The new Ubuntu 12.04 comes with the Ubuntu Software Center, but it does not have Synaptic anymore, and I guess they dropped Synaptic one or two versions ago. Synaptic was pretty easy to use and I could easily select dozens of packages and let the installation run unattended. The Software Center doesn't seem to work that way -- I click "Install" and it starts installing, but while one package is installing, I can't choose others. Synaptic can be selected in the Software Center, so I did that, but it won't run. I get this error: No protocol specified No protocol specified (synaptic:12287): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :0 I read through the following huge pile of junk only to find that the "solution" is to use 11.10 instead of 12.04 ... not helpful ... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1961352 I think the second-to-last post (page 4) is explaining the source of the problem, but that isn't helping me because I don't understand how to fix it (or if that's even possible). Meanwhile, it sounds like some people think Aptitude is the thing to use -- even better than Synaptic. Any opinions? I guess I'll have to try it. I have to admit that I find some of the Ubuntu team's choices to be hard to understand. Is there something more important than their package management system? Probably not to me, at least, so they shouldn't screw it up. It's why I use Ubuntu instead of something else, I think. Well, that and inertia. Mike