Stealing from Ubuntu to pay Midinux

I'm busy trying to get an application to work on Midinux MID devices. There's a problem, though, because a chunk of libraries that I need are not available in Midinux for some reason. So, I'm snagging the libraries I need from the Ubuntu os I'm running on my desktop and converting them to run on the MIDs with Midinux. I can do this because, for reasons I don't understand at all, Midinux is compiled as an i386 system even though it's sitting on a Mobile Internet Device with an Atom CPU (that's lpia architecture, in case you didn't know).

You can find lots of debs (those that you have installed on your Ubuntu desktop, that is) in /var/cache/apt/archives/ . The advantage of that is that you don't have to go hunting very far. If you can't find the deb that you are looking for there, try searching http://packages.ubuntu.com

Once you have the packages that you need, go ahead and change the debs into rpms using Alien. The command looks like this:
> alien --to-rpm the-package.whatever.deb

With that done, stick the package someplace where you can download it to your Midinux device, then pop over into the X-Terminal and into the directory where the rpm you need to install is sitting. Install the rpm with:
> rpm --install the-package-whatever.rpm

And there you go!

Turning rpm's into deb's

The phone system we use at work right now has a program called MXIE that handles telephone call logging and other whatnotery on your computer. They are nice enough to have a Linux version of the software, but not nice enough to provide source to build it from. They have binary installation files, but only in rpm format. I'm running Kubuntu on my work laptop. Rpm's will do me no good.

Enter Alien. This nifty little utility will convert those pesky rpm's into deb packages so that you can install them easy-peasy on a Debianish system like Ubuntu.

If you don't have Alien already, make sure you have universe repositories set up, and then, from the command line
sudo apt-get install alien

Now you are ready for this
sudo alien -k name-of-rpm-file.rpm

Dun-du-dun!!! You are now ready to install your package
sudo dpkg -i name-of-deb-file.deb

Unlocking the adept package db

When Ubuntu's debian-ish package manager whines about a locked package database, try this:

sudo dpkg --configure dpkg


It will return an error, but your db will be unlocked and you can get on with life.