[SOLVED] Additional Software availability LL vs. Mint

[gold_finger]

I have about 20 machines running Lite in my business. All of them use the Lubuntu Software Center and in 2 years we have never had a single issue with it. I feel that Lite should include it in the distro. It is the first thing I install after updates.

Good to know that -- thanks for posting.

On my desktop test machine -- no problems so far with Lubuntu Software Center in operation or after system updates.

On half-dead laptop test machine -- no problems software center either, but laptop itself is getting progressively closer to complete hardware failure.

So, now that we have confirmation from someone who's used it in LL for two years and based on my brief few weeks with it -- I'd say it's safe to use on LL.  Just keep in mind that it may not list all of the potential programs that could be installed.  Just whip up Synaptic if can't find something in the software center.

[sbcwinn]

I have about 20 machines running Lite in my business. All of them use the Lubuntu Software Center and in 2 years we have never had a single issue with it. I feel that Lite should include it in the distro. It is the first thing I install after updates.

[gold_finger]

O.K on Cherrytree, yes it's great.
I'm probably using about 10% of it's capabilities
I have it set up like a simple book with sections(nodes)like:
Hardware
Software
Networking
Configuration
System

Then sub-sections under each of those for different topics

I'm doing basically same thing for Linux stuff.  Trying to slowly transfer info into it from probably hundreds of Firefox bookmarks I've collected and get it all better organized.

The best thing is if you forget something, search will find it.

I've only played around with search function a few times.  Need to read the instructions for that because my feeble attempts didn't produce results I expected.  I'm sure it will be great when I know how to do it right.

A friend who is a Windows Power user, he writes serious code just for fun, completely self taught @ 60+ years old.
Like his complete Home Automation System that controls everything from Heating/Lighting/Ventilation etc
He did all the coding to read Temp/Light/Movement in Rooms etc, and then drive interfaces to turn things ON/OFF.
I got him onto Cherrytree,
He now uses it to keep all is code snippets & subroutines in, with the correct formatting/indentations.

Excellent!

[Wirezfree]

Hi gold_finger,

No problems at all, no I didn't take it that way at all, far from it.

O.K on Cherrytree, yes it's great.
I'm probably using about 10% of it's capabilities
I have it set up like a simple book with sections(nodes)like:
Hardware
Software
Networking
Configuration
System

Then sub-sections under each of those for different topics
It needs a bit of tidy up now, I have some duplicate info.
The best thing is if you forget something, search will find it.

~~
A friend who is a Windows Power user, he writes serious code just for fun, completely self taught @ 60+ years old.
Like his complete Home Automation System that controls everything from Heating/Lighting/Ventilation etc
He did all the coding to read Temp/Light/Movement in Rooms etc, and then drive interfaces to turn things ON/OFF.
I got him onto Cherrytree,
He now uses it to keep all is code snippets & subroutines in, with the correct formatting/indentations.

Dave

[gold_finger]

No problem Dave -- I do appreciate your input.  Hope you didn't perceive my reply as being snappy at you -- was not meant that way at all.  Was just trying to clarify exactly when problem occurred because it might not have been clear from first post's description.  And, like I said ... it's entirely possible the problem is with the computer itself.

Bill.

P.s.  Don't know if you remember this, but when you first started here on LL forums you turned me on to the Cherrytree note program.  I finally got around to giving it some serious attention about a month ago.  It's awesome!  Very nice program and I've been putting it to good use.  Still have some things to learn about it, but very glad you pointed it out to me.  Thanks.

[Wirezfree]

O.K... just a thought/speculation. Dave

[gold_finger]

Regarding the glitch, I'm just guessing...
Maybe it was just busy completing the previous installs in the background,
even though it appeared outwardly to be complete and ready.?

No.  It wasn't anything like that.  Problem with pop-up acting like it was not excepting my password happened immediately after hitting the install button (before it started doing anything).  Weird part was that it kept popping up password box with message to the effect I'm not authorized to carry out procedure, bad password, or something like that.  (Can't remember exactly because I was tired and not paying close attention at first.)  After a few repeated tries entering password, I figured the software manager program was screwed-up and I tried closing.  Hit the "x" on the window to close it several times, but nothing happened.  Then after about 30 seconds the program finally closed and that's when I noticed the network activity and waited until I thought everything completed.

There is a possibility that the laptop itself was the problem and not the software manager.  The laptop is one I inherited from a friend when they got themselves a new one a couple of years ago.  It has always been tempermental and has some sort of physical problem with the graphics card and possibly a sound card issue to.  It experiences periodic boot problems, interface freezing problems during operation (with and without proprietary NVidea driver and with or without compositing set), and crashes every once in a while.  I know those things are related to the physical hardware -- not the OS.  I only use the machine to run test OS installs and things like I'm doing now.  It's not a computer I "need", so don't really care to waste any money fixing the problems.  Long story short -- it's possible that the computer itself was on the verge of crashing/freezing up when I was in the middle of carrying out my test install and that might be why it acted so strange.  Going to try running more tests on the other machine (the old desktop) to see if I can trigger same weird behavior from software manager.

