http://www.taskjuggler.org/

Ive been doing a little research myself and this is what Im testing out.

I do not need a project manager being projectless, but know that GNOME has
its own called ironically enough, Planner. You might want to give it a try.
Of course as you might expect, KDE has its own called Kplato. And there is
java based Microsoft Project replacement called Openproj.
http://openproj.org/openproj

See also:
www.linuxlinks.com/.../ProjectManagement.html

Unfortunately, I can't get task juggler to
compile, but planner and kplato look as though they'll do the job for
me. So now I just need to learn how to use them properly.

Task Juggler is in my repositories (Maverick) under KDE Desktop environment
(universe). Go to Synaptic and Search (not quick search).

One day, I'll learn how to use Synaptic and actually be able to find
things for myself ;-)

It is simple. In the menu, go to Administration, Synaptic and when it asks
provide your password. Then Click on Search (not Quick Search which should
be changed to avoid confusion to Filter which is all it really does) and
type: task juggler

Then if you want to install it, right click and choose Mark for
Installation. Choose as many packages as you want. When done, hit the Apply
button. It will ask for confirmation in a popup then click Apply again. Then
wait for it to end. The advantage of Synaptic over Software Centre is that
you can select multiple packages before you download instead of doing each
one separately which for me is a pain. I hate waiting when I could be doing
something else.

None of the so called package managers I have, have ever search detected any
package I have downloaded. They seem to all only work with the original
distribution packages.

It only going to get better when Ubie releases the next version. Not really. The
next version of Gnome is going to be introduce.

You may have to go onto the properties and mark them as "executable".

You do not download any packages. Basically you should NEVER download any
application as you would with Windows in Linux. It just isn't something that
you would do unless you know what you are doing and have a reason to do so.
You use the package manager. The package manager searches not your computer
for packages, but the repository which is online. Then if you select it to
install it will download and install it.

You can add outside repositories in Ubuntu and PPAs, but you still use the
package manager to fetch them and install. To download and install them
yourself you need advanced knowledge or you risk messing things up big time.
This sometimes involves compiling which isn't the biggest problem. You lose
the ability to upgrade them through the package manager and you risk
dependency errors when one set of packages is upgraded and another can't be.
This can lead to stability problems, freezes and crashes. You of course
bring it on yourself when you do this. Better to be safe and stick to the
package manager and established best practice.

Ubuntu ships with two package managers (Software Centre and Synaptic),
although that will change with 10.10. Synaptic will no longer be the default
package manager. You will have to install it separately. Gdebi will no
longer be shipped either. Software Centre will handle package management and
installing downloaded DEBs.

I prefer Synaptic or apt-get to Software Centre or KPackagekit. It is
standard across all Debian distributions and even some RPM such as PCLinuxOS
and it works well. Unlike other package managers you can select multiple
packages then leave it unattended while it downlaods and installs. Software
Centre requires you to participate throughout the process. Install, wait,
install, wait, etc.

You never realise how good Synaptic is until you use another package manager
such as Packagekit (Fedora), YAST (SuSE) or Yumex (Fedora). Software Centre
is set up for newbies, but it just does not cut it for experienced users,
IMO. But they all work off the same base which is repositories that are
maintained for co9nvenience and protection.

NEVER is a mighty strong word. Over the past couple of years, I have had to
download and compile a number of applications, SDKs and toolchains.

I am addressing a newbie and not an experienced user. I qualify that in the
next sentence. Linux users who know what they are doing have many varied
reasons to compile from source, but a newbie is asking for trouble. One of
the reasons for using Ubuntu is that it has so many pre-compiled packages
through the repositories, through added sources and through PPAs. If one was
using Arch or Gentoo then it would be reasonable to assume that the user
expects to compile. One does not expect Ubuntu users to be doing this as a
first line of action. Of course, they CAN, but they should have a reason for
doing so, such as it is unavailable otherwise or they want to improve
performance. A newbie has no business doing it, IMO, unless they do not care
about messing up their system and want to learn. So, I stick by what I wrote
with the provision that it is taken in context.

There is established practice which is to use the repositories and a package
manager. Newbies should learn to use the package manager early on and learn
best practice before they deviate from the norm. Otherwise they will not
learn the fundamentals and get into all kinds of trouble. If they want to
practice compiling I would suggest that they try it first on a VM with LFS
or Gentoo. This offers a measure of protection for their daily use machine.

To have them listed in package managers you'd need to add the source
to the repositories and in general this isn't as secure as keeping to
the ones installed as standard. Not all repositories are maintained in
a strict manner and can have rogue packages that do more than they say
they do. It was a 3rd party repository that was responsible for the
last trojan horse download - ostensibly a screen saver - which was
soon jumped on by the Ubuntu community but it does show that users
still need to be careful where they download stuff from even with
Linux !!

Sticking to the main Ubuntu repository means all packages have been
carefully vetted and checked before being released for download and is
by far the safest course of action. Many of the lesser repositories do
not fully check packages that are uploaded to them so if using these
it's vital to know how to harden Ubuntu and also be able to monitor it
for suspicious activity.

MC> None of the so called package managers I have, have ever search
MC> detected any package I have downloaded. They seem to all only work
MC> with the original distribution packages.

This CAN be true, but you needn't worry about some sources. Medibuntu for
example is even recommended by Canonical. Getdeb can cause a few problems as
can some PPAs, but this is more due to the fact that these sources create
problems because some have different versions from the ones that Ubuntu
stocks and can lead to breaking the package manager. It is usually a simple
fix, but for a newbie it can seem like a lot. Just typing will usually do
the trick sudo apt-get -f install.

I don't want people to feel that they are limited to sources provided out of
the box. You just have to not over do things. Start small and branch out
from there. There are lots of great PPAs and other sources for packages. If
you are a photographer and want GIMP 2.7 then you need to use a source other
than Ubuntu's which only gives you 2.6 or if you want a different version of
OpenOffice, for example. the sky is the limit.

I was more concerned about people bungling their systems by trying to
download a package from who knows where or trying to compile and ending up
with a mess that they cannot get out of. Package managers track and are able
to remove. If you do an end run on the package manager and do not know where
you put something then you may be stuck with the mess as it will have no
record. So far Linux has not been able to overcome human stupidity. They're
working on it, but we are inventive creatures and find new ways to get into
messes.

RationalPlan (http://www.rationalplan.com/) is an easy to use pm software available on Ubuntu Software Center.