How-to installing software applications (apps) – 2020 version

[Member PPC]

How to install applications/software on antiX (2020 version):

You have recently found out about Linux or antiX in particular and you want to know how to install new software?

As almost everything in Linux in general and antiX in particular, there’s many ways to do stuff.

1- Use “Package Installer” ( Menu – Control Centre – System tab):
It’s like a small “antiX app store” – it has a list of over a hundred of the most installed software applications, divided into categories, searchable by application name (but not discription) – almost any browser you can think of, WINE, Steam, Java, VLC, language packages, are all instalable from there, using a single click- the user does not even get to see the many times dread terminal.

2- Use Synaptic package manager ( also available, among other places, in menu – Control Centre – System tab ):
Ok, this is a very powerfull application that allows you to install and manage any software application available from the Debian repositories- there are many tens of thousands available.
Use the search field on the upper right corner of the window to find the application you want- you can search by application name or description (ex: you can search by “VLC” or by “media player”). Select the application you want to install, Synaptic also installs any dependencies (files the application needs to run) and informs you of every thing it’s going to happen: how many files will be downloaded, the total download size, how much disk space it’s going to take). Confirm you want to install the selected files and wait a bit. The applications appear on the menu, ready to use, after the install process finishes.
Pros: many thousands of applications available. Does not require using the terminal at all. Installs probably anything you may need. Safe to user, does not in any way harm your system.
Cons: can be a bit overwellming to new users because it does not only show applications but their dependencies, and also fonts, drivers, etc. Does not automatically show any graphical previews of the applications ( no pretty pictures or videos to see, like, in mobile app stores) BUT you can select your application and try using the “get screenshot” button to… well, try to get a screenshot of that application…

3- Use cli-aptiX :
If you are not afraid to use the keyboard and are not detered by a interface that basicaly remains unchaged for decades, open a terminal and run cli-aptiX
It’s a gem! It’s as friendly as a keyboard only application can be: it offers to automaticaly update the database of system files (perform a apt update), and then allows you to install applications, for terminal or GUI, has a huge curated list of applications, and allows the user to search by application name or description!

4- Use Appimages :
It’s a universal application format- it’s meant to run in almost any Linux system- no installation needed!
There are on-line appimages application stores – this makes it easy to search for what you want. they have descriptions of the applications and usually a screenshot.
Good places to find appimage applications:
https://appimage.github.io/ (it has almost 1000 applications at this time)
https://www.appimagehub.com/ (it has almost 700 applications at this time)
Some software applications, like LibreOffice offer Appimage versions.

Pros: one application, one file. If you want to remove the application, just delete the file. Can’t harm your system. The worst it can happen is that the application needs some dependecy that’s not availbale and refuses to run.
Cons: you have to manually make it executable once you download the appimage – this can be boring but it’s a security feature and only has to be done once for each appimage file! Some appimages do not offer to automaticaly get added to the menu. Some appimages to no warn of upgrades. Can be hard to make files automaticaly run with a appimage application (easily solvable file association problems)
Appimages can be huge (because they pack almost everything they need to run) and a bit slower starting, particulary on low powered machines (because they have to be unpacked).

5- Use Flatpak :
It’s another universal application format.
First you need to install the flatpak application itself, then you can install applications packaged in flatpak format. You download the flatpak file for the application you want and then you have to install it.
There are some on-line flatpak application stores too.
Where to find flatpak applications:
https://flathub.org/home
Pros: on the user side, you only need to install a single file. Can’t harm your system, the worst that can happen is that the application can’t run.
Cons: at first flatpak needs to install many hundreds of Mb of dependencies, and only then you can install applications in flatpak format.
there are some integration problems with flatpak applications (exemple: they sometimes don’t match with system decorations, etc).

6- Manually install files:

6.1- .run applications or compressed binaries (.tar.bz):

Some software is available as compressed binaries like .tar.bz – just uncompress it and run the executable file.
You can get the most recent Mozilla FireFox version in this format.
Pros: safe to use, can’t, as far as I know, break your system (but can perform, as any software, malicious actions).
Easy and safe to uninstall- simple delete the uncompressed files!
Cons: you have to manually setup menu entries and file associations.

