Windows installers

[conno]

I have been installing a few pieces of software on a windows box of mine, and it got me thinking about the way everything is installed. The installers, the icons, and the amount of time it takes to load the software. I will not get into the rebooting part, because it is widely known as being a lovely feature in windows.

After install is completed then the damn registration wizard starts, which is another annoyance. I cannot say that i have installed many programs on Linux, (0 actually) but i am hopeful it will be a bit easier.

conno

[mdwatts]

It will all depend on what type of package system your distro supports.

RPM is very easy to install as long as you don't run into any dependency issues.

Debian (and similiar) distros have apt-get while Gentoo has emerge (think thats right).

Then there is installing from source tarballs of which 'checkinstall' (search the 'How I did it' forum for checkinstall) is a great utility.

The JL Help Files under Compiling Kernels has the Compiling Software HF that will certainly explain the process of installing from source.

[conno]

Thanks for the reply. As annoying as the windows installs are, i feel scared to try installing anything on linux. I know it sounds silly, but it is a different enviroment. I will have a look and read through what you suggested and hopefully i will be able to understand and try it.

Thanks

conno