I can't even begin to explain what i've been through trying to do this. I've been trying for a week now..not just a few minutes a day..
I've managed to destroy the Synaptic Program Manager. Nothing at all comes up.
I've been through several tutorials...I've become the master at "command not found" even when I copy it and paste it to the terminal.
I've been working daily on Ubuntu for about a month, but and I've regressed instead of progressed.
I've installed software which I can't find. It's been one failure after another. I live in a small town where NOBODY knows how to use Ubuntu..
I hate to give up, but I don't know if I have a choice

Please fill out your profile, particularly, which version of Ubuntu are you using? Also, try to be as specific as possible when describing your problems. Giving as much information as you can could prove helpful when trying to help you with your problems, even if you don't think it's important.

Define "managed to destroy Synaptic". What were you doing at the time? Are there no packages listed at all in Synaptic?

Which terminal commands are you trying to run? What are you trying to accomplish in the terminal?

What software have you installed that you cannot find? How did you install it? Which desktop environment are you using? KDE, GNOME, Unity or other?

If you are very new to Linux, Ubuntu is a good choice and learning your new operating system can be frustrating, but it can also be rewarding and fun. This is a great community, I have been a member for years and you can get a lot of help here. Be patient, tell us about your system, and give as many details as possible.

And, welcome to LQ and the Linux community! =)

sudo apt-get install libreoffice

Installing software in Ubuntu - http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware

Alternatively, download the *.deb.tar.gz from the Open Document Foundation, decompress it, and follow the instructions in the README file.

I reinstalled LO today because the Ubuntu version upgrade trashed the spell-checker dictionary following the procedure listed above. Spell-checker fixed.

It took longer to remove the existing version using Synaptic than it took to download and install the new version.

I kept my existing dot-libreoffice directory and all my settings and templates were preserved.

if you've "wasted" several days on ubuntu, and got it in a state where libreoffice is not available and synaptics is broken.

I would suggest restarting from scratch:
download ubuntu or fedora from their respective web sites.

libreoffice will either work out of the box, or a one line command (yum or apt-get) will install it.

keep trying!

sudo apt-get liberoffice

Unable to locate package liberoffice

Now what?

First I'd like to thank the responders. One responder suggested reinstalling ubuntu. I'm reluctant to do that because of the trouble I had importing my contacts (one at a time) from Gmail.
He told me to back the contact list up..Fine..I can do that, but then what? I don't know how to export the backup to the address book...


Right now, I'm experiencing a problem because i don't know how to add a contact. No amount of right clicking (on anything) will offer me that option, and there's no button in the address book itself..

I'm stil dazed and confused, but, as Lowell George once said, I'm still on my feet and I'm still willin"

I have the LO files,extracted on my desktop..Now what?
Please send me some instructions.
Thanks

I get this instruction from the readme file


When you unpack the downloaded archive, you will see that the contents have been decompressed into a sub-directory. Open a file manager window, and change directory to the one starting with "LibO_", followed by the version number and some platform information.

This directory contains a subdirectory called "DEBS". Change directory to the "DEBS" directory.

1. there is a readme file, and another file called RPMS..
I don't know what to do about that.
2. Open a file manager window..
I don't know what that means
3. CD to what? I don't know what it's talking about
4. The RPMS file does not contain a a subdirectory called DEBS

Well...this is the NEWBIE section...

Umm... my 2 �0„4.
Command not found is an error that you get when a command is not available to you. In this case I would suggest typing the first few alphabets and then press the tab button - the commands begining with the letters you type would be shown. Tip:- Most of the linux commands are lowercase. Apart from a few odd commands that begin with upper case or a number - well thoes are some commands I have rarely used in my years of using linux.
Installing libreoffice should not be much of a pain in any case. As mentioned in the above posts you can download the deb.tar.bz and uncompress it. You should get the .deb file as output then you right click on it and it should install smoothly. Also remember to install packages you need to have root previlidges 'su' or 'sudo -i' should work.
Hope this helps.

Command not found is an error that you get when a command is not available to you. In this case I would suggest typing the first few alphabets and then press the tab button

sorry, I don't know what that means.

Download deb.tar.bz
How? Apt-get doesn't work

sudo apt get...beans?
What's that?

If you have a directory called RPMS, you downloaded the Red Hat/Fedora install version, which is the default choice at the LO website.

You need to go back to the download page and select the Debian version in the download dialog about halfway down the page.

First, though, I would recommend you do a little reading so you will understand a little more about Linux, because Linux is not Windows. It's not harder, but it is different.

I recommend the about dot com site; it has a section called "Linux 101" for persons completely new to Linux.

http://linux.about.com/

There's a typo in the package name, please try the search function first