After you have Synaptic installed and you are ready, now this tutorial will quickly introduce and help you to practice installing, removing, and upgrading software packages with examples on Ubuntu 24.04 "Noble Numbat" using Synaptic Package Manager. You will learn by exercises, without knowing too much details about Synaptic. We hope with this tutorial you can work immediately with your new Ubuntu machine by having applications, games and utilities you need the most at the same time getting to know more about Ubuntu itself. Now let's start the exercise!

(Synaptic and GIMP on Ubuntu 24.04)

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 This tutorial continues the previous one Installing Synaptic on 24.04. If you do not have Synaptic yet, we suggest you to read that first. Good luck!

Table of Contents 

1. Sample Package 

2. Install a Package

3. Reinstall a Package

4. Remove a Package

5. Upgrade a Package 

6. Upgrade Whole System 

7. Update Software Information

8. Search for Package

9. Fix Broken Package(s)

10. Download Process

11. Package List

Sample Package

We will use "gimp" package as an example in this tutorial. It is GNU Image Manipulation Program or we'd love to say it the free Photoshop from the GNU operating system. 

Install a Package

[See Reload section to enable this]

Find "gimp" package -> right-click "gimp" -> Mark for Installation -> Mark -> Apply -> wait for gimp packages being downloaded via the internet -> gimp installed -> run gimp from the desktop menu.

Reinstall a Package 

[See Reload section to enable this] 

Find "gimp" -> if it is already installed it will be green -> right-click it -> Mark for Reinstallation -> Mark -> Apply -> gimp reinstalled. This is sometimes required when you meet with wrong configuration.

Remove a Package

Find "gimp" -> if it is installed, it will be marked green -> right-click it -> Mark for Removal -> Mark -> Apply -> gimp removed. 

Upgrade a Package

[See Reload section to enable this] 

Find "gimp" -> if there is new version available, it will be marked as grey "!" icon -> right-click it -> Mark for Upgrade -> OK -> Apply -> gimp upgraded to newest version. 

Upgrade Whole System 

[Please note that this does not upgrade your OS version] 

[See Reload section to enable this]

Click Mark All Upgrades -> OK -> Apply -> wait for the download process may take up to several hours depending to your internet speed and disk space -> system upgraded -> restart your Ubuntu.

Update Software Information

Click Reload -> wait for the download process to take place -> reload finished -> Synaptic is ready to use to install and upgrade. This will enable installing and upgrading packages mentioned above, otherwise Ubuntu will report errors.

Search for Package 

Put cursor in the top Quick Search bar -> write "gimp" -> search result will show "gimp" alongside other packages related to gimp. 

Click Section on the left panel -> select Graphics category above it -> list area will show packages related to graphics and photography and drawing functionality including "gimp" and "inkscape" and "scribus" for example and many more -> select All category back. 

Click Status on the left panel -> select Installed to show all installed packages on the system -> select Upgradable to show packages with latest version available -> select All category back. 

Fix Broken Package(s) 

When there is broken package(s), in general you can automatically fix them by going to Edit -> Fix Broken Packages.

Download Process 

When updating, installing or upgrading package(s), Synaptic will show a detailed dialog with download progress and speed information with individual files' progress bars and respective URLs. It will look like picture below.

Package List 

Lastly, you will need a listing of packages you can use for practicing install and remove and upgrade. For that purpose, here we listed in alphabetical order some of beneficial, fun and useful packages easy to learn about. The more you do exercise, the more you know about Ubuntu. Have a nice time exercising with Ubuntu! 

alacarte : utility to easily edit Ubuntu desktop menu by clicks.

blender : the most famous professional 3D animation maker of free software.

calibre : ebook reader and manager of any format with beautiful look and feel.

digikam : beautiful camera and photo manager.

easytag : utility to edit MP3 audio metatags like author, album, genre etc.

flare-game : adventure RPG game very similar to Diablo II.

gcompris : educational and fun games for children of pre-school and elementary ages.

hplip : utility for Hewlett-Packard printers. 

Happy hacking!