I know you can download and extract the tar.bz2, and it will run, but it’s not really installed, it doesn’t integrate. I’m on Debian, as it’s the only linux distro I’ve gotten to work properly with my hardware. The problem is, the only Blender the package manager lists is 2.49. Also, it doesn’t list luxrender at all. So, if I want to install them, do I:
Somehow install it fully from the bz2 archive?
Find a .DEB somewhere, maybe?
Compile the source code myself?
Just hope the debian package manager finally updates soon?
Well, if it’s not integrated to the OS, then I have no idea how to integrate it with external renderers. Also, it’s convenient to have it as a desktop icon, and to have blend files open with blender automatically. What format are the graphicall builds in? TAR.BZ2, .DEB, .RPM, or source code? and if it’s packaged with luxblend, does that mean it has a functioning version of luxrender, or just the export script?
There will be an addons folder inside the Blender folder. It may be hidden (CTRL+H to view hidden files or View -> Hidden files). So you just copy the external to the addons folder in most cases - or whevere they tell you to put it.
You can create a Desktop icon and set .blends to open with Blender. It may be in the file Properties, I’m not familiar with Debian.
If graphicall builds say Luxrender or yafaray, then yes, Luxrender or Yafaray are bundled with it and should just work, though you may have to enable the addon or set a file path. External renderers don’t have to be installed separately anymore, so Blender doesn’t either.
If you download from graphical, just unpack it and run it, the hard work is already done.
One of the issues with distros like Debian is that it is a very stable release. Great for servers, not so great for desktops that want the latest software. They hardly update their repos unless they are sure it is stable.
If you can’t find a deb package, you could always switch to something that updates more frequently (like Arch) or a distro that has more repos, like Ubuntu (not recommended).
The thing about debian being stable is, it’s the only one that I’ve ever gotten to work right on my hardware. Fedora (updated every 6 months) crapped out constantly, didn’t work right with my mouse, my drawing tablet, or even my GPU, and even it only had the 2.49 edition of Blender, although it did have lux. I tried Mint also, and it wouldn’t even boot fully from the live DVD!
eh… blender works, but lux doesn’t. Graphicall said it was packed in. I went into add-ons and enabled it, but it always renders black. I actually doubt this one is linux’s fault, especially because I had a similar problem on Windows with the POV-Ray plugin. Come to think of it, in all my (relatively short) time with blender, both on windows and on linux, I’ve never seen an external renderer actually produce an image when I told it to.
Blender 2.58 is available on debian. You just need to enable the sid (unstable) or wheezy (testing) repositories (consult the debian manual for how to do this).