are any of these "improvments" fixable?

[on0bi]

so, i'm an avid user of ubuntu. i've been using it for quite some time but i find more and more that i don't know as much as i think i do about ubuntu and linux in general, so when i found out linux mint is a derivative of ubuntu, i had to check it out. to be honest, it impressed me. they really put it together well and it's user friendly, just like it's core. but i do have some questions i'd like answered.

firstly, in regards to software sources, ubuntu has an app literally called "software sources" where you can just input the APT line into a GUI and add third party repositories with two clicks. with linux mint, there is no such app. you must go into terminal and type out the command

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wget deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main

to add the APT line. now ok, that's no problem. it's basically the same amount of time needed to add a repo, you just have to remember the wget. But what if you need to authenticate the repo? I first encountered this problem when trying to install wine. i downloaded Scott Ritchie's key

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-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux)
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4mNN3ACdGR7Fu0w5nRPwDnCBEv2R+PzMYU8AoIUd07p6OJwflcbOr7d2S0lG+70u
uQENBEFLKloQBACi5laYdES+P/X34KRhy5i+yd2359qZHhGa37V7HbvgrLWR1f8p
Zgj1kbHpjTMWZPWqxCPrsQddj7F0AHp9Oa46cU0dVkCxnIPegfEz2c+axRDcSxQN
le8zcgzMQPRYPt0gx8eMsyfmUAUGYe08he+M3jLDPFoNu5a6XGZYKvRpowADBQQA
n4lRDd0GZMP8iuS176UlakUqCG86H6VX3fD+lNpSbzwXzXgSGrwVBvL1qPWq6dSV
SkPJXoZsBhLrNIrhjBNnQpCsuJMwdtIvfb/XL/pccl7vUkxjQ4pL8WOiszDNBffz
KwIvGg4/J2bRk85dpXU1z/0G5Aj7ekCjwfXUnMB01bCIRgQYEQIABgUCQUsqWgAK
CRBYQDAmOH7iY/QgAKCiEcdPLEN+i4pLVJtbavPM9JoC3gCgiRB92S16ymPYUZxE
GmakKn8uyWM=
=wtPo
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

as advised on http://www.winehq.org/download/deb and saved it as key.gpg. this is all normally what i do on ubuntu. If i don't, i get an error saying the repos are being ignored or whatever till i import this key file. then the repos for wine aren't ignored anymore. I posted a thread, http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=27129 and i got a good responce from kansasnoob

Follow this guide:

https://help.launchpad.net/Packaging/PP ... positories

Do this instead:

Adding the keys in the terminal

If you're used to adding keys to your personal keyring, you'll still want to read this section as we're going to add the PPA's key to apt's keyring.

First up, visit the PPA's overview page. Let's go back to the AWN Testing team's PPA that we were looking at earlier.

Here you can see the fingerprint of the PPA's key. It'll look something like this: B0BE17C2A0C914F086B7B8327D2C7A23BF810CD5. Copy it and then open a terminal.

To add the AWN key, you'd enter this:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com B0BE17C2A0C914F086B7B8327D2C7A23BF810CD5

Replace B0BE17C2A0C914F086B7B8327D2C7A23BF810CD5 with the fingerprint of the PPA key you're dealing with.

this is all good and well, but do i have to type out

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sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com

each time i want to add key? you'd think there would just be an app to do that. but the thing is, i'm having doubts as to whether or not i'm going about this correctly. is there an app that does this already but i'm just too blind to see it?


secondly, adding and removing software. again, in ubuntu, there is an app that does this called "add/remove applications". in mint there is a program to that effect as well. I've used it to add some software, but i couldn't figure out how to remove it, other than using "synaptic package manager" and searching for it. But i think it would be more convenient to be able to remove software in the same application as adding it, don't you think? Is there a way to remove applications in the software manager as well as adding new ones?

if you read all of this, thank you for your concern. if you can help me out at all, i would be extremely grateful.

thanks.
on0bi

[Carl]

Mint Menu --> Package Manager --> Settings --> Repositories

If you want to do it via a GUI although you will still need to add the gpg key via terminal


The Easy Way

I add sources by typing:

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sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

This brings up a text document where you just paste your source repo's at the bottom and then save it

after which you type:

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Sudo apt-get update

you will then get an error saying that the packages are being ignored because they couldnt be authenticated or something along those lines, it will also include a 16 digit code which you use as such below

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sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com <INSERT 16 DIGIT CODE HERE> 

So as an example it would look like:

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sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com B530D6DCB5140445

I hope that helps, also most of these can just be Copy & Pasted in

[Lantesh]

To get the "add/remove" program that Ubuntu has run this in terminal.

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sudo apt-get install gnome-app-install

For adding keys there is a great script you can grab on this web page.
http://popey.com/Easy_Script_To_Get_And ... A_GPG_Keys

[on0bi]

thanks for your replies guys, they really helped out

[Lantesh]

You're welcome.