Hi! How do I install the 'man' file in an xfce environment?

I assume you are referring the the Linux "manual" pages, commonly referred to as "man pages." Man pages are in a text format and work from the terminal; they have nothing to do with your desktop environment.

Every Linux distro I have ever used has come with man pages already installed. To test yours, open a terminal and try to open a man page. For example, to view the man page for man pages, type

If the man page opens, man pages are installed. Then give the man man a read to learn more about man pages.

If it does not, let us know, being certain to include the Linux distro/version you are using.

Thanks, but....here is what i get from a man query bash: man: command not found
Here is what I get from $whereis man, man: /usr/local/man /usr/share/man

So I can't tell if it's loaded or not, but I can't seem to access it. And sorry, but I have no idea what what my distro/version is. I thought it was xfce, but you say that doesn't have anything to do with it. I just installed xfce on my chromebook and that is where i access the command line.
Thanks for your help!

oh and one more detail might be helpful, I installed chronos, with xfce.
Thanks again!

What is the output of

The wildcards make these pretty much generic queries. One or both is very likely (but not 100% guaranteed work on your system). Post the output here, being sure to enclose it in "code" tags, which become available when to click the "Go Advanced" button at the bottom of the compose post windows.

When you refer to chronos, do you mean this?

Your user agent icon says that you are using ChromeOS. If that is accurate, it may be that Google wants you to use Google and not use the man pages, as this seems to imply that ChromeOS does not include man pages.

I have no experience with ChromeOS, but I'm going to run off and see whether I can install it in VirtualBox.

Later:

Got it. Google does not provide installable images, but you can find rebuilds designed to used in VirtualBox and VMWare.

ChromeOS is nothing at all like a regular Linux. If that's what you are using, you may want to read the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS

Here is the output
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="12.04.5 LTS, Precise Pangolin"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu precise (12.04.5 LTS)"
VERSION_ID="12.04"

"DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIBl_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="12.04.5 LTS, Precise Pangolin"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu precise (12.04.5 LTS)"
VERSION_ID="12.04"

Thanks for your coaching!

I'm working off a chromebook which I unlocked and downloaded a version of Ubuntu called xfce (I think), so I now have a dual OS (or at least a dual environment since I think both Chrome and Ubuntu are Linux OS).
If that helps any!

One more rambling thought, to your point about chromeOS, I can't access the "man" command either from the Ubuntu (xfce) environment or from the Chrome terminal (Crosh)....

Did you do a full install of Ubuntu, or it this some prepackaged thingee for use on Chromebooks. If the latter, please provide a link. I ask because I know that Ubuntu 12.04 included the man pages.

Look in the Ubuntu software center or Synaptic and search for "manpages." Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is supported until April 2017 to packages should still be available.

You're most welcome. Thanks for running those commands. When I used to do tech support, I realized that it was like trying to look through somebody else's eyes. It's a lot easier if they look where you're pointing.

It was a pre-packaged thingee I got from here http://www.howtogeek.com/162120/how-...-with-crouton/
and here was the download link.
http://goo.gl/fd3zc

My understanding is that on a Chromebook, there are fewer options for installing Ubuntu than on a proper machine. I like the platform/environment/OS that I wound up with generally, except for not having man pages....I'm learning command line now and i feel like it would be helpful to have....

Thank you for the links. I think my options on Chromebook are a bit limited for Ubuntu downloads?

Check your PATH statement.

$PATH

Thanks fatmac, but output is also (same as for $man command), "bash: PATH: command not found"

This is how to use the command
These are the directories in my PATH statement.

Edit: Another thing to try in a terminal is
which should give you a list of all the man pages.

Well I am starting, with your help, to compile a list of all the things that don't seem available in my terminal. So far I have
$man
$PATH
$apt

all of these yield output: "command not found"

I think it has to do with the limitations of a Chromebook, which is what I'm using. I unlocked it and downloaded a version of Ubuntu designed for Chromebooks (called Crouton, described here https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton). Crouton is supposedly a full fledged Linux environment but I think maybe it's not.....

Anyway thanks for your help with this!

I have no way of testing it tonight, but I suspect you are correct.