Installing applications on Peppermint 3

Linux Support
1

As a new user of P3 I am in the process of installing my preferred applications and have encountered one or two quirks of the system that caused a bit of head-scratching, and I share one experience in the hope that other learners are not put off this excellent operating system.

Users with experience of Ubuntu may be a trifle disappointed by functioning of the Software Manager provided in P3 compared with that in Ubuntu. In particular, after clicking on Install and waiting the required time, the wording at the left-hand-side still says “Not installed” but this is not quite true. Sometimes, the application really has been installed and appears in the menu lists, but sometimes it doesn’t. In the latter case, it seems that the application files have simply been downloaded and need to be installed by the Synaptic Package Manager found in System Tools.

The trick is to use the Search facility in Packet Manager to locate the offending application, click on the small box to left of its name then click “Apply”. Et voila!

I have needed to do this on two occasions:

  1. Installing the Pinta Image Editing application. It downloaded but did not install.
  2. Solving an update error that complained that libgtk2-perl was not installed. It was there all the time but just needed to be installed. Doing so solved the error.

I hope others find this useful.

2

Hi Keith

In particular, after clicking on Install and waiting the required time, the wording at the left-hand-side still says “Not installed”

I discovered that as well and find it a bit irritating, personally I very rarely use Software Manager and generally only use it to search for an application and get a description then once I have the name go and download it from Synaptic or apt-get in the terminal

3

Hi Graeme.
Do you mean that in my case the Software Manager really had not downloaded the application and that the Package Manager not only installed it but downloaded it, too?
And does the PM list things that are not installed but can be just by marking them for upgrade?
Sorry for my ignorance.

Keith

4

As I understand it both Synaptic Package Manager and the Software manager will download and install, they have to download first as the application files are not on your PC but in a remote repository

And does the PM list things that are not installed but can be just by marking them for upgrade?

The package manager lists all packages that are available for download in the repositories, if it’s already installed it will have a green box to the left indicating you already have it installed on your PC otherwise the box is clear, I’m not at a Linux PC right now but I think it’s possible to download package files only without installing them but I’m not 100% sure about that.

I’m not very good at explaining things like this but I hope that’s answered your question

Graeme

5

Yes, that explained it very well.
Thank you, Graeme.

Keith

6

You can install the Ubuntu Software Center if you’d prefer.

Personally I prefer Synaptic … no bling, but does the job … and you can mark more than one package for installation at a time.

There’s also the Lubuntu Software Center … IMHO very buggy

and you can install the Deepin Software Center (from a PPA) … very “bling”, very stable, but a LARGE install … sommat like 180MB

7

The nice thing about the Ubuntu Software Centre is that it provides a reasonable amount of information about each package, making it easier to choose the most appropriate one for my needs. Also, one can step down the list rather than being obliged to use the scroll bar in the P3 version, which is awkward when there are so many in the list.
I like Graeme’s idea of browsing the the software centre then using either a terminal command or the Package Manager to download. For me; I am tempted to take up your suggestion of using the Ubuntu Software Centre, despite the bling, for its ease of use. Can you tell me how to do that?

8

I had a look at Deepin and although it’s a big download it’s easy to use and very informative might be worth your while having a look

Here’s the ppa if you want to try

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/deepin-sc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install deepin-software-center

Graeme

9

I shall have a go at this, but first of all: if I decide to abandon it, can I undo the addition of the repository?
Do you happen to know the ppa of the Ubuntu repository (assuming I can add it in the same way)?

10
if I decide to abandon it, can I undo the addition of the repository?

Yes you can although I don’t remember the exact procedure but I know it can be removed, I use an application called y-ppa manager to manage my sources but you can easily do it without that

Do you happen to know the ppa of the Ubuntu repository (assuming I can add it in the same way)?

No I don’t sorry, it may already be available in synaptic you can have a look and see if it’s there, if it is then there’s no need to add a repository

Good luck

Graeme

11

I just checked and Ubuntu Software Center is in synaptic so there’s no need to add a PPA if you want to try it

sudo apt-get install software-center
12
I shall have a go at this, but first of all: if I decide to abandon it, can I undo the addition of the repository?

Yes :

sudo apt-get remove --purge deepin-software-center

then

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

then

sudo ppa-purge ppa:noobslab/deepin-sc

–

13

Oh, that’s how you spell “center”!
I shall try the “deep-in” first and see how I like it.
Thank you both, gentlemen, for your help.

14

It’s not how I spell it, but the devs seem to have gone with the yank spelling :o

15
Do you happen to know the ppa of the Ubuntu repository (assuming I can add it in the same way)?

Peppermint already uses the Ubuntu repo’s … so no need to add any repo’s

Be aware though - installing the Ubuntu Software Center will also install a ton of other stuff, like brasero etc.

As I said … I hate them all, and MUCH prefer just using Synaptic :slight_smile:

Deepin (v3) is probably the one I’d choose if I had to though (and size wasn’t an issue).

–

16

The Americanisation of English used to irritate me but my bedtime reading is a biography of Joseph Priestley printed in 1906 in which quotes from his works often display what I would regard as American spelling. So perhaps it is we who have changed.
Anyway…
I have just installed the Deepin thingy which does not appear in the menu anywhere. It does appear in Package Manager with the description:

Linux Deepin (formerly Hiweed GNU/Linux) is an easy-to-use Chinese
distribution based on Ubuntu.
Its features include pre-configured
Chinese applications and tools, such as Chinese input method, the
LibreOffice office suite, Chinese-English and English-Chinese
dictionaries, and Chinese TrueType fonts.

This doesn’t look right! any ideas? I’m not desperate to try it but if there’s a simple resolution it would be interesting to have a look at it.

17
Be aware though - installing the Ubuntu Software Center will also install a ton of other stuff, like brasero etc.

and what is wrong with Brasero may I ask ?

I have read so many negative comments about Brasero and yet I have always used it and it has never once made me a coaster

18

It wont be listed as deepin it has another name like software something in system tools have another look it should be there

19

Forget my last post you’re right it doesn’t look right , I installed my version from the PPA i posted earlier so I’m not sure exactly how it’s named in Synaptic personally i would go back into Synaptic and un-install that

20

It doesn’t look like it’s listed in Synaptic but here’s how you get it

In the terminal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/deepin-sc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install deepin-software-center