Installing Software

Back to Getting Started With PCLinuxOS

THIS PAGE BEING MOVED TO http://docs.mypclinuxos.com/QuickStartSynaptic∞

One of the Big Selling Points of PCLinuxOS is the way you can easily install new software. In the past this was quite a big problem with Linux, as it involved figuring out all depended software and installing those as well. With PCLinuxOS software installation got easy!

PCLinuxOS uses a program called the Synaptic Software Manager (and behind the scenes: apt-get) to search the available software catalog, download selected programs, install them and even update all your installed software. It really is a one-stop shop.

Starting the Synaptic Software Manager

You will have to be on the Internet to use this program. Make sure you are connected.

To start, you'll have to launch the PCLinuxOS software installer called Synaptic. You can find it in the startmenu -> Configuration -> Packaging -> Synaptic Software Manager. After starting it by clicking in the startmenu, it'll ask for a root-password (a.k.a. administrator password.)



On the livecd this root-password is "root". When you installed PCLinuxOS, hopefully you created a different password. Enter the root-password, and press OK.

After entering the root-password, Synaptic starts loading the information about available software packages. It'll probably say at this point that the information found has not been updated the past 48 hours.



If Synaptic shows the above window, press "Reload" and wait while it downloads the latest software offerings from the internet. Depending on your internet speed, this takes a while. Just wait. Synaptic works best when you regularly update.

When everything is done, you will now see the Synaptic Software Manager main window, ready for action!

Search for software

Once the Update has taken place, you have on your PC a fully updated list of software available to you. Depending on your setup, you can download and install over 4000 software packages. All these packages have been put in different sections. You can find a section for Games, Multimedia, Office, etc. You can browse the complete catalog this way. If you are new to linux, this might not be the easiest way to find interesting software though. We have put up a list of What Applications PCLinuxOS has for more information, this isn't the complete list, but a nice starting point if you are new to Linux.

Let's for example try to download the Microsoft fonts that are still so regularly used in Word documents that get sent to you, and websites you surf to. These Microsoft fonts, being from Microsoft, aren't free, so you can use these only if you have a Microsoft Windows license. I will presume here that you have. To start searching click the Search button.



Enter "msfonts" in the pop-up. You can select whether you want to search only in the package-names or in their description as well. For now, just leave it as it is. After entering "msfonts", press Search. It'll probably show two packages now: "msfonts" and "msfonts-style".



Once you're done searching, you'll see a few packages. You can see whether or not you have installed them already, by the color of the square in front of the name of the package. If they are gray, this means they aren't yet installed.

Installing software

To install both "msfonts" packages, right-mouseclick on the gray square and select "Mark for Installation". The gray square icon in front of the package-name now has an orange arrow on it. It means you've correctly marked it for installation.

Now press the big "Apply" button. A Summary window will pop up.



In the Summary window you see a white triangle in front of the "To be installed" line. If you click on the triangle it will fold out and you get a list of everything you are about to download and install. You might notice more software packages named there than you've manually selected. Once you select a package that depends on other packages, it'll add it to the download. It will ask you about it first. When it does, just confirm the question.

If you want to install the selected packages, click "Apply" in the Summary window.

It'll now download the selected packages.



Once download is complete, and everything was downloaded successfully (if it doesn't it will ask what to do, don't continue installing the downloaded packages) it will automatically continue to install the downloaded software packages.



When it is done, it'll show you the installation feedback. Please read through the installation feedback to see if there are any special instructions such as logging out and back in or re-booting your computer. You can then close the feedback window.



You can then close the Synaptic program and the new software is installed! Remember: don't immediately reboot your computer after adding software. Just give it a few minutes to relax and have everything handled and up-to-date before rebooting your computer.

Removing software

Removing software is slightly - just slightly - more tricky. Some packages are of vital importance to your setup. You can't just go and remove KDE (K Desktop Environment) for example. Now, let's say for example you want to remove the "msfonts" again. Not sure why you would want to do that, but go with me for a second. Open up Synaptic again, and do a search for msfonts.



It'll show both packages again, both with green squares in front of it. Right-click on the first green square and select "Mark for Removal". You'll see the green square icon change into a green square with a red X.



Click the big "Apply" button. Now watch carefully! You will see a pop-up with the words "To be removed" in the white big square in the pop-up. In front of it you'll see a triangle. If you click that, it'll open up (or close if pressed again) a list of software that is to be removed. If it only gives the package(s) you've manually selected you are good to go. If it gives a list of more packages, better not continue. It might remove some software packages you still want to use.

In this case - the msfonts - it'll only say "To be removed": msfonts. If you want to do this, (you can reinstall it quite easily), you can click Apply. After a while it is done and the packages have been removed. You'll notice a white square in front of the package names again.

Updating all your software

There is another neat trick you can do with Synaptic. You can update the software that is installed. You can manually search for updates and install those, or you can update your complete system. If you have an older version of PCLinuxOS installed and want to be up to date with the latest LiveCD release, you can do the upgrade from Synaptic and be up to date with (or even more up to date than) the latest live CD. It really does automatically update all your installed software packages to the latest versions available in the software repository, without even breaking a sweat.

For more information on upgrading an existing PCLinuxOS installation, see our Upgrading an existing PCLinuxOS installation page.

For information on adding repositories to Synaptic, for p94 see SynapticRepositories94 for up to p93a see SynapticRepositories

Requesting extra software

If you want to install some special or lesser known Linux software package, it might not be available via Synaptic. You can put in a request on the package request forum∞. Texstar really does do great work handling software requests and packaging software. If you need something that isn't available yet it might help if you grease the wheels a little bit by making a donation. It is not a requirement to get the package you need and it is not a guarantee to get your specific request handled either. But it sure helps the development of PCLinuxOS. If, for some reason, the Ripper Gang will not add your software, or you are too impatient to wait for a day or two for it to appear in the repos, don't despair. Even though it is highly discouraged, you can still install your favorite program the hard way.

Trouble Shooting

In some very specific circumstances there might be a bug that leaves your kmenu/startmenu missing some entries after doing a Synaptic update. You can fix this by running "rpm --rebuilddb", in the konsole under su root, to rebuild the rpm database. Then run "update-menus -v" also as root (press enter when it stops) to regenerate the menus.

To prevent this: don't immediately reboot your computer after adding/removing/updating software. Just give it a few minutes to relax and have everything handled and up-to-date before rebooting your computer.

If you are unsure where a package you installed is in the KDE menu, you can use Synaptic to determine where the application is placed in the menu. Start Synaptic, find the package you installed, then right-click the package name. In the dialog window that pops up, click on Properties.

In the Properties window, click the Common tab. The line "Section:" tells you where in the menu the application is located. If that Section or application does not show in the menu, it is most likely an application that must be run from a terminal window.

Listing Installed Softwares

To list all installed packages, open a konsole, and type:

That is to query all
To save that to a file:

For help info for rpm command:

If one does a:

then they will be listed alphabetically

the output file list.txt will be saved in the path you executed the command. for example if your shell shows :

the file will be saved on Desktop

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