Thank you, Tom, for your very thorough response. Now, if my aging mind can manage to sort through it all, I believe you probably have provided valuable assistance.
Joe > [endnotes follow .sig] > > Josef Lowder[1] >> Every time I open the Synaptic update manager, > > Actually, no ... > >> Here are three successive screen shots of this problem: > >> From Nov 18: http://www.upquick.com/temp/updatemanager1.jpg > > That screenshot shows 3 problems, only one of which you discuss in your > post. The first problem, which may seem "merely semantic"[2], is that > your screenshot is of an application called "Update Manager," not > Synaptic. This can be easily shown by launching the two apps via their > commandlines. Goto your terminal of choice (I have no idea what that is > in KDE, which appears to be problem 2, but we'll deal with that next), > and therein utter the following commandlines[3] > > kdesudo mintupdate & > > kdesudo synaptic & > > The first commandline above should (after you type your password) launch > the application that troubles you, which I claim is Update Manager, aka > UM, aka mintupdate. The second will launch the application commonly known > as Synaptic, about which you have no complaint (yet :-) > > Now that you're clear on that (hopefully), you can solve your first > problem, which is being unclear about the etiology[4] of your problem. > The second problem you must solve is, seek help from the appropriate > community. Given the presence of the KDE icon in the above screenshot, > and the appearance of your window frames in all 3, I'm guessing you're > running one of the KDE Mints[5]. If that's false, ignore the following > paragraph: > > Mint is not anymore a distro, it's an ecosystem including several varying > distros as well as numerous associated applications and environments. > E.g., I run mostly Cinnamon LMDE, which is somewhat different from MATE > LMDE, and quite different from the Ubuntu-based Mints. The vast majority > of all of those, however, are GNOME-based, and as such the vast majority > of Mint users will have very little of use to say about a problem > involving KDE (or, for that matter, LXDE or Xfce--but at least those > desktops are based on GTK, which underlies GNOME). > > Which leaves the third problem, which is, what's wrong with your > mintupdate? I dunno. Someone else on this forum might; if so, ignore the > following recommendation. I recommend you goto the Mint forum='Software & > Applications'[6] (on which I have several times gotten useful information > in the past) and describe your problem with a subject line like > > mintupdate problems on KDE [your Mint version here] > > Use the term 'mintupdate' because it's generally understood and most > exact. (For extra credit, goto Help>About and note which mintupdate > version you're running.) Be sure to be clear about which version of Mint > you're running, and about the fact (unless I'm completely wrong) that > you're running KDE. This is mostly likely to get you performant and > skillful help ... though, again, there may not be many folks running KDE > on the forum--I dunno. If you *do* get responses: > > The verdict may very well be that mintupdate does not run well on KDE, in > which case you should seek recommendations about alternate package > managers to run. (Personally, I'd recommend one of the fine CLI dpkg/APT > tools like `aptitude`, which also has a TUI[7], which kinda "splits the > difference" between a GUI and a CLI.) Alternatively, there may be a > problem with your host's current repositories, downloaded packages, or > other parts of its current dpkg/APT configuration that is choking your > host's mintupdate in a manner that has nothing to do with KDE. > > HTH, Tom Roche <tom_ro...@pobox.com> > > [1]: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/lurker/message/20161215.191124.4beac47c.en.html > [2]: Readers are encouraged to deliver verbal or physical dopeslaps to > anyone uttering the phrase "merely semantic." "Semantics" are quite > literally the meanings of words, and failures to agree on meanings of > words usually lead quickly to failures to communicate. Which is usually > bad. > [3]: Note that as someone with extremely limited KDE usage, ICBW here, > but I believe its equivalent of `gksudo` is `kdesudo`. > [4]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aetiology#English > [5]: latest being (IIUC) https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=224 > (since I can't find reference to a KDE for Serena yet) > [6]: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewforum.php?f=47 > [7]: For TUI screenshots, see > https://askubuntu.com/questions/821164/how-do-i-access-the-aptitude-why-functionality-through-aptitude-s-interactive > and ignore the answer that describes it as a GUI--it's not. > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
