Installing Packages; Dual Drives

My new, dual drive system on the Clevo (Zorin/Gnome), seems to have been successful and I am very pleased. But being this is all new to me, I wonder about installing Packages.
Most of what I need is in the Repository. I figure the computer is smart enough to know where to install something like VCL Media Player or a different browser. I assume all this goes to the SSD drive.
But what about something like Extreme Download Manager which is NOT in the Repository. When I download the .tar file, it goes into Downloads on the HDD storage drive. So when I extract and install Extreme Download Manager, where does it go? What do I need to do to install the package on the SSD? Or does it matter?
As always, thank you…
Katie

kay-dee wrote:My new, dual drive system on the Clevo (Zorin/Gnome), seems to have been successful and I am very pleased. But being this is all new to me, I wonder about installing Packages.
Most of what I need is in the Repository. I figure the computer is smart enough to know where to install something like VCL Media Player or a different browser. I assume all this goes to the SSD drive.
But what about something like Extreme Download Manager which is NOT in the Repository. When I download the .tar file, it goes into Downloads on the HDD storage drive. So when I extract and install Extreme Download Manager, where does it go? What do I need to do to install the package on the SSD? Or does it matter?
As always, thank you…
Katie

When you install some things, they install in HOME, so where ever your HOME is stored, that is where it will be (In /.config folder or /.local/share folder).
Many other things install in /bin or /usr/share/ with other pieces going into the appropriate folder (for example, /lib64) such as shared files. This will be in ROOT so, where ever ROOT is stored. Anything that uses Shared Files will go to Root. Independent files will usually install in Home.
If Root or Home is stored on SSD, then they will go to the SSD. If not, then not. And whichever partition they are on- same applies. It will always go to Root or to Home, unlike Windows, with Linux it is not a Mystery action during install- you can get right to every single piece of it.
It does not matter how you download or install, where you use Synaptic, Repository or command line, it is all dpkg and it wall always install to the same applicable folders to which the portions belong. When you download a package, it contains a script that tells the computer where to put the pieces and that is how it knows where to put everything:

Code:

/.configure

or

Code:

install.sh

It's all the same path, whether you use Gdebi or Make or Synaptic or Terminal.
You can also access and read these files and see where everything goes.
Hope this helps

Thanks Aravisian,
I think I get what you mean. And if I'm reading this right, it isn't something I should be concerning myself with. All the installs, Repository or not, go to the same place. Correct?
Katie

kay-dee wrote:Thanks Aravisian,
I think I get what you mean. And if I'm reading this right, it isn't something I should be concerning myself with. All the installs, Repository or not, go to the same place. Correct?
Katie

Correct; they go to where they are needed to go to operate as you require when you install them.
I must point out that they do not all go to the same place... But they go to all the same places that they would go to regardless of how you perform the installation.

When you use the repository or wget, it downloads to your /tmp folder whereas when you download a package from http://www.packages.org, they go to your downloads folder. But that is a trivial detail and not related to what happens with installation. It is just where you set it down before organizing it.
A bit like when you go shopping for groceries. You might set the bag down in the kitchen on the counter or on the floor but once you start putting the stuff away, it always goes to where it is supposed to go regardless of where you set the bag down when you walked in the door.