I'm having trouble with installing packages because I have hundreds of dependencies that need installing, and I can't install them due to broken packages that I can't get fixed. I don't really know where to begin, but I guess I need the packages fixed first. How do I do that? I'm using Anubis-Linux 9, which I think is based on a really primative version of MEPIS if that helps.

I think the obvious questions are: Why are you using an outdated distro? and What is the name of the application you're trying to install? If you can copy & paste the actual error messages, that would be great.

I find this distro interesting and nice to use; I just need to update and install a lot of programs to get it running properly. I'm trying to install a lot but the main ones I'd like are LibreOffice and VLC. The error messages when trying to fix packages or trying to install new ones?

If you want help installing vlc and libreoffice, then tell us, what are the error messages when you try to install vlc and libreoffice?

The distro does not sound "interesting and nice to use" if it won't let you easily install these common applications. Have you tried Ubuntu/Mint/Fedora/OpenSUSE/etc?

Well I don't give up that easily! I'm determined to get it working! I do have Ubuntu but it's on 12.04 Alpha which was good until it wanted to update and gave me a load of Beta programs which don't work, and now it just crashes and locks up and is pretty much unuseable ATM. Anyways, installing LibreOffice via Synaptics after says:

libreoffice:
Depends: libreoffice-core but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-writer but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-calc but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-impress but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-draw but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-math but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-base but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-report-builder-bin but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-filter-mobiledev but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libreoffice-java-common but it is not going to be installed

Try these terminal commands for more useful/verbose output, copy & paste the output here:

(or use aptitude if you prefer)

root@Meshington:~# apt-get update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release.gpg [836B]
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/non-free Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release
Get:2 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny Release.gpg [1034B]
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release.gpg
Err http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release

Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted-non-free Translation-en_US
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release.gpg
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test-restricted Translation-en_US
Get:3 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release [92.4kB]
Hit http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports Release.gpg
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports Release
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted-non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test-restricted Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Packages
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release
Get:4 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted Packages
Ign http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Packages
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted-non-free Packages
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test-restricted Packages
Err http://www.backports.org lenny-backports/main Packages
301 Moved Permanently [IP: 86.59.118.148 80]
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages
Hit http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/restricted-non-free Packages
Get:5 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/contrib Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages
Hit http://restricted.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test-restricted Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/non-free Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/contrib Translation-en_US
Get:6 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/non-free Translation-en_US
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/non-free Translation-en_US
Get:7 ftp://ftp.debian.org sid Release.gpg [836B]
Get:8 ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release.gpg [198B]
Get:9 ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/main Translation-en_US
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/main Translation-en_US
Get:10 ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/contrib Translation-en_US
Get:11 ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/non-free Translation-en_US
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/non-free Translation-en_US
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny Release
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org sid Release
Get:12 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny Release [85.6kB]
Get:13 ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release.gpg
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny Release
Get:14 ftp://ftp.debian.org sid Release [189kB]
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/non-free Translation-en_US
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release.gpg
Ign ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test Translation-en_US
Hit http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release
Hit http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr Release
Hit ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release
Err ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release

Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test Packages/DiffIndex
Get:15 ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release [2312B]
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/main Packages
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/non-free Packages
Ign http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org sid Release
Get:16 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/main Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex
Get:17 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/non-free Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Get:18 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://main.mepis-deb.org mepis8cr/test Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Ign ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org sid/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/main Packages
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages
Hit ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny/non-free Packages
Get:19 ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Packages/DiffIndex
Get:20 ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Packages
Ign ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Packages
Hit ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0/main Packages
Fetched 372kB in 9s (38.1kB/s)
W: GPG error: http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 9AA38DCD55BE302B
W: GPG error: ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AED4B06F473041FA
W: GPG error: ftp://ftp.debian.org sid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AED4B06F473041FA
W: GPG error: ftp://ftp.mepis.com mepis-8.0 Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY E6AD81A8B9FBE3CE
W: Failed to fetch http://www.backports.org/debian/dist...-i386/Packages 301 Moved Permanently [IP: 86.59.118.148 80]

E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
root@Meshington:~# apt-get install libreoffice
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
root@Meshington:~#

Wow, this distro is a mix of Lenny (which is not supported anymore since 6th of February) and Sid, no wonder that it breaks.
You also shouldn't wonder that Ubuntu 12.04 breaks, it is an alpha version, those are intended to find bugs, which means it is intended to break.
I would suggest to use a supported stable version of any distro you like. Anubis definitely seems not to be such a distro.

I agree with TobiSGD. Debian Lenny is dead, time to find a new distro.

Since you seem to like this MEPIS-based distro, have you tried the current MEPIS instead? Or just good old Debian?

Awwww D: I like this distro! Maybe I'll just wait 2 months until Ubuntu 12.04 stabalizes out a bit. I'm not sure of the current MEPIS, but I'll check.