Install Synaptic Package Manager in Kali Linux

About  Synaptic Package Manager

Synaptic Package Manager is GTK+- based GUI for apt (Advance Packaging Tool)- the package management used by Debian and its derivatives. Synaptic Package Manager- a very handy tool, used to install, remove and update software packages and add repositories. Though, based on deb packages but can be used on the system bsed on RPM packages.

Features

• Install, remove, upgrade and downgrade single and multiple packages System-wide upgrade
• Package search utility
• Manage package repositories
• Find packages by name, description and several other attributes
• Select packages by status, section, name or a custom filter
• Sort packages by name, status, size or version
• Browse available online documentation related to a package
• Download the latest changelog of a package
• Lock packages to the current version
• Force the installation of a specific package version
• Undo/Redo of selections
• Built-in terminal emulator for the package manager
• Allows creation of download scripts

I have tested it on Kali Linux 1.1.0a machine with 32-bit architecture. To begin installing Synaptic Package Manager on your system, 

1. Please add below two repositories

deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib 

deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free

to sources.list file (path: Computer -> File System -> etc -> apt -> sources.list). Save the file and exit. To know more on Kali Linux repositories please check my post, Kali Linux Repositories.

Note: Before saving sources.list file, make sure that it shouldn't have duplicate entries of  repository/ ies or else you may get 404 error or unmet dependency error.

2. Now open terminal and type apt-get update && apt-get upgrade to update kali linux.

 

3. Once done, execute apt-get install synaptic and then apt-get install software-center.

Tips: Care while installing a software manually

Installing a software manually on Linux platform is quite a difficult task, especially to those who comes from Windows platform. It's not like Windows  where executable file is double clicked by the user and perform few next-next steps to complete a task. In Linux system, most of the downloaded softwares are manually configured through terminal (though Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu Software Center and others are GUI based package management tool for apt (Advance Packaging Tool) that not only checks the dependency of the software but also guides you how to install the software successfully).  But, installing a software manually not only guides you but also allows you how to configure it on your own way. It makes you technically sound and allows you to know more about your Linux system. If you keep few things in mind the you could install a software easily and successfully.

Tips:

1. Once you download a software please check the online documentation of the software and read it carefully.

2. If somehow you miss the online documentation of the file, then please check README.txt or INSTALL.txt file/s in the software folder extracted to a specified location. README and INSTALL files itself guides you how to install, configure, set path variable, dependency and bug-fixes of the software.

3. If somehow installation fails, please check and read the error message carefully. Reading the error message or log file itself guides you to resolve the step on your own (to an extent).

4. (a) If you install the software successfully, do not forget to update and upgrade the system.

(b) But, if you fail to install the software, then take a note of the error message or take a screen-shot (if possible) and then post it to a technically forum. Please give them a necessary idea of your problem so that technical team will assists you to resolve your problem quickly. And, if there is a serious problem in the software itself, then they will release its bug-fix.

xdman- The Download Manager

xdman or xtreme download manager is an awesome download manager client that can download a file upto a speed of 500%. It support any browser with browser integration support. Developed by Mr. Subhra Das Gupta- a software developer from Tech Mahindra, India. xdman support resume download, it  can download large files, hd videos and even flash embed videos. Available in .tar.gz (generic linux), .deb (ubuntu, debian, mint etc) and .exe (windows) file extension.

I have tested it on kali linux, ubuntu and debian linux and it's running fine. To download xdman,
1. Goto http://xdman.sourceforge.net/download.html. For kali linux platform, I chose Generic Installer for Linux/ OS X.
2. Download the file and save it on specified folder.
3. Navigate the file to extract it.
4. Read install.txt file from the folder to proceed to the next step of installation. Make sure Java Runtime Environment and flash plug-in (if you want to download flash videos) is installed on your system.
5. Open terminal window and goto the extracted folder of xdman, run ./install and you are done. A window of xdman will pop-up with browser integration. Depending on the browser setting, please configure browser integration.