Use these two commands to upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu/other debian based distros.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Install LAMP Stack on Ubuntu/Debian using apt-get

sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli php5-common php5-cgi  mysql-client mysql-common mysql-server php5-mysql php5-sqlite php5-gd phpmyadmin

If you want to download the deb files without installing them, use the following command. The downloaded file will be at /var/cache/apt/archives . Needless to say, this works only on Debian based distros – like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc

apt-get -d install PACKAGE-NAME

Show all deb packages with the name “httpd”

dpkg -l | grep httpd

Show space used by deb packages installed sorted by size (ubuntu, debian and like)

dpkg-query -W -f='${Installed-Size;10}t${Package}n' | sort -k1,1n 

Show all deb packages installed on the system

dpkg -l

If you have a debian system and the XMMS in that has a bug that hides the fonts in dailog, try this command…

dpgk-reconfigure locales

Install a package using dpkg in Debian linux

dpkg -i package

I usually install these packages after I install Debian/KDE in a Laptop.

apt-get install ...
kdebase k3b gcc
vlc xine-ui mplayer xmms amarok
bzip2 ark
build-essentials binutils util-linux module-init-tools xfsprogs pcmcia-cs  procps oprofile   
kde-guidance klaptopdaemon laptop-mode-tools

Install / upgrade a deb package from cdrom/dvd

apt-cdrom install package_name