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Re: [LUG] quitting a job

 

    There are so many programs in the repositories though I don't see how 
I can
    know if what I want is there?...


Most packages have pretty good descriptions attached to them, so I find if I 
don't know the name of a package I'm looking for, I can just use synaptic 
to search for task related key-words (such as 'bittorrent' or 'music player' 
or some such thing). This will usually give me a pretty good list of options 
to pick from.

    OK, I think I'm seeing the diferances to Windows. You can see how the 
bad
    behaviour and habbits that I have developed from using Windows are affecting
    my ability to use Linux though. What about software that isn't in the 
Linux
    repositories that I cannot do with out ?....


I think you'll be surprised how rarely this actually happens, especially on debian 
based distros (like Ubuntu). In the rare circumstance where there's something 
you really need and it's not available via apt-get, then downloading the 
source and doing a "configure;make;make install" is really the only option 
you have left. This is something you should always avoid though, because 
this program now exists outside of your packaging system. This means you 
won't receive automatic security updates and bug fixes which could leave 
your system vulnerable.

Just out of curiosity, is there a particular package that you do need that 
isn't in the repository, or are you just speculating?
THere are lots of packages that I expext aren't in the repositories but 
only because I am interested in making music. An FTP client as long as it 
transfers the files doesn't matter which ones it is but with music programs 
sometimes one paticular function can really diferintiate it from another. 
Although saying this I must admit that  I havn't fully cheked out the Linux 
music programs that people have pointed me towards here I as alternatives. 
My suspision,baised on other software that I have used; IE to Firefox; cute 
FTP to GFTP; Outlook to Evolution, is that they will be maybe slightly different 
but in no way inferior. THere is one program, Ableton Live that I have paticular 
interest in and the OS alternaitve Adour prehaps won't be as easy for me 
to pick up but will no doubt have similar if not better capabilities. I 
am in the process of installing it and learning it now.......
Cheers, Jon.

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