Can someone point me to a very beginning level magazine or book, or set of instructions, on how to install software in Ubuntu? Baby step level.

I think these two websites are great for beginning Linux users. Lots of fundamental tips and tricks for beginners.
https://itsfoss.com/
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/
For deeper knowledge or examples of how to achieve something that is not basic you can refer to these forums or try a Google search.
https://askubuntu.com/
https://ubuntuforums.org/

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Many beginner type questions are answered in "Ubuntu for Dummies" - along with worked examples.

The Ubuntu forum (like many x-nix forum) can be very helpful, but will often come back with a whole load of "You stupid person, don't you understand" type answers,followed by a long discussion and never give you the answer you need, or will give you a correct answer that is very difficult to understand.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I am running a SuSE Linux Virtual Machine on this Windows 8.1 PC with its 5.3.12 kernel. After starting it I download BOINC from SuSE and start it. The VM Linux PC is enlisted in Science United and gets tasks from it, mostly SETi. Milkyway and Asteroids. It cannot see the GTX 1050 Ti on the host PC and runs only CPU tasks on its A10-6700 CPU.
Tullio

. . Which is why most of the advice from the beginning has been to configure a dual boot machine not to use VM. Apparently the OS does not pass sufficient info to the VM or vice versa when using the GPU.

Stephen

. .

I am a long-time Windows user. This thread is for someone who ALREADY knows some Linux, not a Linux noob.

I have several computers, and some are being considered for running Ubuntu and SETI. I have installed (that is, I followed the instructions)
Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS on a thumb drive, then on an SSD, in a VM and also 19.10 in a VM. Trying to follow this topic here, about the 4th post
said to install something, and I am lost. I tried reading "The Complete Linux Manual Vol30 2019" on how to install other software, without
success. None of the instructions seem to work, so I need something quite a bit more elementary.

I tried to install BOINC using the instructions from the BOINC website but they didn't work. My installation didn't even recognize the command "APTITUDE".

Can someone point me to a very beginning level magazine or book, or set of instructions, on how to install software in Ubuntu? Baby step level.

I am not a fan boy for Windows, but I must give them credit for making life easy to load software.

. . The majority of advice from the start, has been to install Linux as a dual boot option, not to use VM. Certainly everything I have contributed has been in that line. So having problems with VM usage will require more complex knowledge and I believe will never work because there is some problem with the information that is passed between the VM and the OS when dealing with the GPU.

Stephen

. .

what are you trying to install specifically?

for things that are in the standard repositories you would install with:

sudo apt install <package-name>

. . I found it helped when I learnt that sudo means 'super user do' (and will usually prompt for your password unless you have recently entered it) and I am guessing that the apt part is the 'lost' aptitude command that is confounding the guy. I think the 'install <package name>' speaks for itself.

You may have to add the repository that it's in.

. . Repositories are online resources provided by the package distributors(?) for 'external' commands and drivers not included in the standard distro (distribution package). Sometimes you may need to install the drivers provided by the hardware manufacturers, this is often the most comprehensive driver but may cause issues when updating later on. Sticking to the repo versions tends to make later updates more successful.

sometimes if it's not available in any repo, you woul have to download a .deb file, or similar, and install it manually.

it really depends on what you are trying to do.

[/quote]

Stephen

. .

I had a dual Boot PC with Windows 98 SE and Slackware Linux, running on a PII Deschutes ntel CPU. Then, on a more modern Windows PC I started using Virtual Machines and then I received an invitation by Ben Segal of CERN, a member of the Internet Forum. to cooperate with him on CERN Virtual machines and the program Test4Theory@home. Now I have a Windows 10 PC which runs LHC@home tasks, which don't use a GPU.
But maybe I should try again to install a dual boot on a Windows 8.1 PC. The Linux Virtual Machine hosted on it uses SuSE Thimblewood, a development version which is update very frequently.
Tullio

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I am running a SuSE Linux Virtual Machine on this Windows 8.1 PC with its 5.3.12 kernel. After starting it I download BOINC from SuSE and start it. The VM Linux PC is enlisted in Science United and gets tasks from it, mostly SETi. Milkyway and Asteroids. It cannot see the GTX 1050 Ti on the host PC and runs only CPU tasks on its A10-6700 CPU.
Tullio

Unless you have a motherboard that supports IOMMU and a hyper visor that supports PCIe passthrough, you’ll never get CUDA or other hardware acceleration on the GPU. Along these same lines, you cannot pass through a GPU to a VM that’s being used by the host OS/hyper visor. You need at least 2 GPUs for this kind of thing.

Better to just run Linux on bare metal.

Trying to run Linux as a VM within windows won’t get you access to the GPU.

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Seti@Home classic workunits: 29,492 CPU time: 134,419 hours

I am running SuSE Linux Leap 15.0, which is standard release, on a HP Laptop with an E-450 CPU. But it does not have any graphic board. I am running Tumbleweed, the SuSE development version on a Virtual Machine.
Tullio

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I am running SuSE Linux Leap 15.0, which is standard release, on a HP Laptop with an E-450 CPU. But it does not have any graphic board. I am running Tumbleweed, the SuSE development version on a Virtual Machine.
Tullio

I'm sorry Tullio, but what do your posts have to do with setting up Linux to crunch with the Cuda90 app?

Cheers.

@ Ian&Steve C.

what are you trying to install specifically?

I am trying to install BOINC. After downloading "boinc_7.2.42_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh" into the home/downloads folder, the next line says to "... open the downloaded file to install BOINC".

