ubuntu virgin needs help

[LTKoblinsky]

Hello BBS,
I am an Ubuntu rookie. I just installed said OS on my laptop today. I know nothing about root users, terminals, or other such jargon. When I use Windows, it extracts everything for me and files it away neat and hidden until I need it. With Ubuntu, I need Java. I have no idea how to get the Firefox plugin for Java, as no Java files work their magic for me. I need help, a walkthrough, you could say. So please and thank you.
2LTK

[voodoo]

This is not meant to be snarky at all, so please don't take it that way.  The Ubuntu forums are chock full of great advice and how-tos.  It's also fully indexed by Google, so searching on Ubuntu +anything is very handy.

To your question, the easiest is System => System Tools => Package Manager and search for "flash".  You should see "flashplugin-nonfree" and "adobe-flashplugin".  Uncheck "flashplugin-nonfree" if it's checked and check "adobe-flashplugin".  Then select "apply".

[TimeLady Victorious]

I'm running the latest stable version right now (not 10.10 or whatever it is now). I was kind of forced onto it when my Windows 7 boot partition decided it didn't want to boot Win7 anymore, and all attempts at repair would have meant a complete reinstall, which would have wiped the MBR and forced me to reinstall Ubuntu again, etc.

First, if you need particular programs a better idea than Package Manager is APPLICATIONS > UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER and searching for what you need. If you play a lot of Windows games or have some mission critical apps search for WINE and get that while you're there.

If you search for Flash you'll get that, search for "emulator" you'll see a bunch of them, etc.

There's also the idea of extracting programs from tarballs and compiling them to use in your distro, but that's more complicated than what you want right now.

[LTKoblinsky]

While Google turned up worthless, even the Ubuntu forums, (...and what the fuck, there's an owl in my attic!), I managed to find a great tutorial on youtube that walked me through the terminal process for installing java from a repository. It was easy, really, but I never would've figured it out on my own..

[slayerboy]

I've been running Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop for at least 3 or 4 years.  Over that time there are several things that I've learned that you may or may not find in the ubuntu forums.

• Add the Medibuntu repository for some multimedia stuff that isn't officially included
• Check the Community Documentation and Beginners FAQ
• Get used to using PPA's for software that is either outdated in the official ubuntu repos or isn't available (Graphics card drivers, WINE, etc)

That being said, the biggest thing that helps most people is ask questions and experiment.  Make sure your /home directory is on a separate partition if it's not already, that will decrease stress about 20x if something should happen and Ubuntu becomes unbootable.  It's saved me quite a bit.

If all else fails and you think Ubuntu is just too much (which to some people it is), then give Linux Mint a try.  It's Ubuntu, but with almost every configured out of the box for you.  I've installed it on family computers and they all love it.