Home / ubuntu / Questions / 339697
Accepted
rɑːdʒɑ
Asked: 2013-09-01 06:21:37 +0800 CST

Are there alternatives to software center?

  • 772

Are there any GUI alternatives to the Ubuntu Software Center with

  • Fast application loading/Low startup time
  • Fast search
  • Low weight/size
  • Application purchase facility
software-recommendation

15 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Yes, there is an alternative to the Ubuntu Software Center named appgrid. It's a very lightweight application center for Ubuntu and it will let you purchase applications too. You can install it in Ubuntu with these following commands:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:appgrid/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install appgrid

    It was only a 100KB download for me.

    Comparison between appgrid and Ubuntu Software Center:

    Feature                                                | appgrid  | Ubuntu Software Center
-------------------------------------------------------+----------+-----------------------
Programming language                                   | Python 3 | Python 2
Warm start to home screen                              | 2.7s     | 20s
Warm start to details screen (eg opening an apt: link) | 2.3s     | 30s
Full database build                                    | 58s      | 6min24
Initial database size                                  | 36.7MB   | 96.5MB
Memory usage after startup to home screen              | 20MB     | 53.6MB
Lines of code (including tests)                        | 5900     | 56960

    You can sign in with Ubuntu One ID also:

    Ubuntu One sign in screenshot

    appgrid screenshot

    • 39

  2. You can use synaptic , a front-end for apt-get.

    • 28

  3. Yes. Try the Lubuntu Software Center. It is very fast and light-weight.

    sudo apt-get install lubuntu-software-center

    enter image description here

    • 17

  4. I noticed that deepin software-center is not on this list...

    deepin-screenshot-1

    deepin-screenshot-2

    deepin-screenshot-3

    Features:

    • There is a regularly updated list of featured applications on the home page. The list of recommendations are produced based on user ratings.
    • The Software Repository gives you a handy way to choose and install desired applications with just one click. With a powerful multi-threaded download back-end, they are available to you for fast download, limited only by your network connection.
    • Update manager helps you make sure your operating system has the latest and greatest software installed. All the updates are available for free!
    • Uninstalling applications that you no longer need gives you an opportunity to have a cleaner working environment.
    • Comes with 9 pre-installed colorful skins, so you can select one that brightens your day!
    • Cleanup cached packages to gain more space
    • Open download location and refresh application list
    • We have added official Ubuntu sources for fast downloads
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/deepin-sc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install deepin-software-center

    Reference:

    • 14

  5. You can try to familiarize yourself with the command lines: Searching: 

    apt-cache search wesnoth

    This will often yield many results, so it is useful to pipe eg to less or to use grep to search further:

    apt-cache search wesnoth |less

    Search in all descriptions for FTP, show only the matches which have FTP in the package description

    apt-cache search FTP |grep FTP |less

    Installing:

    sudo apt-get install wesnoth

    Removing:

    sudo apt-get remove wesnoth
    • 13

  6. There is Muon Software Center (muon-installer), default Kubuntu software manager.

    You can install it in Ubuntu, but it'll probably have a lot of Qt and KDE dependencies.

    I recommend you aptitude, it's similar to apt-get but it has a very easy to use CLI.

    You can always use synaptic, it's fairly easy to use and very powerful.

    • 6

  7. sudo aptitude is my personal favorite, used in the command line, very quick response on my 500mhz command line system.

    sudo aptitude

    You can also do it without sudo or root, but you can only view packages installed and search for packages.

    • 3

  8. I noticed nobody mentioned gnome-software <code>gnome-software</code>

    It will replace software-center in 16.04, but I quite like software-center itself.

    • 3

  9. If you just want to search for Ubuntu applications in the Ubuntu official repositories, you can browse the official "Apps" website: https://apps.ubuntu.com/

    Here you can also quicly see screenshots and reviews for every app.

    To install an app, you can just click the "Available in the Software Center" button in app detail page, using the "apt:" protocol.

    Here you can find info about apt links:

    Or you can just install the found package with synaptic or directly with command line sudo apt-get install <name>, as reported in other answers.

    • 2

  10. You can try this:

    Appnr : A web based software center

    This is a website which primarily uses the functionality of apt-url to install apps on Ubuntu.

    More details find here : How to Download??

    • 2