what is universe

The Universe is a vast expanse of everythingness.

But on a more serious note. I am guessing you mean the Universe Repositories.

Software on Ubunut and other Linux systems are stored in a repository. Think of it like a big library full of software that you can check in or check out at any time.

Different groups of people have different repositories.

The company Canonical (who sponsor and offer commercial support to Ubuntu). Have the 'main' repository. The software you find in this repository is maintained and bugs are fixed by Ubuntu staffmembers i.e. people paid by Canonical to do so.

The software in the universe repository. Is software that is maintained and bug are fixed by the Ubuntu community. So friendly volunteers who believe in sharing and the progression of humankind through that sharing, donate their precious time in order to make your and my experience with Ubuntu even better.

So just like the Universe is all encompassing in the physical world. The Universe Repository is all encompassing in the Ubuntu Community.

Back to the library analogy:

Think of the 'main' repository as a corporate library, like you would find at any major company.
and the 'universe' repository as the Public Library, like you would find in most developed nations.

Hope this helps to clear things up.

Hi doug,

You can't install universe as it's an Ubuntu repository. You can enable it though. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu for more details.

Hope that helps,
Simon