.run applications – almost the same as above, but automaticaly install everything.
Some device drivers come in this format.
Cons: as far as I know this can break your system. Try to install only files you know are safe (this is a univerally good advice).

6.2- .deb files :

“.deb” files are the packages that Debian, and Debian based distros use to install software. They work almost like “.msi” files available for MS Windows.
Synaptic and package installer simply automate the process of installing .deb files for you.
Manually installing these files can harm your system and make it unable to run. Do not try to use Ubuntu PPA’s! Do not try to use software that needs systemd – those probably won’t work with antiX and can harm your System.
Do you need a particular software unavailable in Packahe Installer or Synatic?- Ask in the forum, so the Development team tries to add it to antiX and wait for a reply.
That said, you can install thousands of .deb files in antiX! Simply download the file you want and open it in a file manager- a application called gdebi will try to install that file, or you can install it using the terminal.
Software from the Debian.org is as safe to install as it can be (as long as it does not depend on systemd). Open your web browser to https://packages.debian.org/stable/ and select the application you want – they are organized into categories.
Note: If a application is in debian.org, probably it’s better to install the very same application from Synaptic- it takes care of everything for you and avoids any complication.
Pros: debian.org is not a web site filled with eye candy, but it has many, many application screen shots availble. click the name of the application you want. On the upper right corner you’ll probably see a clickable thumbnail of the application, if one is available.
Sometimes there are .deb applications that run fine in antiX but are not officially available.
Cons: you have to find the file you want and install it yourself. You may have to hunt down and manually install all the dependencies your application needs to run. This can often lead to what is know as “dependency hell”- you keep installing dependencies, that need other depencies to run, that need other depencies to run…
Can break your system!!!

7- Windows applications :

Windows software does not run in Linux but, you can try using a compatibily layer to try to run it – it’s called WINE. There are thousands of windows applications that run in Linux, some even faster than they run in Windows it self!
A slower option to legally run windows applications is downloading a windows virtual machine and using it to run that particular option in antiX. This takes a lot of storage space and is slow. Low powered computers probably can’t even run a MS Windows virtual machine.

8- Windows Games :

There are over 5000 games available in STEAM that run in Linux. Activate Proton in your Steam client and just install any compatible game!
Cons: well, if your computer is so low powered that you choose to install antiX to make it usable, there aren’t many Steam games that can run confartably in your system. If you have a new(ish) computer, your’s probably safe

9- Old DOS applications:

They run out of the box in antiX- DosBox has that covered- if you don’t know to use it, search on-line for help… It’s pretty intuitive.
PROS: very nearly 100% compatibility rate.

10- On-line applications :

General rule of thumb- if a web application runs, it runs well in Linux (probably it’s even housed in a server that runs Linux too).
You can use any Google service, Youtube, LYBR, Microsoft Office 365 on-line, Netflix, etc. It’s one of the of the benificts of having Web standarts (you may need to run the web application in a particular browser, like for example- the browser needs to support DRM to enable some video streamming, like Netflix and HBO)…
CONS: I believe that at the present time video acceleration still does not work in Linux browsers out of the box. If you have a low powered CPU, video decoding or 3d video can slow to a crawl, because your system isn’t using any GPU processing power).

What applications do not run in antiX:

-Generally speaking Windows applications, and applications made for other OS’s (like MacOS, android, etc).
– applications packaged in a package format other than “.deb” or any universal application file format (there are more that appimage and flatpak)
– Snaps are unable to be installed in antiX because they depend on systemd, that is not present in antiX (you may run MX-Linux and choose to use systemd at the boot process for these applications).

To finish up:
There are many on-line sites that you can use to search for Linux applications. My personal favourite is:
https://www.pling.com/
it has many appimages available, it offers a appimage of the store web application, very handy to use.
Also App Outlet has a appimage Store available, that shows appimage and flatpak applications.

[Author]

Posts