The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) - Page 3

This tutorial exists for these OS versions

4 Synaptic Package Manager

The Synaptic Package Manager is an easy-to-use program to install and deinstall software from the available repositories - or just to check which programs are installed. There are about 24.000 Packages available in the repositories that are added by default in Ubuntu 8.04.

The Synaptic Package Manager is available in the GNOME system menu.

Enter your password.

After you entered your password the Synaptic Package Manager appears.

4.1 Uninstall Packages

To uninstall one or more packages switch to the status view and mark "Installed". Now you'll see all packages that are installed on your system - you can browse them or search one or more packages with the search function. In the search field you can enter a package name or search term.

If you found a package that you want do uninstall, click on the green checkbox and select "Mark for Removal" or "Mark for Complete Removal" from the context menu. The difference between the both options for uninstall is, that a complete removal will also delete the configuration files while the normal removal won't delete them. This can be useful if you want to keep your configurations for a package (you can install it again later and don't need to configure it a second time).

Afterwards the package is marked with a red cross.

To make the changes effective click on "Apply" in the upper menu bar and afterwards confirm your choice.

Now the uninstallation begins.

4.2 Install Packages

To install one or more packages switch to the status view and mark "Not installed". Now you'll see all packages that are not installed on your system - you can browse them or search one or more packages with the search function. In the search field you can enter a package name or search term.

If you found a package that you want to install, click on the white checkbox and select "Mark for Installation" from the context menu.

The packages you want to install will occasionally have dependencies - then a window will pop up and you have to confirm that you want to install the additional needed packages as well.

Afterwards the package and its dependences are marked with a yellow arrow. Dependencies are marked in green as well.

To make the changes effective, click on "Apply" in the upper menu bar and afterwards confirm your choice.

The packages are being downloaded...

...and installed afterwards.

4.3 System Update

The system will check for updates automatically and notify you if updates are available. You can adjust the check-intervals within the Synaptic Package Manager.

The system will notify you if there are updates available. Click on the orange button for details.

Within the update manager you can see detailed information about the new packages. If you don't want to install a package, unmark the corresponding checkbox. To install the updates click on "Install Updates".