Apt-get :: Total Noob

I am a totally new to all of this. Thought I would get away from Windows and give er a shot. I went through the steps and got it installed on the HD and have messed with the sound a bit but still working on it. My biggest question at this point is though, after I download something what do I do to install it and how do I know what to type?

first, you need to restore the dpkg system.

this is easy. in the menu, go Apps>Tools>Enable Apt *Note: you need an active internet connection to do this*

next, since you are just moving over from M$ WindoZzz you'll probably want the nice GUI frontend to Apt - Synaptic.

to enable Synaptic, just go Apps>Tools>got memory & bandwidth>Synaptic

it is a significantly larger download than dpkg, so it could take a while.

afterwards, just run Synaptic and it'll let you choose any package in the Debian "Stable" .deb servers.

if you want more up-to-date apps, you want the "unstable" tree.

to do this simply change the file at /etc/apt/sources.list to look like this.

Code Sample

#deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
#deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb http://www.modularity.org/knoppix ./

hope this helps! ^_^

-J.P.
SaidinUnleashed

I did everything you have listed above. I got a ton of errors when downloading and installing Synaptic but don't know if they are signifigant. The manager comes up, gives warnings like "Couldn't stat source package list http:ftp.us.debian.org unstable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.dabian.org_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)" I get 3 that are like that when the manager starts up.
Also when I try to mark something for installation in the lists, I get an error saying that the packages have unmet dependencies and won't be marked for installation or upgrade.

You may have a typo in your sources.list...

Using your last post, your url line needs to read like this..

"deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib"

Your post is missing the forward slashes after the "http" ..

Could be just a typo in your post.. but check it..

73
ke4nt

Yes, typo on my part in the post. It's in there correct though.

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