While we gracefully installed our favorite Linux distro, one of the mundane problems which most users face is - installing a new software. In the beginning, software installation on a Linux distro can seem extremely intimidating while using a terminal but more often than not we can install things graphically.

The release of Ubuntu and other user-friendly distributions has bolstered Linux’s popularity among IT pros and end-users alike. Yet Linux neophytes can still stumble over common tasks, like installing new software. In this IT Dojo video, I discuss common mistakes people make when they’re trying to add new Linux software. I also give you tips to make the installation process a bit easier.

There are several myths floating around the wicked world web and I intend to address one of those today. That is installation of programs under Linux. It seems to be a common misconception that installing programs under Linux is hard or difficult and that windows is easier. I will now get up on my soapbox and proclaim to the world that it is simply not true!!!

Let me start with a controversial statement: installing new software is almost always easier on Linux than on Windows. On most Linux systems, a package manager takes care of both the installation and removal of software.

While installing software on Linux might have been challenging in the early days of Linux this is no longer true....Watch the video and decide for yourself how “hard” it is to install software on Linux.

I have been running Linux exclusively on my computers since Ubuntu 6.04 was released. For nearly as long I’ve been helping non-geek friends install it on their systems as well. Three years ago this often included kernel compilations, unrecognized hardware, and a lengthly, error prone installation proccess for installing multimedia codecs.

One of the classic problems that newcomers to Linux face is locating and installing software to do the work they want to accomplish. With Synaptic in Ubuntu, installing the software has been made simple, but choosing which software to install can still be a challenge.

Blowing away a computer and installing a different operating system is all part of a day's work for the Test Center. In fact, some projects in the Test Center over the past year have included a lot of time spent simply installing and reinstalling various Linux distributions on a single machine.

UNetbootin is a tool that allows you to install various Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, OpenSuSE, Debian, ArchLinux) from a Windows or a Linux desktop over the internet (i.e., you don't need to burn the Ubuntu, Fedora, ... CDs). Unlike the Ubuntu installation with Wubi, real partitions are created during the installation.