software app no apps and picasa and skype missing from repos.

Hi I have recently installed Ubuntu Studio 16.04. the first thing i looked for was synaptic which was not installed. so i used software app. but that has nothing in it. i installed synaptic via command line. so i can install apps.

compared to ubuntu and linux mint previous linux os i have tried. there are some things missing picasa and skype.

i went to the skype website and got the skype app but when trying to install that. it opened the install app but just sat there for 30 mins not doing anything.

so i ran
sudo dpkg -i /path/to/skype.deb/file (installed with errors)
then i ran
sudo apt-get install -f (this fixed and i got skype)

I tryed the same with picasa i got the picasa.deb file from the ubuntu website. but the latest package was for Petra adn did not work.

any ideas how to get this installed.