I have logged on to Debian GNU/Linux and it appears to be in text mode...
 

Can I put into a GUI mode?

Depends if you have X installed.
Most servers have no GUI installed
Try to type
and see what happens.

Kind regards

To install X, you need a connection with the internet.
At the prompt type
Kind regards

Thanks for the info repo! "startx" doesn't work...I assume that''s because I need to install x... On the list of commands...when I type "apt-get update" and hit enter I get:

E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13 Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the list directory

What does this mean and how can I (being point and click oriented) put Linux in a state that I can more easily explore?

Normally you need to be the 'root' user to use apt. This can be done by logging in on the root account and running the command, or by issuing the 'su' command, which will prompt you for your root password. From this point on, any command you type will be performed as the 'root' user.

The normal thing to do is use a command called 'sudo', which gives you root privileges for a window period of time, but you can look into that more once you've got things up and running.

OFFTOPIC: Sudo is not configured by default on Debian, and in my opinion it is in no way the "normal" thing to do.

Please excuse my illiteracy, but could you please explain how to log in on the root account?

Just typeon the command-line. You will be asked for the root-password, after you have typed it in and confirmed with the Enter-key you are logged in as root.
Alternatively you can logout ant type root instead of your username at the login-screen. You also have to give the root-password here.

Can you tell me the easiest way to explore the server contents without altering anything? I am a point and click, gui using, linux newbie, that has inherited a poweredge with Linux in text mode. I do not know how to navigate the system, but am interested to see what my father spent a lot of his time working on (this server)...I have login info but no root password. Thank you in advance.

The easiest way for you is to download a live-CD of Ubuntu, burn it to a CD and boot from that. This way you will get a graphical environment that can be used to explore the system.

Thank you! I got the download started...I appreciate you help!

Is there a reboot command that can be entered into the command line or is pressing the power button to turn it off the way to reboot it?

Normally only the root user can reboot the machine. If it is configured right, it should shutdown when you press the power-button. Just give it a try.

I have Ubuntu running and have explored the contents of the server but now it appears that I need to change the permissions so that I can view the contents of the folders that are locked. Pretty much clueless on this. Please help.