We look a installing software on Linux Mint.

First we use the Software manager to install Chromium. We talk about using search field and that it is like an internet search meaning sometimes we need to change or refine our search criteria to find exactly what we are looking for.

We install Chromium and talk about how to remove that software if we don't want in on our system anymore.

We then talk about the Advanced Package Tool, and look at using apt-get to install and remove programs

We see how aptitude can be used to add programs and that it is based on the Advanced Package Tool

We also look at Synaptic for installing programs and that that too is a front end of the Advanced Package Tool

We also talk about what a repository is and that different Linux distros will have their own repository's

We install some programs using a PPA (Personal Package Archive)

We first see the version of LibreOffice in the Linux Mint 17.1 repository is 4.2.8.2. Then we look at the currently supported version of LibreOffice at LibreOffice.org and see Fresh is 4.4.4 and stable (the long term release) is version 4.3 7.

To over-ride the Linux Mint 17.1 repository, we can use a PPA (Person Package Archive). There is a slight risk that adding a new program to Linux Mint 17.1 using a PPA may have conflicts with other programs, or it may not function properly, and an example is shown where I used a PPA to download LibreOffcie 4.4 onto my Linux Mint 17 64 bit Cinnamon computer showing the sidebar buttons do not show properly - the problem was also seen using the Mate desktop on that same Linux Mint 17 64bit computer.

I understand the risks and still want to upgrade to the LibreOffice 4.4 PPA.

I go to Launchpad.net to get information about the PPA, then I add the PPA repository to my repositories typing in sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-4, the I so a sudo apt-get update, and finally, I do the sudo apt-get install LibreOffice to install my LibreOffice 4.4 PPA

Notice this version now has the LibreOffice Base Module included - not included in the Linux Mint 17 repository. To the get the LibreOffice Base Module to work properly, you may need to type in the lines:
~ $ apt-cache search sdbc
~ $ sudo apt-get install libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb

We talk about the PPA being an Ubuntu based program, so if your distro is not an Ubuntu based distro (ie. Linux Mint Debian Edition) the PPA may not work - it may work but it may not work.

After trying to uninstall the LibreOffice 4.4 PPA on multiple machines and always being left with broken packages I decided not to include that process in this tutorial, it is possible to uninstall the LibreOffice 4.4 PPA, but it the process is too involved for an introductory tutorial series. If you do decide to upgrade to the LibreOffice 4.4 PPA, I suggest you keep it if you can.

I then install Blender from a PPA by getting the PPA information from Launchpad.net, and adding the ppa directly in to the software sources in the update manager ( I go into the update manager then Edit, Software sources) and add the PPA there. Then going back to the terminal and typing apt-get install blender