- Introducing klik
- Installing the klik Client
- Limitations
- Wrapping Up
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Installing the klik Client
Your first step is to install the klik software. Do this by pressing Alt+F2 from your KDE desktop and typing the following in the run box:
wget klik.atekon.de/client/install -O -|sh
This step takes a few seconds at most. Once that’s done, make sure that you restart your browser (if you are running Firefox) and then surf over to the klik application website to select your klikable packages. Scroll down aways and you’ll see a number of software categories: Network, Mail, Games, Graphics, KDE, GNOME, and a whole lot more. Select one of these categories to see a complete list of all the packages in that category (after a quick browse, I can tell you that there are literally hundreds of packages available). When you see something that looks interesting, click the link, and a new page will open with a more-detailed description of the package, as well as screenshots where appropriate, and the klik link to start the install.
Let’s go through a klik, and it will all make sense. Under the Graphics section, there’s a package called TuxPaint, a great little painting program for the younger Linux users out there. On the description page, there’s a line that reads "klik here to download and run tuxpaint" (See Figure 1). Click (or klik) and you are done.
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Figure 1 Download and run with a single click.
What happens next takes some getting used to. You might see a security warning message, telling you that you are following an untrusted link. Click Yes that you do want to follow it. This message is a function of how Konqueror is configured and will vary depending on your system, whether you are running KDE or GNOME, and so on.
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Figure 2 Click Follow to allow the process to continue.
After you agree, another window will appear that lists all the packages that will be used to assemble the klik .cmg file (see Figure 3). The final size of that file is also indicated here. Before you click Yes to continue, take note of the line just before, the one that reads, "Please post back your results." I’ll be mentioning this again a little later.
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Figure 3 klik informs you about all the packages that get assembled to generate the application download.
After you click Yes, the standard progress bar will appear, indicating the percentage downloaded along with the speed and estimated time left to completion. You will notice another box just sort of waiting on the outskirts until the download continues. This is the final step where the klik package is assembled (see Figure 4).
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Figure 4 In the final step, the packages are combined into the .cmg file.
This final step tends to be very fast, and the application launches immediately afterward. As with the TuxPaint program I downloaded in this example, the program popped up ready for use. There was nothing left for me to do but see how creative I could be with a child’s drawing program (see Figure 5).
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Figure 5 Programs installed with klik just start automatically, as with this copy of TuxPaint.
Describing this process as an install is somewhat less than accurate because nothing is actually installed on your system. As I mentioned earlier, each .cmg bundle represents a standalone application. One program equals one file. That application file is now sitting on your desktop, but you can move it anywhere you like. If you want to make it available to all users, just move it to a directory everyone can access. Should you decide that a particular program is no longer necessary, just delete the .cmg file.