Installing cinnamon

[Patrick Asselman]

On 2012-12-08 10:25, Colin Law wrote:
> On 8 December 2012 02:38, JD <jd1008 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 12/07/2012 07:21 PM, Steve Pearce wrote:
>>>
>>> On 08/12/12 02:08, JD wrote:
>>>>
>>>> The cinnamon web page
>>>>
>>>> 
>>>> https://launchpad.net/~gwendal-lebihan-dev/+archive/cinnamon-stable?field.series_filter=quantal
>>>>
>>>> asks the user to:
>>>> add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
>>>>
>>>> Which I did.So I thought that's all I need in order to proceed
>>>> and issue
>>>>
>>>> apt-get -y install cinnamon
>>>>
>>>> Well, it could not find it, and the web page does not elucidate
>>>> any further.
>>>>
>>> JD
>>>
>>> You added the cinnamon PPA, but forgot to update your package 
>>> lists.
>>>
>>> Try:
>>>
>>>    sudo apt-get update
>>>    sudo apt-get install cinnamon
>>>
>>> I don't know much about Cinnamon, but I suspect it'll be available 
>>> to
>>> select at the login screen as an alternative to Unity.
>>>
>>> stevepdp
>>>
>> I see. Should not the web page have explained that instead
>> of assuming every noob knows this?
>
> Most noobs would click on the link on that page "Read about
> installing" where the instructions appear clear and include
> instructions to run apt-get update.
>
> Colin

It's not just noobs who run into this. I've seen a lot of messages to 
this mailing list where the problem was fixed by updating the package 
list first. In my opinion the apt-get should get a bit more intelligent, 
and ask the user if maybe it should update its list before installing. 
And maybe add an extra switch to skip that step, for the experienced 
users.

It should also be more intelligent about alerting the user that maybe 
there is some maintenance going on on the other end, and please try 
again in a few minutes. That's another source of trouble I've seen a 
lot.

But that's just my opinion of course.

Best regards,
Patrick Asselman