Jason’s Linux Learning Journal

So my attempt to install a GUI failed. Tried the command I referenced in the previous post, but this is what I got:

Couldn't find any package whose name or description matched

I am now officially frustrated by this. Although I made some progress starting to figure out how to navigate the CLI, got into aptitude to see the packages that are listed, and have begun to pick up a few very basic commands, I’m still at a point where I feel hopelessly lost with regards to how to get this box to do anything. Like I see that aptitude or apt-get is used to install programs, but I cannot get it to work.

Scanning through ubuntuforums.org, I came across these words of wisdom that help to put my frustration into context:

Now, I know almost all of you know how to install with Windows, usually you just double click a file (ending in an .exe, like setup.exe or install.exe) and there is the good old Windows installer to guide you through step by step. Easy right? Well things are different in Ubuntu, really Linux as a whole is different. This stems from the differences in their foundations and how they were built up over time. That doesn’t mean it’s harder, just different. In fact, I bet once you understand it all you will come to see how easy it all really is, and how it has its own merits over the method used by Windows. … Understanding is the key to using your operating system effectively. Without that, you’re just repeating something someone else said without grasping what your doing. You don’t want that do you? You want to be in control, to know what’s going on and know that you can deal with things that can happen.

Not harder, just … different. Kinda reminds me of this:

Anyway, I’m not the type to give up. But I grasp that I’m in over my head right now. So I’m going to take a step back, hole up and do a few things before trying again:

• Read through more of the documentation, community forums, and check out a book from the library. It’s clear that skimming for quick answers is not going to suffice here. I need more of a solid grounding for this project, and that requires a little patience.
• Introduce myself in the forums and start asking for advice. So far I’ve just been a lurker, but the true beauty of open-source software lies in the communities who support it. Dipping my toe in that water is an essential part of succeeding at this. (And if I’ve done that already, and it led you here to reading my blog, welcome! I appreciate any feedback you can offer.)
• Consider starting from scratch with the desktop version of Ubuntu. The server version is more advanced, and the rational thing to do wold be to start at the least difficult point of entry and work my way up from there.

So despite my instinct to just do the latter of those and dive into Ubuntu desktop, I’m going to do some homework first. I need to approach this with some patience and discipline, and eventually I will get it working.