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Warning : totally noob question...

I just started using ubuntu at home, and i love it, but there are some basic stuff that i don't know how to do and is annoying me...

When I install a package using sudo apt-get install ... I don't even know where the installed package is. For some packages it doesn't really matter to me, but for some it does...

Example : I just installed vim, and I would like to create a shortcut to vim on my desktop. How would i do this ? How can i find the folder where it was installed and know which executable I need to shortcut ?...

Maybe coming from the world of Windows, I'm not even thinking like a linux user, so feel free to correct me... :)

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4 Answers

To extend on Ángel Araya's answer. You could run sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel then open gedit and type

 [Desktop Entry] 
Name=New launcher...
Exec=gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new 

Then save to the desktop as gnome-launcher.desktop. Finally you should have a button to make a launcher on your desktop.

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And welcome ;)

To extend nickanor's answer you can create a .desktop file to point to vim executable. Just open gEdit with root permissions

gksu gedit

and paste:

[Desktop Entry]
GenericName=Vim Editor

Then save the file to /usr/share/applications/ with name vim.desktop. Then you can see vim when you search it in the dash:

enter image description here

Another faster aproach is just to open the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write ´vim filename´ which will open the editor with specified file.

enter image description here

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if you wish to find the directory of the executable vim, use which command: which vim. It will display where the executable is located.

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vim is located in /usr/bin/vim. Most executables, that is, scripts that start a program are in /usr/bin or /sbin or /usr/sbin. You can find about anything with:

sudo updatedb
locate <whatever>

updatedb indexes a database and takes a few moments, so be patient.

I doubt you really want a shortcut to vim, however, since vim requires an argument; that is, a file to create or modify, for example:

vim newfile.txt
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