Craig - installing programs issues

[Amedee Van Gasse (Ubuntu)]

On Tue, May 12, 2009 16:00, anthony baldwin wrote:

> We DO like to help, and, although many of us don't believe that Linux is
> the right choice for everybody, we do believe that most can learn to use
> it, and when they do, they will be quite satisfied.  We enjoy seeing that
> happen. But, we value independence, and precise communications.  You've
> already demonstrated the curiosity and fortitude to step into unknown
> waters, which we respect, by trying to use Ubuntu.  Take another step and
> help us help you, by communicating more effectively, please.  We
> understand you won't know all of our linux-geek jargon right out the
> starting gate, but, at least be kind enough to give us some specifics to
> help you, rather than simply vent on the list.  Seeing your frustration,
> thus, while lacking the means (pertinent information) to assist you is
> just as frustrating for us.

I think that the only problem is that "collabcad" isn't yet packaged for
Ubuntu. Several tenthousands programs are packaged and available in the
repositories, but sometimes you get a program that isn't.

Something similar happens on Windows when a downloaded program doesn't
have an installer, but you only have a zipfile and a readme.txt with
instructions in Klingon. (regedit? regsvr32? dunno!)

Fortunately this happens less and less often, on Linux as well as on Windows.

I think the best help in this particular case would be to get "collabcad"
packaged by the author (or a volunteer), and added to a repo.

-- 
Amedee