A double-click of the file results in a text editor opening it. NOT what I expected at all.

Following the instructions "Click here to finish" on the BOINC download page takes me to [https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/welcome.php] where the first part says "... the system tray should have an icon like this: If not, get help here." It did not, so I clicked on the "get help here. " link, taking me to "wiki/BOINC_Help" page where it starts ...

"How do I install BOINC on my computer?
Go here, click Download, and double-click the downloaded file. Go here for more info."

Note it says to "double-click" the file. I did that, and now I am here.

for things that are in the standard repositories you would install with:
sudo apt install <package-name>

I did this using "boinc-client" for the package-name, and it installed properly, I assume. I repeated for the "boinc-manager".

The BOINC download page for Linux (at least) needs to be updated with the correct instructions for NOOBs like me. Please bring to the attention of the appropriate party.

Thanks, Ian, for the quick reply. Now to see about getting the All-in-One installed ...

@ Keith Myers

Thanks for the references. I know I will use them

@ Stephen "Heretic"

. . The majority of advice from the start, has been to install Linux as a dual boot option, not to use VM.

Good advice for the user who can't get the GPU to work in a VM. My problem was much simpler - getting the BOINC software installed.
Perhaps this reply was meant for a different post/poster?

I am a NOOB in "X-nix" but not computing.

I tried to install on the bare metal a few times before putting it into one of my VM instances. Much easier to switch
windows [Alt-Tab] than to reboot or switch cables [only one monitor/keyboard/mouse among all the computers].

@ Stephen "Heretic"

. . The majority of advice from the start, has been to install Linux as a dual boot option, not to use VM.

Good advice for the user who can't get the GPU to work in a VM. My problem was much simpler - getting the BOINC software installed.
Perhaps this reply was meant for a different post/poster?

I am a NOOB in "X-nix" but not computing.

I tried to install on the bare metal a few times before putting it into one of my VM instances. Much easier to switch
windows [Alt-Tab] than to reboot or switch cables [only one monitor/keyboard/mouse among all the computers].

I had the experience of repeatedly installing Linux on various computers and then not being able to do much with it.

The reason many of us are having any success at all is because we are not using any of the Boinc stuff that is available directly from the repositories.
Many of us are using a zipped download and a shorter set of step by step instructions that don't involve trying to install using a some kind "*.sh" script.
If you are interested we can help.

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

I had the experience of repeatedly installing Linux on various computers and then not being able to do much with it.

The reason many of us are having any success at all is because we are not using any of the Boinc stuff that is available directly from the repositories.
Many of us are using a zipped download and a shorter set of step by step instructions that don't involve trying to install using a some kind "*.sh" script.
If you are interested we can help.

Tom

Likewise, I just went through installation exercises with repository installs, resulting in unnecessary stress, work and ultimately failure. I recommend Tom's suggestion.

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@ Tom M

If you are interested we can help.

Yes, please. That is why I am reading this forum instead of watching a movie.

I have DLed and copied the All-in-One package content to home/BOINC. [Yay!]

When I run the manager, I have confirmed it is the one from the AIO, but I
don't see any GPU in the event log.

I guess I must find and install the Nvidia driver next.

TBC

@ Tom M

If you are interested we can help.

Yes, please. That is why I am reading this forum instead of watching a movie.

I have DLed and copied the All-in-One package content to home/BOINC. [Yay!]

When I run the manager, I have confirmed it is the one from the AIO, but I
don't see any GPU in the event log.

I guess I must find and install the Nvidia driver next.

TBC

(what you're probably doing right now ...)

10) Add this to your system so you will be able to easily install the Video drivers:

|sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
|sudo apt-get update

11) Install NVidia and OpenCL drivers:
|sudo apt install nvidia-driver-430              ; needs repository in #10 installed or fails
|sudo apt install ocl-icd-libopencl1             ; changed from sudo apt install libopencl1 fail
    then Reboot
12) Use the "software updater" to install "additional drivers" and upgrade Linux/Ubuntu to the latest driver (probably).

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Darrell,

If you want the All-In-One package, you should remove the BOINC installation you installed through the command line.

sudo apt remove boinc-client
sudo apt remove boinc-manager

you don't need them and they could cause conflicts with the all-in-one install.

the AIO doesnt really need to be "installed". it's more or less ready to go once you download it and extract the contents to your home directory.

to install the nvidia drivers:

first add the Ubuntu drivers PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

update repositories:

sudo apt update

install the driver:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-440

install the openCL driver for AstroPulse tasks:

sudo apt install ocl-icd-libopencl1

Then reboot. you should be done and ready to go.

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Seti@Home classic workunits: 29,492 CPU time: 134,419 hours

@ Jimbocous

(what you're probably doing right now ...)

You were correct, I was!

I installed the ppa, then set it active. I used the -390 version since I am not sure the
special sauce 10 version will work with my hardware but the 098 works.

Running and returning results.

Thanks for your help.

@ Ian&Steve C.
Thanks. Got them all now and it's working --- FAST!

I installed the ppa, then set it active. I used the -390 version since I am not sure the
special sauce 10 version will work with my hardware but the 098 works.

The 390 drivers are fine for the stock CUDA90 app in the AIO. If you want to move on up to the CUDA101 app, you will need to update to the 418 drivers minimum. Look at the README_x41p_V0.98.txt doc in the /BOINC/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/docs/docs directory for a quick understanding of the special app.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)