Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
If your search term brings up too many different packages to see on a single screen display, you can
tell Linux that you want it to pause on each screenfull by
piping
the output of
apt-cache
through
a tool called
less
. Simply change the command to
apt-cache search game | less
and use
the cursor keys to scroll through the list. Press the letter Q on the keyboard to exit.
TIP
Installing Software
Once you know the name of the package you want to install, switch to the
apt-get
com-
mand in order to install it. Installing software is a privilege aforded only to the
root
user, as
it afects all users of the Pi. As a result, the commands will need to be prefaced with
sudo
to
tell the operating system that it should be run as the
root
user.
For example, to install the package
thrust
(a Linux version of a popular Commodore 64
game from days gone by), you would simply use the
install
command with
apt-get
as
follows:
sudo apt-get install thrust
Some packages rely on other packages in order to operate. A programming language may
depend on a compiler, a game engine on graphics iles, or an audio player on codecs for play-
ing back diferent formats. hese are known in Linux terms as
dependencies
.
Dependencies are one of the biggest reasons for using a package manager like
apt
rather
than installing software manually. If a package depends on other packages,
apt
will auto-
matically ind them (see Figure 2-5) and prepare them for installation. If this happens, you'll
be shown a prompt asking whether you want to continue. If you do, type the letter Y and
press the Enter key.
