[Cialug] beginner here...

[kristau]

> But the only thing the book is explaining to me is how to download with
> synaptic.  It doesn't go into detail about how to download misc. files off
> the web and actually make them run (which of course you can do in windows
> with just a double-click).

Synaptic is essentially the same as the "download misc files off the
web and make them run" Windows experience -- Synaptic downloads
pre-compiled binaries and 99.999% of the files you download for
Windows are also pre-compiled.

Now that you've stepped into the world of Open Source and Free
software, you can actually download the source code for programs --
something that is near impossible for most of those Windows programs
you were used to downloading.  The C64 emulator files you pointed to
all appear to be source code files, which means you will need to
install the software development tools (using Synaptic, of course),
then compile them.

If you want to learn about compiling source code, kernels, kernel
modules and the like, then I encourage you to continue.  We have lots
of folks who can help you out.

If, however, you just want to get things to run as quickly as
possible, then I recommend you take advantage of the pre-compiled
binaries available through Synaptic.

As I grow older and lazier, I've come to the realization that I'm not
willing to compile from source unless there is a compelling reason to
do so.  For example, if I have a piece of hardware that isn't
supported in the current binaries available, but a recent dev version
has added that support I will compile the kernel module (and even
then, only if it is a piece of hardware I actually want to use).

See you at the meeting!

later,
kristau
-- 
Tired programmer
Coding late into the night
The core dump follows

My GNUPG public key is available at http://www.kristau.net/public_key.asc