virtual machine you created appear on the left hand side of the screen.
There is one other thing we need to do before we can install our OS. We need to change account permissions to allow the virtual machine to operate properly.
Go to the “K Menu” > “System Settings” > “User Management” click on the button “Administrator Mode” in the lower right corner. Enter your root password.
Once you have done this double click on your user name and click the middle tab, “Privileges and Groups”. In the new menu you’ll see a menu to the right called “Secondary Group”, scroll all the way to the bottom of this menu.
Look for an option called “vboxusers” and make sure it is check marked, once you have done this click “OK” and close out of User Management.
Now go back to Virtualbox and insert the CD for the OS you are going to install. When you insert the disk Kubuntu may prompt you for what you would like to do. Ignore this and go back to Virtualbox.
Now on the information screen that is displayed on the right you should see some info about your virtual machine state. If you see nothing next to the “CD-Rom” section follow these steps before you start.
Make sure you have your Virtual Machine name highlighted and “right click” to bring up the menu. Select “Settings” from the top of the menu. In the settings window select “CD/DVD-Rom” from the left hand menu.
Under the CD/DVD-Rom select the “Mount CD/DVD Drive” option. You will now see other options become available.
Select “Host CD/DVD Drive”. (You may need to select the correct drive from the drop down menu if you have more than one drive in your system.)
Once you have done this click “OK”. You should now see your drive listed in the Virtual Machine information window.
Now make sure you have your Virtual Machine name highlighted and click the “Start” button at the top of Virtualbox.
You will now see a new window popup and virtual box should start the installation of your new OS. I am sure anyone installing XP onto their Kubuntu system is familiar with how to installation goes so I am not going to outline this part.
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Congratulations! You have now setup your first Virtual Machine and are running Windows XP on Linux. Keep in mind that your Windows installation is full fledged and can do anything a normal Windows installation on a system can do.
Now that you are familiar with how to setup a virtual machine you can also play around and add other operating systems to your computer as you see fit. This is a really good way to experiment with other operating systems without having to commit to formating your current operating system.
I will post some follow-up articles when I find other cool things you can do with Virtualbox. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations I would also be glad to see them in the comments.
Thanks again for checking out Pseudorant. Please tell your friends to checkout the site! I appreciate the support.
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