Is CNR the Easiest Way to Get Software in Ubuntu?
CNR (Click’N’Run) is Linspire’s website and client software that provides an easy way to discover and install free and commercial Linux software. Linspire just released the beta with support for their own distributions as well as Ubuntu. Does it make installing software in Ubuntu easier?
CNR.com is a free one-click software delivery service designed to standardize the process and eliminate the complexity of finding, installing and managing Linux software for the most popular desktop Linux distributions, both Debian and RPM based.
I installed the required CNR client software for Ubuntu 7.10 by downloading the
available DEB
package. After
installing it, a CNR launcher was added to my Application menu under System
Tools. Clicking it opened CNR.com in Firefox and asked me if it could update my
software. Was CNR trying to overwrite Ubuntu’s packages with its own? I clicked
no to the dialog.
On the CNR website I navigated to the game
Supertux
and clicked the Install Now button. Firefox asked me if I wanted to open
SuperTux.cnr with CNR.
After clicking OK, the install began immediately. CNR downloaded and installed SuperTux
SuperTux was added to the Applications menu and worked fine.
I noticed that CNR was running in the notification area. Right-clicking on the
icon gave me access to the preferences. The manage software tab showed all the
software installed by CNR, and that the version of SuperTux it installed was
actually packaged by Ubuntu. All CNR had done was the equivalent of sudo
apt-get install supertux.
I removed CNR by uninstalling SuperTux in the CNR Client software and removing
the package cnr-client in Synaptic.
As for making software installation easy, CNR is trying to solve a problem that Ubuntu doesn’t have. Ubuntu’s repositories are excellent, and installing software is easy with Synaptic, Add/Remove, and the AptURL protocol handler.
Installing software not in the repository is easy with DEB packages being common. Downloaded packages are opened with the installer by default, which makes installation just as easy as CNR. GetDeb.net is an excellent source for recent software that is not in the repositories.
CNR’s web catalog does offer interactive features such as screenshots, reviews, and ratings. This is much nicer than Add/Remove’s simple popularity ratings and descriptions.
While CNR’s user interaction features are promising, it doesn’t have enough of an advantage over Ubuntu’s tools to make me use it.
Archived Comments
Tristan Rhodes
Tom,
Try clicking the the ghosted button labelled “update”. This caused CNR to crash on my computer.
Tristan
Harsh
This is very Windows like. :(
I’d prefer, as you have mentioned, the apt:// URL methods if not the easy wget/GetDeb and aptitude methods. :)
ArtInvent
I went to the CNR site and looked over the programs to be had there. As far as Ubuntu goes. I didn’t really see anything there that you couldn’t just as easily (or more easily) get with Synaptic or deb packages.
As people have pointed out though, the Ubuntu repos are not perfect and something needs to be done.
Confoundingly, if you want the very latest stable or development versions of FOSS to use or to test, or if you want to put various versions of an app on your machine simultaneously, it’s still easier with WinXP! Ugh. I just tried to get the latest build of Inkscape onto my Ubuntu box using ZeroInstall and Autopackage. No luck with either. It’s not advised to use debian-unstable repos, and it’s certainly not going to be available in any standard Ubuntu repos, AND there’s no deb package for it. So you’d have to compile it from source. While the Windows version just unzips and runs. (Along with the installed stable version.)
The Linux community needs to pull its head out and unite behind some kind of universal packaging scheme along with the ability to run as many different versions of an app as you want, because this is just pathetic. Really.
Azrael Nightwalker
When PackageKit will be deployed across all major distributions CNR will die.
rumeysa avci
hoe kan je supertux spelletjes downloaden ? a.u.b kunnen julie het antwoord a.u.b zeggen xxxx bye bye bye
Andrew Min
Here’s when it will get useful: when SuSE and all the other RPM-based distros include it. Then, you only need to package your app once. Still, I agree with you that it’s a little cumbersome…