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I recently was able to pick up seven 2009 vintage Apple iBooks from eBay for about $75. It looks like four of them will need repairs or at least an OS install, one appears to have the screen backlight out, so it will only provide a dull, barely functional display, and two of them needed nothing but an OS installation. I decided to dedicate those two as Linux machines (these are the first model of Mac notebooks built with Intel processors), so I’ll be talking more, soon, about the “UbuntuBook project”. For now, though, let’s take a look specifically at the Ubuntu Software Center, as I’ve been using it a lot to install applications on these two machines recently, and have some opinions fresh in mind.
Ubuntu Software Center
The idea of the Ubuntu Software Center is definitely consistent with current trends towards having software installed from a ‘software store’. The application will show up by default on the Control Strip (the list of icons on the left side of the screen), as this icon:
Click it, and you’ll see the main initial interface for the Ubuntu Software Center:
At the top, you see highlighted applications that change periodically. Here it’s highlighting ‘Slack’. There are arrows at either end of that panel that will let you navigate back and forth to see a few currently highlighted programs (or, if you wait long enough, they’ll change on their own).
Just below that, you’ll see the current Editor’s Picks. These will also change on occasion, but do not exist on a ‘scrolling ribbon’ like the highlighted apps at the top.
Below that, you’ll see standardized categories of different applications, including Games, Science Applications, Books and Reference, and several other categories.
The Good
I personally find the overall design of the Software Center both aesthetically pleasing and satisfactorily utilitarian. You can usually pretty easily ‘shop’ through applications of the general category you’re interested in at a given point. Once you click the desired category, you’ll find a screen with a number of applications on it. Longtime readers (both of you!) will hardly be surprised that I’m going to pick Games to illustrate: The green circles with check marks denote programs that have already been installed. Even if you install using the apt-get command-line (more on that later), the Software Center will usually pick that up and show it as being installed.
Once you click on an application, you’ll get a very informative page with info on that application. At the top, you’ll get a screenshot.
Obviously, you have the name at the very top, along with a brief description, an average user rating out of 5 possible stars, a button to install or remove, another button to review required permissions once the application has been installed, and additional screenshots. Click them to see more of what the application looks like.
Below the screenshots is a more detailed description of the application. As you continue to scroll down, you’ll see information on channel, version number, type of license, name of developer, source, download size, a button allowing you to write your own review, and more summarized review statistics.
And, as you continue scrolling downwards, you can see individual reviews:
The Bad
The Software Center is VERY slow, to the point that it often seems locked up when it’s actually just SLOWLY churning away (although it frequently DOES lock up, too). As often as I can, I use the Software Center interface to ‘shop’, then use apt-get to do actual installations, as it’s MUCH faster.
For those new to the concept, one of the things I’ve described often in these columns (and will continue to do so, as the concept definitely merits repetition), is use of the CLI, or Command-Line Interface, when it’s an easier way to perform an operation. The Command-Line is where you would go to type in commands, rather than using the default GUI, or Graphical User Interface, which is the interface you see when Ubuntu starts up.
Some things are easier to do in one, other things are easier to do in the other. Because of, I don’t know, reasons, there is no facility built into Ubuntu by default to invoke a command-line. To get to a command-line for the first time, try using the shortcut key combination: CTRL – ALT – T. This means hold down the key marked CTRL, then also hold down the key marked ALT, then briefly tap T. This will open a terminal interface where commands can be typed.
One of the tasks that is typically easier to perform in the command-line is software installation, IF you know or can guess the name of the package. The package name is often completely obvious, the package to install the game NJAM is ‘njam’. For Calligra Office Suite, it’s ‘calligra’. A little calculated guesswork will often get you where you need to go in this respect. To install BibleTime, for example, you would type in the following command:
sudo apt-get install bibletime
then hit the Enter key. The terminal will ask you for the administrator password you set up when initially installing Ubuntu, will usually advise you how much information it needs to download (you do, of course, need to be online to download and install software), and will also usually prompt you to confirm you want to commence the download. After it finishes the download, it will automatically begin and complete the installation.
Note: The ‘sudo’ before the apt-get install command represents ‘super user do’, telling Ubuntu that you want temporary superuser access, which is required to install software. Being familiar with the sudo concept is VERY helpful in Linux. There are many functions that will require superuser access to perform.
As a quick aside, I recommend that since you’ll wind up using the command-line pretty frequently, putting Terminal (which is the command-line access tool) on your Control Strip is a good idea, so let’s do that now. Go to the application drawer (the 9 small white squares in your bottom left corner), click, then look at the bottom of the screen that opens. You’ll see ‘Frequent’. Click that. When you see the Terminal icon, simply drag it to the left onto wherever you want it to appear on the Control Strip, then drop it. It will then be there until, if and when you deliberately remove it. Other applications can, of course, be added to the Control Strip the same way.
The (B)ugly
The Software Center seems to be EXTREMELY buggy and unreliable. I have had it lock up repeatedly, crash the system completely on multiple occasions, and maddeningly refuse to properly load many, many times. When you launch it and invoke a category, sometimes you’ll see the screen showing that it’s pending.
The small square below Show: All and Sort: Rating SHOULD eventually be replaced with a list of software in the chosen category. Sometimes you can wait and wait, and only get this:
I don’t know if there’s a way to make it show the list of applications, so far I’ve just repeatedly killed and restarted the Software Center or rebooted the entire system, and had it eventually work. But something this basic should absolutely NOT be so problematic. It’s ridiculous.
And sometimes the initial screen will show up without Highlighted apps. The initial screen will FREQUENTLY show up with no list of application categories, therefore leaving no way to proceed at all.
Absolutely maddening. These things should absolutely have been fixed before this version of Ubuntu went gold. And I’ve had these problems on multiple machines built by different manufacturers. No excuse for this.
Next month: Maybe time for another gaming column to cleanse the palate from the bad taste left by Software Center’s frustrating bugginess? Be here and see.