Installing software on Ubuntu usually entails using Synaptic or by using an apt-get command from the terminal.
Unfortunately, there are still a number of packages out there that are only distributed in RPM format.
There’s a utility called Alien that converts packages from one format to the other.
This doesn’t always mean that an rpm will work on your system, though.
You will need to install some prerequisite software packages to install alien, however.
These packages include gcc and make.
The sudo may not be necessary, but we’ll include it just in case.
sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb
The package should now be installed, providing it’s compatible with your system.
