first I downloaded ncurses-5.9 created a directory, ran ./configure - that seemed to go OK - ran make and got something like:

gcc -O2 --param max-inline-insns-single=1200 -o xmas ../obj_s/xmas.o -Wl,-rpath,/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/lib -I. -I. -I../test -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DNDEBUG -I. -I../include -O2 --param max-inline-insns-single=1200 -fPIC `echo "-L../lib -lform -lmenu -lpanel -lncurses " | sed -e 's/-lform.*-lpanel[^ ]*//'` -lutil -lm
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/test'
cd misc && make DESTDIR="" all
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/misc'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/misc'
cd c++ && make DESTDIR="" all
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/c++'
cd ../obj_s; -I../c++ -I../include -I. -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DNDEBUG -I. -I../include -fPIC -c ../c++/cursesf.cc
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dan/dev/ncurses-5.9/c++'

so then I tried to install libncurses5-dev: it says I already have the latest version

then I tried to install ncurses-dev and it said I already have the latest version.

OK so if its installed shouldn't I be able to go:
echo "^[[0;37;40mIn Color"

and it changes the color?

You don't need ncurses to display color in Bash.
See this page: https://linuxtidbits.wordpress.com/2...ipts-advanced/
Try:If you want to install ncurses, install it using your distribution package manager. There is no need to compile it yourself.

jlinkels

Make sure your terminal supports colors.

Different terminals may have different control sequences for outputting colours.

E.g. terminals: linux, xterm

the above code works but the package mgr doesn't have curses. Besides, I want to compile some of the sample programs. I tried worm and it couldn't find ncurses_cfg.h

I tried to run some of the precompiled samples in ./test but everytime it says "Error opening terminal: xterm

I'm very confused. It works on my Ubuntu box at home. I'm away from home on my laptop.

I just downloaded ncurses_programs.tar.gz and all the samples seem to compile and run fine so I can take it from here.

As it seems, Ubuntu does not include the ncurses package [anymore]. So you are right that it is not in the package manager. (An incomprehensible decision by the Ubuntu maintainers BTW)

But the source package is still there, and it is always better to compile from the Ubuntu source, using the Ubuntu tools than use an independent package. If you use the Ubuntu tools, your own package becomes part of the package management system. If you do it outside the package manager sooner or later you might break your system.

In order to compile correctly, you should have installed libncurses5-dev. It has been reported it is not installed automatically when you install the source files.

jlinkels