Software Installation

Software installation has been very much a hit and miss affair - much like the Uruguayan national football team's form in penalty shootouts.

The automated installation system made it fairly easy to add multimedia support to Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it required a little technical knowledge to get working, as Ubuntu does not have the correct download repositories enabled by default. However once I had translated the instruction manual from English into Australian, it was a a pretty straight forward process. Admittedly it took a lot longer than planned, but mostly because my mate's kangaroo was giving me the shits.

Once properly configured, apt is a very easy tool to use. I rate this specific experience above adding multimedia support to windows, because all the necessary software is in a single respository, and it isn't littered with 15 different brands of spyware. Where's your EULA now Gator!!!

Unfortunately, things quickly fall apart if the software you want isn't in a repository. I tried installing the Opera browser by downloading it from the official website. Although it was available in the correct package format, Ubuntu didn't want anything to do with it. This link tells the story better than I do, so knock yourself out.

So basically, if software is in the reposititories, you have a good chance of success. Otherwise, you're headed for disappointment. Not quite newbie friendly yet, i'm afraid.