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The new Ubuntu Software Centre is really great, and I often explore it to find the awesome packages that are available to install. One thing that bugs the hell out of me, however, is that in recent versions of Ubuntu .deb files (ie when you download a deb package and manually install it) open in the Ubuntu Software Centre and the process is incredibly SLOW.

I have dealt with this and just accepted it, instead using the command line (dpkg) instead to avoid using the Ubuntu Software Centre, but I occasionaly forget and just double click the deb file to launch it. Today I decided to solve this problem for myself, so here is how I did it.

Tip: How to give the old deb installer it's place back in newer versions of Ubuntu (instructions are assuming use of pcmanfm, if you are using nautilus, you should start using pcmanfm, it's better - otherwise the process is much the same in nautilus) 

First

sudo apt-get install gedbi

This will get gdebi installed. Next find a .deb file you wish to install with your file manager, right click it then select "Open with..."

In the "Custom Command Line" tab enter the following

gdebi-gtk %f

Click the checkbox next to "Set selected application as default...blah" and finally click "Ok".

The deb should load up with gdebi and double-clicking .deb files in the future should fire up gdebi instead of Ubuntu Software Centre.

Again, Ubuntu Software Centre is great for discovering and installing software that is available in the Ubuntu repos but I just think it should be keep out of the loop if I found the software else where.

What happened?

Our little family of three were in the town center where we live yesterday and we had to find somewhere to get lunch. When my son's belly starts rumbling finding a place to eat gets quite time critical. So we hastily set about finding a place that looked like it might serve something that, at least, resembled food and could accommodate children. The first restaurant we entered had two floors (probably making use of the limited and probably more expensive space in a town center). We waited to be seated, until we were approached by a waitress who sent us upstairs and told us that we would be seated there. So we went upstairs where we were ignored for some reason. The top of the stair case was situated right by a door to the kitchen and several staff walked right by the three of us standing there like lemons, a little odd I thought. Whilst I was waiting I had a look around to see if there was no where to seat us, but there was plenty of space for my little family.

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