installing apps - be nice, I'm a 24-hour noob!

[wiab4355]

hi there

Been running mint for a day now - everything so far is as promised, most stuff works right out of the box (I can play my mkv files immediately WOW) - now for the part I actually was fearing the most about Linux, installing applications.

I downloaded an app called Hellanzb (to replace my M$ program Grabit), extracted the files to a folder on my desktop and then .... ground to a halt.

I then visited a site which promised to help install apps and the first line was "fire up bash" - what's bash? where is it? it isn't on my system, or at least the search couldn't find it! So I again ground to a halt.

I will understand if you chaps (& chapesses) out there think I'm lazy and need handholding - you'd be right! but any help would be appreciated.

Ian (AFC Wimbledon fan)

[Fred]

wiab4355,

It shouldn't be necessary to install that program manually. I am pretty sure it is in the repos. Are you sure that is what you want? No problem if you decide it isn't what you thought it was. It is a simple matter to un-install it.

The safest way is by the command line. Open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get -u install Hellanzb

Hit enter and it should install for you.

Thats it. Bye-the-way, you just used bash.

Fred

[wiab4355]

Thanks Fred

Unfortunately, this app doesn't seem to be in the Mint/Ubuntu repos.

Can you (or anyone) recommend a binary downloader that can use NZB files?

TIA

[emorrp1]

Firstly, welcome to Linux Mint, and indeed Linux in general, I hope you learn some very useful skills in the next few weeks. You've already passed the first test - don't hesitate to ask for help. Don't be afraid of your problems, in this case you're still going about it the windows way.

In windows, you often go to a website, download an install file, and run it. In linux we have "repositories" (repos for short) which store the most up to date version of software that is known to work with your system. We then have an installation manager which connects to the repos, and lets you install everything.

The manager for mint is mintInstall, which you'll find in the main menu. You browse for a topic which you want the program to deal with (e.g. mp3, genealogy etc.) (rather than the name of a windows program you used to use), then just click install. If there's anything you can't find here, you could try the more complicated package manager (which in fact is where you'll find hellanzb). Note that you probably wont find exact windows programs, but you will find something that does the same job.

If you find you really can't do without some windows program, then you can try running under wine, which is a program designed to do just that, but its configuration isn't trivial. There are however various sources you can go to for help (in addition to our forums). Stuff I recommend reading (in approximate order):

General info:
Linux is not Windows: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm
Linux Mint 6 User Guide: http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/ ... nglish.pdf

Using windows programs under linux:
Alternative apps listing: http://www.linuxalt.com/
Wine tutorial (follow the instructions, and only take guidance from the snapshots): http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/05/18/ho ... sing-wine/
[I was going to suggest wine-doors.org, but it seems they've temporarily removed their repos due to lack of funding]

[Fred]

wiab4355,

I am getting tired. I made a mistake and capped the name of the program. That is why it didn't find it. Sorry. Try again with.

sudo apt-get -u install hellanzb

In Linux H and h are not the same thing.

Fred

PS: emorrp1's post has some good information in it. The reason I chose the command line for you is I didn't know if you had other updates pending and didn't want to confuse the issue.

[wiab4355]

thanks again fred

i followed your instructions, it seemed to install, but i'm damned if i can find the thing on the list of applications in mintmenu

am i looking in the right place?

[psych1610]

Hi, I'm not very familiar with hellanzb at all, but it appears its run from the command-line/terminal rather than a gui like you're used to which would explain why you're not finding it in the menus.

In the terminal (alt+f2 -> gnome-terminal -> ok) you can type hellanzb and see if it outputs anything. That might get you started, alternatively, looking at http://www.hellanzb.com/trac/ towards the bottom seemed to provide a list of GUI's that can be used, which is what you would be used to. Specifically:

* LottaNZB (A GTK front-end)

* hellaGUI (Another GTK front-end)

* myHella (a GTK front-end also written in Python)

They seem to be GTK based and should work well in Linux Mint. LottaNZB has Ubuntu packages pre made for you which should work just fine in Linux Mint. You can download the .deb and double click it to install. Alternatively you can add it their repository following the commands listed here: http://www.lottanzb.org/downloads/ubuntu/

This will add their repository to your sources.list file. The sources.list file lists all the repositories enabled (and disabled) for your system. You may have to change $DISTRIB_CODENAME to match the version of Ubuntu that your version of Mint corresponds to. (Linux Mint 6 would be Intrepid for instance)

Hope that helped some.

[wiab4355]

thanks to everyone

first of all, grabit in wine works (hallelujah)

now, how do i associate nzb files to open in grabit?



hell, it's just question after question after............

[shane]

right click on an nzb file >select 'open with' > other application. A dialog should open... where you can choose applications and also a check box where you can select use this program always... or something like that.

[emorrp1]

excellent, glad to hear it. Shane has said how to add file-associations, but because you're using a wine program, it may not be listed. If it's not in the list you have to navigate (using the "custom command" section) to the windows executable (probably

Code: Select all

~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/

etc.) then prefix the command with "wine "

[Acid_1]

I noticed that you like .mkv files. Rythmebox and VLC have issues with some SSA/ASS subtitles. Using SMplayer will solve the problem.

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sudo apt-get install smplayer

Then just go to the subtitles tab, and check use SSA/ASS titles.