Ok, here is a short tutorial on installing things in Ubuntu. Ubuntu uses a package manager called "apt" to install things. For other distros the package manager might be different, but for Ubuntu you stick with apt.
The easiest way to install things for the new user is to go to Applications -> Add/Remove and find a program you want to install using that. You have to type in the root account password (which in Ubuntu is your system password) to use it, as Linux doesn't let anyone other than an administrator install things to the system directories.
A slightly trickier way but more useful is to go to System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Again, you have to type your password in.
Once your password is confirmed, you can either do a quick search or a thorough search for the package you need, and then select it from the list and right-click, select "Mark for Installation", or hit the spacebar (either will work). To deselect it, you have to right-click and select "Unmark". Once you have selected all the packages you wish to install, you should click the "apply" button and let the program download and install things. To uninstall things (which are marked with a green square in the list) right-click and select "mark for removal". If you really want to get rid of them forever (including config files, etc) the click "mark for complete removal".
Now the third way (and the way you will probably eventually use if you are a huge nerd) is using the command line. Ubuntu has tried to make it possible for everyone not to use the command line, but it really is the most powerful tool Linux has to offer. To open up a terminal, you go Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal, which runs a program called "gnome-terminal" (assuming you are using GNOME as your desktop manager, which is default). You will see a command prompt, and from this you can type commands into the system. Remember how we needed to type the root password in to install stuff? Well it is no different here, except we prefex any command we want to run as the root account with "sudo".
"sudo" stands for "superuser do" which means that the system will run whatever program you want as the superuser, but after it is complete will switch back to your user account. Simply prefix any command with sudo do run a program as the superuser (root) account. When you run a command with sudo, it will look in a cache for a password you have entered. The cache usually expires after 5 minutes, so if you have used sudo before in the past 5 minutes you will not have to type the password again. However if this is the first time doing it you will have to type the password when prompted. The password entry does not display any characters you have entered (not even *****) so it can look confusing, however it is working!
To install a package type: sudo apt-get install {package_name}
You can use tab completion to complete package names if you know the start of them, or you can search for packages using: apt-cache search {search terms} (No need to use sudo for this one)
"apt-get" is the installer, and "install" is the argument you give to it to install a certain package. To remove a package, you use: sudo apt-get remove {package_name}.
The apt program may ask you to confirm certain things about the install, such as whether you want to download the files. Usually the default answer is Yes, so you can simply hit enter, or you could type Y and hit enter. Either way works.
The easiest way to install things for the new user is to go to Applications -> Add/Remove and find a program you want to install using that. You have to type in the root account password (which in Ubuntu is your system password) to use it, as Linux doesn't let anyone other than an administrator install things to the system directories.
A slightly trickier way but more useful is to go to System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Again, you have to type your password in.
Once your password is confirmed, you can either do a quick search or a thorough search for the package you need, and then select it from the list and right-click, select "Mark for Installation", or hit the spacebar (either will work). To deselect it, you have to right-click and select "Unmark". Once you have selected all the packages you wish to install, you should click the "apply" button and let the program download and install things. To uninstall things (which are marked with a green square in the list) right-click and select "mark for removal". If you really want to get rid of them forever (including config files, etc) the click "mark for complete removal".
Now the third way (and the way you will probably eventually use if you are a huge nerd) is using the command line. Ubuntu has tried to make it possible for everyone not to use the command line, but it really is the most powerful tool Linux has to offer. To open up a terminal, you go Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal, which runs a program called "gnome-terminal" (assuming you are using GNOME as your desktop manager, which is default). You will see a command prompt, and from this you can type commands into the system. Remember how we needed to type the root password in to install stuff? Well it is no different here, except we prefex any command we want to run as the root account with "sudo".
"sudo" stands for "superuser do" which means that the system will run whatever program you want as the superuser, but after it is complete will switch back to your user account. Simply prefix any command with sudo do run a program as the superuser (root) account. When you run a command with sudo, it will look in a cache for a password you have entered. The cache usually expires after 5 minutes, so if you have used sudo before in the past 5 minutes you will not have to type the password again. However if this is the first time doing it you will have to type the password when prompted. The password entry does not display any characters you have entered (not even *****) so it can look confusing, however it is working!
To install a package type: sudo apt-get install {package_name}
You can use tab completion to complete package names if you know the start of them, or you can search for packages using: apt-cache search {search terms} (No need to use sudo for this one)
"apt-get" is the installer, and "install" is the argument you give to it to install a certain package. To remove a package, you use: sudo apt-get remove {package_name}.
The apt program may ask you to confirm certain things about the install, such as whether you want to download the files. Usually the default answer is Yes, so you can simply hit enter, or you could type Y and hit enter. Either way works.
