GDebi: Local deb Installs & Dependencies

Installing a Debian package downloaded locally and trying to install via dpkg -i filename.deb failed because of missing dependencies. dpkg will not download dependencies from the internet for you. You would have to determine what they are and download them, install them, then install the main Debian package. Fun.

Synaptic, apt-get, aptitude, none of them will install (with automatically downloaded dependencies) local packages for you.

Enter GDebi:

gdebi is a simple tool to install deb files. It lets you install local [Debian] packages resolving [downloading, if needed] and installing its dependencies.

Gnome & KDE versions available for Ubuntu:

gdebi: simple tool to install deb files - GNOME GUI
gdebi-core: simple tool to install deb files
gdebi-kde: simple tool to install deb files - KDE GUI

So there you have it. Install gdebi from apt-get, Synaptic, etc. and proceed with your local installs with gdebi. GUI or command line (man gdebi).

Distro: XUbuntu 12.10
GDebi: 0.8.5ubuntu1.1

Samba: Empty .gvfs XUbuntu 12.10

Problem: Unable to navigate to and/or access remote smb (samba) shares via the bash shell.

It seems something changed when I upgraded from XUbuntu 12.04 to 12.10. I used to be able to open gigolo (which was set to automatically mount remote smb shares), and then work with them in bash by navigating to them with:

cd ~/.gvfs

Running an ls command would display all the remote shared folders and away we go

Now, even though the shares are mounted (I can navigate to them with my file manager), there is nothing in ~/.gvfs

Solution: After mounting the remote shares, you will find them under:

/run/user/username/gvfs/smb-share:server=smbServer,share=shareName,user=username

To save time, create symbolic links to the shares (which of course will only work when the share is mounted):

ln -s /run/user/username/gvfs/smb-share:server=smbServer,share=shareName,user=username shareLink

Distro: XUbuntu 12.10

File Manager: Thunar 1.4.0

Samba Connection Manager: gigolo 0.4.1

Ugly Boot Screen Ubuntu 10.04

Recently did a network upgrade from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 LTS (desktop edition). The upgrade didn't work initially--there was some conflict with XUbuntu which I also had installed under 9.10. I removed all traces of Xubuntu and xfce, and then the network upgrade worked fine.

10.04 LTS is a fine distribution. I really like it. It's been a while since I used Ubuntu and one of the things I enjoy about it is that things just work. Wireless set-up, which had been so painful previously, was a breeze and the connection is fast! Much faster then it had been under XP on the same machine.

Well, to the point. One of Ubuntu 10.04's failings was the boot up splash screen!! So incredibly ugly! I should have taken a picture. The word UBUNTU was outlined in some kind of psychedelic malaise. Painful to look at. Not a show stopper, but please. This isn't a hack distro, this should be slick, professional, pleasant in every way.

Are they working on a fix? I know from bug reports that I am not the only one who's seen similar issues. I don't know, but there is a workaround. I just applied it on this very system I am using to post this entry. Here it is, step-by-step for new users. I used "Alternative One". The only thing I did differently was change screen resolution entries from 1280x1024 to 1024x768 to accommodate the maximum resolution of this relic of a laptop I am using. Here it is, fix that ugly boot logo in Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx):

How to Fix the Big and Ugly Plymouth Logo in Ubuntu 10.04

I should post the fun I had doing a network upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server to the 10.04 LTS edition. I'm sure it would have been painless if I wasn't booting from a software RAID1 drives. I hope I can recall how I made it work so I can post for reference the next time I upgrade and it happens again--which of course it will. I have no doubt. It always does.

Oh, and I should mention I am having excellent success running XP from VBox OSE on this dinosaur. I can't believe it works, but it actually works very well!

Well, time to reinstall the Xubuntu desktop.