I am completely new to Linux. I installed Ubuntu 11.10 on my new computer a couple of days ago and have begun familiarizing myself with it. I have the new Unity desktop available, as well as the Gnome Shell. (Previously, I used Windows XP for many years.) I would like to try Amarok, as a substitute for MusicBee, which I used in Windows.

As I understand it (again, I am a total newbie), Amarok was written for the KDE environment. From what I have read, there are two options for running it in my currently installed Ubuntu:

Option (a): sudo apt-get install amarok
Will install amarok, and will bring along all the dependencies from KDE that are required to run it. I could then run amarok from within Unity or the Gnome shell.

Option (b): sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Then log on into the kubuntu environment and install amarok, and run it from this (kubuntu)desktop.

Are those the correct options?

What are the pros and cons of these (or any better) options?

If there's already a thread on this, forgive me for missing it. Please point me there.

Amarok works fine under any desktop environment. Whether or not you wish to use KDE is entirely a matter of personal taste. Obviously, as KDE software, most Amarok developers will be using KDE, but it's not necessary. You can always try the KDE interface and see whether you get along with it, either by installing kubuntu-desktop (but note if you don't like it, it can be a little tricky to remove all the other packages that pulls in) or by using a Kubuntu live image for a bit.

Thanks very much for the quick response. Perhaps you can clarify things a bit more:

I read somewhere that if I install Amarok on Ubuntu (Gnome), the installation will bring along a considerable package (maybe 200MB)of dependencies, because it requires much of KDE to be running in the background. I just wondered, if that is true, why not just go ahead and install the full KDE environment (which isn't all that much bigger)and run Amarok in there?

So, if I install Amarok on Ubuntu (Gnome), is it REALLY going to bring along most of KDE, or will it be something much less?

Again, thanks for making time to help me get started.

I don't know offhand the filesize of the combined dependencies, but it's probably something around that order. The complete kubuntu-desktop set will be bigger, though.
Really, the important point in whether you should use KDE is whether or not you like it more than your current desktop environment. It's not going to significantly affect your Amarok user experience, but it will give you a different default file browser, text editor, terminal emulator, system settings dialogues, application appearance, etc etc!

Thanks, again, for taking time to help.

Maybe I'll try a Live CD of kubuntu to see how much I like the environment. If it wins me over I can install the desktop into my existing ubuntu.

I decided to go ahead and install Amarok on Ubuntu 11.10, just to try it out. I followed the steps suggested in a couple of different articles on Amarok:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install amarok

Then I played with Amarok for a while, and saw a lot of things I liked.

I closed it down while I did a few other chores, and when I tried to re-open Amarok, I could not do so. I kept getting an error:

Executable: amarok PID: 1892 Signal: Segmentation fault (11)

So, sadly, I was only able to run Amarok once. I may try an uninstall and a re-install tonight.

Reinstalling will almost certainly not do anything for the majority of Linux software if you have issues.
In this case, removing Amarok's configuration files - the contents of ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok plus any files matching ~/.kde/share/config/amarok* - should fix your issues. If they persist subsequently, please follow instructions on the crash handler to install Amarok debugging packages and get a crash trace.

Thanks very much for the advice. I will certainly try the remedy you recommended. If the problem persists, I will give the crash handler another try. I got started on that last night, but got a bit lost in the process, and was too tired to complete it successfully. Hopefully, I will do better in the next try.

Again, thank you!

While I'm thinking of it --------

Did I actually install Amarok the right way? As I noted earlier, I took the advice posted in a couple of articles that recommended this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install amarok

As a total newbie, I really don't know what those first two lines do. I wonder if I should have just used the third line (which is what I would have done, if I hadn't seen those two articles).

What is the best procedure for installing Amarok on Ubuntu?

apt-add-repository is for adding an extra location to get software from. ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports is the repository in which new versions of KDE software are packaged for older versions of the distro.

The way it works is usually that for a given Ubuntu release, the software versions are fixed for that release. The only updates are security or critical bug fixes. New features don't get released until the next Ubuntu release. Backports repositories allow you to get new versions of the software on the existing Ubuntu release. There's also a main Ubuntu backports repository, but it doesn't get new KDE software as often or promptly as the Kubuntu one.

apt-get update instructs apt to fetch the latest versions of the package lists for the repositories it has. This is necessary after adding a new repository in order to get the package lists from it.

apt-get install then instructs it to actually download and install the specified software. It'll check for matches in available repositories and then (usually) install the most recent version available.

apt-get upgrade instructs it to look for newer versions of any software installed, and to get the newer versions if available.

Note that update is run automatically in the background, and you'll be notified and asked to confirm the upgrade if there are new versions found.


What would have happened had you not added the backports repository is that you'd have got the older version of Amarok (2.4.3) available from the main repository.

Boy, that explanation really helps. Much appreciated.

As you suggested, I removed the Amarok configuration files, and I was then able to properly launch Amarok. I played some tracks, closed Amarok, opened it again, played more tracks, and so on, with no problems. So hopefully, the snag was a one-time thing.

I am much obliged for you help in getting me started with Amarok, as well as helping me learn some basics about Linux. I am inspired to find some good tutorials to read, so I can better understand how Linux differs from Windows.

If you are looking for KDE related tutorials you should have a look at http://userbase.kde.org.