[Wirezfree]

Hi gold_finger,

A nice and methodical approach...
Regarding the glitch, I'm just guessing...
Maybe it was just busy completing the previous installs in the background,
even though it appeared outwardly to be complete and ready.?

Good work. +1

Dave

[gold_finger]

Just an update on my brief time (so far) testing lubuntu-software-manager.  Will continue to test for a few weeks to see if any update problems crop up, but so far I have mixed feelings about it.

Added software manager to old desktop system running LL 2.2 and installed a few packages from it without a hitch.  Did a fresh LL 2.2 install to test laptop machine yesterday, ran initial updates, then installed lubuntu-software-manager.  It only added two extra programs:

app-install-data -- Description-en: Ubuntu applications (data files).  This package contains the Ubuntu specific application data and icons for software-center (and similar tools).

python-pysqlite2 -- Description-en: Python interface to SQLite 3.  pysqlite is a DB-API 2.0-compliant database interface for SQLite.


On laptop test machine, used the software manager to try installing the list of software below.  I added all of them (excluding exceptions noted in next paragraph) to the installer's "Apps Basket" for installation at the same time.

anki
audacious
bluefish
calibre
cherrytree
clementine
convertall
dillo
eog
emacs
gourmet
links
meld
midori
pokerth
radiotray
vokoscreen
xfce4-terminal
xfce4-places-plugin
xfce4-cpugraph-plugin


The following packages were not found in the software manager, so installed them in a terminal instead:

eog
links
radiotray
xfce4-terminal
xfce4-places-plugin
xfce4-cpugraph-plugin


Don't know why those apps didn't show up in software manager, but maybe it is set to only look to some list of software limited to Lubuntu and those are not on that list.  (Just guessing on this -- I don't really know.)  Therefore, I'd say it probably shows most of the packages that people might want, but not necessarily all of them.

I did run into what may have been a serious glitch when I ran the installation of all those programs in the manager.  When I hit the button to carry out installation, it popped-up a box for entering password (as expected).  I typed my password and hit enter.  Then it popped box back up saying something like either wrong password or I'm not authorized to conduct the operation and to enter password again.  I did (paying closer attention to make sure entered correctly) and it repeated same thing.  Tried closing out the pop-up box and the program, but pop-up kept coming back several times -- until finally the program closed (after approx. 30 seconds).

However, after it closed out I noticed my router lights showing that there was much activity going on -- so I watched and waited until the connection lights stopped, which took a few minutes.  After network activity stopped, I could see blinking light showing hard drive activity on the laptop -- so I waited until that stopped.  I suspected that it was actually carrying out the install and sure enough that's what it was doing.  After all activity seemed to stop, I looked in the main menu and the programs had indeed installed.  I tested a bunch of them and they all work fine.

Later, I tested the software center again by adding three more packages for installation.  That time it worked normally -- asking for and properly accepting my password, then continuing with the install.  So, I don't know why it did what it did on first install attempt.  Maybe it doesn't like handling so many packages at once?


Verdict so far:

-- Nice listing of packages organized by category for people who are new to Linux.
-- Listings have program icons and brief descriptions on general listings pages.  From there, people can select ones of possible interest and get further descriptive information (some with screenshots).
-- Possibly glitchy performance when attempting to install a number of packages at once, which could cause (at minimum) confusion and/or possibly cause errors or problems for packaging system that would require resolving before being able to conduct system updates or other software installations.
-- I don't know yet if regular LL system updates will be affected at all by the presence of the software manager.  (Systems it's installed to were fully updated before adding software manager to it.)  I doubt it, but will have to watch and wait over next few weeks/months to be sure.

[bobw]

For me, the only well tested and reliable software manager in Linux Lite is Synaptic. So from that you can deduce that I am not in favour of using anything but Synaptic.

Ok.  Thanks Jerry

[altman]

Same here concerning Synaptic in addition to Terminal Commands & GDebi .

[Jerry]

For me, the only well tested and reliable software manager in Linux Lite is Synaptic. So from that you can deduce that I am not in favour of using anything but Synaptic.

[Coastie]

Jerry told me when I was using an earlier version that the Lubuntu or Ubuntu Software Centers messed something up on my install of that earlier version. An earlier version I used had a modified version of the Lubuntu Software Center called the Lite Software Center.

In Spatry's new review ,he recommended and demonstrating installing the Lubuntu Software Center.

Fortunately, I have progressed pass needing a software center.

I also wonder if one of these software center would be OK on 2.0. 

[gold_finger]

Jerry - Do you have any advice, please, as to whether it is ok to use Lubuntu Software Centre in LL?

I'll run it on two of my test computers and see if it causes any problems.  I don't think it will because it doesn't add any packages that look like they'll cause issues (as opposed to Ubuntu Software Center, which definitely does).  Will report back on this after a week or two of use.

[bobw]

Jerry - Do you have any advice, please, as to whether it is ok to use Lubuntu Software Centre in LL?