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I've just installed Xubuntu 18.04 LTS on a small netbook. Now I want to install a couple of specific applications (Konquerer or similar for one) and darn if I can find a search bar anywhere in the Gnome Software screen. Am I just missing something? Or do I have to just go through everything in there looking for it?

Or ... is there a better way to find and install new software?

Thanks -- Howard

Howard Ballinger
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    In the top-right corner (Gnome software, 19.04) there is a little magnifying glass... – Charles Green May 18 '19 at 16:39
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    Konquerer is a KDE/QT-based app, whereas XFCE is GTK-based, so it will pull lots of KDE/QT deps just for one app, using up your drive. Maybe, try to use Chromium/Chrome or Firefox? – Victor Sorokin May 18 '19 at 16:59
  • Ah, I see this is for netbook. So, chrome/firefox can be too much burden. Try epiphany-browser then. – Victor Sorokin May 18 '19 at 17:23

2 Answers2

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1: As pointed out in comments, there's a little magnifying glass icon. Click on that to get a search bar:

Search bar location

2: Are you really sure you want to install Konqueror on your Xubuntu system? As pointed out in comments, it may pull in many dependencies because it uses a different toolkit, qt, than applications present normally on Xubuntu which is gtk2/gtk3.

3: Unfortunately, even though Konqueror is available in the universe repository (and the universe repository is enabled on the desktop version of all Ubuntu flavors), gnome-software doesn't seem to find it, both on Xubuntu 18.04 and on Ubuntu 18.04:

Konqueror not found in Xubuntu 18.04

konqueror missing in Xubuntu

Konqueror not found in Ubuntu 18.04

konqueror missing in Ubuntu

However, Synaptic Package Manager and the terminal route have no difficulty in finding and offering to install Konqueror.

Synaptic Package Manager finds Konqueror in Xubuntu

konqueror in spm

Terminal output

dkb@dkb:~$ apt policy konqueror
konqueror:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 4:17.12.3-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
     4:17.12.3-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages

The apt policy output tells me that Konqueror isn't currently installed but is available.

Installing Konqueror from the command-line:

All that is needed is for you to run sudo apt install konqueror from the terminal and to provide your password. There'll be a lot of output because Konqueror pulls in many dependencies (and maybe some additional recommended software) on Xubuntu. Anyway, the last few lines of output look like this:

0 upgraded, 134 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 83.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 341 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n

Some concluding comments:

  • I don't know why you want to install Konqueror but I suggest thinking twice if you're new to Linux and someone has casually recommended you install it.
  • I feel "Software Centers" such as gnome software and KDE's Discovery are works in progress and shouldn't be regarded as final authorities on what can or can't be installed.
  • Synaptic Package Manager is totally worth installing even if you don't need it immediately.

Further reading:

DK Bose
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  • Muon may be an option too. Currently I like it more than Synaptic. – N0rbert May 19 '19 at 11:16
  • @N0rbert I frankly forgot about muon but given that the poster is on Xubuntu, muon too would pull in qt dependencies: I can't say how many until I boot into a Xubuntu session. – DK Bose May 19 '19 at 11:20
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I usually will install synaptic and use that to do software searches. you can install it from a terminal by doing the following sudo apt update and then sudo apt install synaptic after it install launch synaptic and search for the software your looking for. There is also software center that has a search function it come pre installed on ubuntu flavors. If you installed xubuntu you do not have gnome software as such.

kc1di
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  • OK, that worked. I didn't quite know where to find synaptic afterward -- I hit the thing at the left end of the panel and selected 'all'. Bingo! Now what I want to do is find a 2-panel file manager like 'Total Commander' with FTP included if possible. I'll do some exploring. – Howard Ballinger May 19 '19 at 04:55
  • @HowardBallinger 2panel file manager is mc (Midnight commander). And you can try XFCE Thunar to the same effect (it has tabs instead of panels). – Victor Sorokin May 19 '19 at 05:40