[GLLUG] new guy to Linux, slight warning on Dell GX260 video

[Charles Ulrich]

Bert W. Carrier Jr. wrote:
> OK folks, a quick update.   I got crunchbang working on that old Dell
> GX260, and I just put a command line only ubuntu install on a Compaq P4
> laptop.
> 
> I installed Xorg and fluxbox successfully.   I need to learn how to edit
> the menus and such.
> 
> Here is my main question for now.  I am trying to install the latest
> version of Gnote, which is like Tomboy notes.  after much searching, I
> have been using the following commands:
> 
> ./configure
> make
> make install 
> make clean.   
> 
> What do these individual programs do?   Why can't I just click on
> install?  20 years of using windows has me spoiled, I guess.

./configure: configures the build tools (checks for libraries, 
dependencies, detects the platform type, etc)

make: builds the software using GCC and a host of other tools

make install: installs the software

make clean: (optional) cleans up temporary files used during the build

But this is really going about it the hard way. You should only compile 
software from source if you absolutely cannot find a pre-built package 
for your OS and are still very determined to run the software. Gnote is 
included with Ubuntu 9.10, but it looks like the latest release of 
Crunchbang is based on Ubuntu 9.04. The Gnote website itself supplies 
builds for Ubuntu-based systems going back to 8.04, so in this case the 
"correct" way to install Gnote on your system is to add its repository 
to your software sources and then "apt-get install" it like you would 
anything else.

Here's the page with the information: 
https://launchpad.net/~gnote/+archive/ppa

But it all just boils down to running these commands in the terminal:

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gnote/ppa/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) 
main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gnote.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 5AAB5553
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnote

Charles
-- 
http://bityard.net