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I am using the Ubuntu 10.04 OS.

For my work I have had to install many open source numerical software on my laptop. Going about "compiling", "building" and "linking" libraries, editing .bashrc files, etc during installation phase is giving me nightmares.

I know the manuals of the required software is the best place to understand how to install it, but often i come across extremely poor documentation.

Since I am pretty much a newbie to Linux, can anyone suggest some resources/books/websites which give me general guidelines on how to go about doing the above. This would help me understand exactly what goes on during the installation phase. My days of fumbling in the dark would be over.

Thanks

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Probably belongs on serverfault.com or superuser.com. – JacobM Jan 27 '11 at 20:10
try askubuntu.com – Wooble Jan 27 '11 at 20:17
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Since you ask for manuals, I'll add this as a comment rather than an answer. If you want a piece of software on your system, the easiest way is to get it is to either get it from a "repository" - files downloaded from which will be built by the system for you, or to get a .deb file - which you can just "double click" to install. If you have any missing dependencies, the .deb installer will tell you about it. The best way to find repositories and .deb packages - obviously enough - is to run a search. – Mussnoon Jan 28 '11 at 13:55
It would help if we knew what you were trying to install. – Jorge Castro Jan 29 '11 at 18:08

migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 28 '11 at 13:39

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

Following my comment, you might want to check out:

Ubuntu Guide and Ubuntu Manual

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