Automatix2: A Life Saver

Since Automatix2 appeared on the Linux scene, distributions like Ubuntu and its derivatives have a new powerful weapon in the Linux desktop war. They say Automatix2 is a graphical package manager, but it's more like a smart and intelligent application that can install and uninstall the most used and popular software. From multimedia codecs and archiving tools, e-mail clients and web browsers, to audio/video ripping and burning software, Automatix2 can do them all. So instead of staying all day long and searching through thousands of softwares in Synaptic, in order to make your brand new Ubuntu system exactly how you dreamed of, you can use only one application to install them all, in one single easy step. For example, you need all the multimedia codecs and all the archiving tools available out there, what are you going to do? Are you gonna spend 1-2 hours (or more) on the Internet, searching for different guides or in front of Synaptic wondering what else you may need? With Automatix2 you can install all the multimedia codecs, archiving tools and even the Adobe Flash player for Firefox in 5 minutes and 3 mouse clicks.

Supported operating systems:

• (K,X)Ubuntu 7.04
• (K,X)Ubuntu 6.10
• (K,X)Ubuntu 6.06
• Debian 4.0 Etch
• Mepis 6

Ok, ok... now you're anxious and you are wondering what are the applications that Automatix2 can install. Below is a list with some of the most widely used softwares that Automatix2 can install:

Audio/Video Ripping and Burning

• Braseo (GNOME CD burning tool)
• GnomeBaker (GNOME CD/DVD burning software)
• K9copy (DVD backup software)
• xDVDshrink (DVDshrink clone)

Chat clients

• AMSN (MSN Messenger client)
• Gyachi (Yahoo Messenger client)
• Skype (Voice Over IP software)
• XChat (IRC client)

E-mail clients

• Checkgmail (system tray GMail checker)
• Korn (E-mail notifier)
• Thunderbird (Mozilla e-mail client)

Web browsers

• Opera
• Swiftfox + plugins (tweaked Firefox clone)

Office software

• Acrobat Reader (PDF viewer)
• GnuCHM (CHM file viewer)
• Google Earth
• Google Picasa
• Kmymoney2 (Money management software)
• Krusader (Total Commander like file manager)
• OpenOffice Clipart

File sharing

• Azureus (P2P client)
• Bittornado (Torrent client)
• DCPP (Linux DC++ clone)
• aMule (P2P software)

Audio/Video Players and Editors

• Audacity (Versatile audio editor)
• Avidemux (One of the best video editors for Linux)
• Kino (Yet another video editor)
• RealPlayer
• Songbird (iTunes like music manager)
• VLC Media Player
• DVD Ripper

Not convinced yet? Automatix2 can also install all the multimedia codecs, archiving tools, Nvidia/ATI video drivers, Lightscribe drivers, NDISWrapper, Adobe Flash 9, Sun Java 1.6 JRE, NTFS/Fat32 read/write support, extra fonts and some useful tweaks for the GNOME desktop. The new star in Automatix2 is the Crossover Office software that allows you to run a ton of 32 bit Windows applications on Ubuntu 7.04 AMD64.

How to install it?

I'll write below the installation process of Automatix2 on the latest version of Ubuntu (and its derivatives), version 7.04. The installation process is the same for both i386 and AMD64 machines and requires you to open a terminal and paste the code lines you see below (one by one) and hit enter after each one:







If you want to install Automatix2 on other supported operating systems, follow the instructions from here.

That's it! Now you can find Automatix2 in System Tools -> Automatix (GNOME) or System -> Automatix (KDE). Use it wisely!

Please take a look at some screenshots of the latest version of Automatix2: