Linux Help!

[Claire]

So I just switched to a Linux OS. I was going to download Minetest, but when I got to the download page my Linux distro wasnt there... :/

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

[necron099]

I use bodhi linux and I just download from github and compile it, works just fine. Just make sure you read the read.me and have the required libraries, and such.

[Evergreen]

So I just switched to a Linux OS. I was going to download Minetest, but when I got to the download page my Linux distro wasnt there... :/

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

If you download the latest source from github and compile it according to the instructions in README.txt, then it should work.

[hoodedice]

So I just switched to a Linux OS. I was going to download Minetest, but when I got to the download page my Linux distro wasnt there... :/

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

Which distro?

Ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu, lubuntu, edubuntu, Linux Mint, and many others are all Ubuntu and the ubuntu download will work for any of them.

[onpon4]

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

Yes, it matters.

The only two things all GNU/Linux distros necessarily have in common are GNU (userland, core libraries, and other core OS stuff) and Linux (the kernel; the part that talks to the hardware). That's enough similarity for general run-in-place binaries to exist (distributors who distribute such binaries tend to just label them as for "Linux [insert architecture here]", though I think the actual compatibility is with all GNU systems and kernel-independent), but all the downloads currently available for Minetest are for package managers, which are completely different depending on which distro you use. Even if you, for example, use a deb package meant for Debian 7 on Ubuntu 13.10, or even a deb package meant for Ubuntu 12.04 on Ubuntu 13.10, it may not work (and even if it does work, not a very good idea). Start using a completely different package management system (e.g. RPM on Ubuntu or Apt on Fedora), and you can have a huge mess.

Basically, you should consider different GNU/Linux distros as incompatible for the most part (except for binary compatibility). The one notable exception is where one distro is based on a stable release of another distro (e.g. you can in general expect Trisquel 6 and Linux Mint 13 to be compatible with Ubuntu 12.04).

[roku]

They're not always incompatible. You can install RPMs on deb distros or even extract the archive yourself without going through the package manager. Most are simple tar.bz2 files, which itself usually represents platform independent binaries (tar.gz for source files, tar.bz2 for binaries). Actually I went and looked but minetest doesn't have a plain binary download for Linux. It probably should...

[Claire]

So I just switched to a Linux OS. I was going to download Minetest, but when I got to the download page my Linux distro wasnt there... :/

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

If you download the latest source from github and compile it according to the instructions in README.txt, then it should work.

Sounds simple enough. Just one question, how to compile something on linux? Is it the same for all operating systems???

[Menche]

So I just switched to a Linux OS. I was going to download Minetest, but when I got to the download page my Linux distro wasnt there... :/

So I was just wondering if it matters what distro I downlaod it for? Wont it work with any Linux OS???

If you download the latest source from github and compile it according to the instructions in README.txt, then it should work.

Sounds simple enough. Just one question, how to compile something on linux? Is it the same for all operating systems???

The compiling process should be mostly the same on all linux distros. The difference would be in the command to install the dependencies; if you use a Debian/Ubuntu based system the command provided in the README should work. Otherwise, you may have to search a bit with your distro's package manager. CMake and make will likely work exactly the same.

[philipbenr]

I use Slackware on my laptop and I use C-make. I have a quad core with 6GB of Ram so it doesn't take long with all cores assigned... like a minute tops.

[Claire]

Ok, so I found a way around all this. I just installed a distro that was supported, just one more question...

How to run Minetest and where to find it?

btw, using Ubuntu

[Menche]

Ok, so I found a way around all this. I just installed a distro that was supported, just one more question...

How to run Minetest and where to find it?

btw, using Ubuntu

Add the minetest PPA with the following command:

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Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:minetestdevs/stable

Then, just install the "minetestc55" package. It will add a menu item, or you can launch it from the terminal with "minetest" or "minetestserver".

The stable version is a bit old right now, so some people use the latest development version. To use that, just add "ppa:minetestdevs/daily-builds" instead.

[hoodedice]

Ok, so I found a way around all this. I just installed a distro that was supported, just one more question...

How to run Minetest and where to find it?

btw, using Ubuntu

Press the 'Superkey' or windows key and type minetest.

[Claire]

Ok, so this is what I did...

Went to Minetest homepage,
Clicked on Download > Ubuntu/Mint
Then clicked on this minetestc55 - 201310061747-0~2322~ubuntu12.04.1
Then downlaoded this minetestc55_201310061747-0~2322~ubuntu12.04.1.dsc
It didnt do anything, so I downloaded this and extracted it minetestc55_201310061747-0~2322~ubuntu12.04.1.tar.gz
I didnt know what to do with this because there wasnt an executable file(Im a natural windows user, switched from 8) So I downlaoded this and extracted it minetestc55_201310061747-0~2322~ubuntu12.04.1.tar.gz

When I extracted this one I clicked on the usr file and double clicked on the minetest file and it opened!!! :D

Is this how I would go about downlaoding minetest??? Do I need the other files? There is also one other file I didnt download, do I need this to run it better???

[Claire]

btw, I didnt read the above posts before posting my last post

[Claire]

I just wanted to thank everyone for answering my questions and being so patient. I just switched from Windows 8 to Zorin OS, then like 18 hours later I switched to Ubuntu! :D
I really like Ubuntu! But I also like Zorin OS, both have pros and cons. For example...
Zorin -- REALLY fast but not widely supported
Ubuntu -- Slower than Zorin but faster than Windows 8, most popular Linux Operating System

Ubuntu is probably my favorite Linux OS, it looks beautiful! :O



Thank all of you for your help, I really appreciate it!
With Love -- Claire<3

[onpon4]

Zorin is based on Ubuntu's stable releases, so it would have worked with the Ubuntu packages.

Personally, because your local searches are reported to Canonical (and used to display Amazon ads) by default[0] (even though you can turn this behavior off), I recommend not using or recommending Ubuntu, out of principle if nothing else. Use one of the many Ubuntu derivatives instead (Linux Mint is the most popular, maybe even more popular than Ubuntu at this point, but there are several others, including Zorin).

[0] http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/does-ubuntus-amazon-lens-break-eu-law

[Claire]

I am not using Ubuntu 12.10, Im using 12.04.3(or something like that...)
But please explain to me why you would not recommend Ubuntu, is it because of the security issues? Because I dont really care about that.
I had a hell of a time trying to get this to install on my PC, I tried 3 times. Zorin installed flawlessly on the first try.

Do you really think I should install a different Distro(I think thats what they are called)? If you do, I will do it.
P.S. I am a complete N00B!

[onpon4]

Don't worry about what you have if it's 12.04; the adware feature was introduced in 12.10, but when it's time to upgrade, try something else.

It's not a security thing (though the EFF did report that it's possible, because of how it's done, for snoopers to infer what you're searching for every time it happens), it's just that Ubuntu has a malicious feature (sending all of your local searches to some web server, which is spyware) enabled by default, perhaps figuring that most users will never think to change the setting. Canonical ought to be pressured into removing this malicious feature, or changing it so that it isn't malicious (such as having a separate button for web searches... something that, incidentally, GNOME's search facility once had).