[Scribus] Versions of Scribus and Ubuntu - the saga continues

[Elaine de Saxe]

Good morning all ...

> The Synaptic menu option that you need should be between  
> "Preferences" &
> "Filters".
That menu item is 'repositories' and as I've already said, all it  
offers when I select it is 'software preferences' with the three tabs  
being 'installation media' 'internet updates' and 'authentication'.

As it happens, I did manage to add 'deb http://debian.scribus.net/ 
debian dapper main restricted' (without the quote) as a 'channel'  
whatever that may mean. Regardless of what it means, or doesn't mean,  
that line of typing didn't stay there - there is no 'save' function  
in the 'software preferences' window. I thought I had got it figured  
but since it's now back to what it was (no way that I can see to add  
a new repository) I haven't accomplished much except to waste  
precious time.

> If it's not there, then please check if you still have 'software- 
> properties-gtk' installed
Where is it? I tried 'software properties' in admin and got the same ! 
@#$ window I got when I tried to add a repository - namely 'software  
preferences'.

So I tried the find file search, selecting the file system as the  
place to search. There is (according to the search thing) no such file.

What files are there or not there, is a product of the software which  
does the upgrading, I've not removed anything.

> BTW: what Ubuntu version are you using?  (The repository  
> configuration dialog has changed between versions.)
The place I would go to find out this kind of information yielded  
nothing worthwhile. I looked in 'places' and chose 'computer'. There  
is nothing there about what version of the OS - I started with a disk  
with 5.10 on it and there has been many hours of downloading and  
installing upgrades. So what it is now, I can only guess. If there's  
some way to find out definitely, please tell me. Not being able to  
find out info of this basic kind at the touch of a menu is one of the  
reasons why I'm hovering on the brink of trashing the lot and trying  
something else.

I tried 'about Ubuntu' and got other stuff about some upgrade thingy  
I went and installed - 6.06LTS - I believe I'm using 6.10 but I have  
no evidence to support that.

> No, I mean the official repository (just pointing out that Elaine  
> got this "only 1.2.x" wrong).
You may think so. Since I used Synaptic to get Scribus for me, all it  
could find was version '1.2.4.1dfsg-1ubunt' as I read it in Synaptic  
right now. And according to Synaptic, that is the latest version. So  
far as I am concerned, Synaptic got it wrong, since whoever designed  
it did not allow for adding repositories.

Probably it would be a more certain outcome had I chosen to  
understand the terminal rather than fiddling about with GUIs. I  
originally chose Macs because of the simplicity of operation. Start  
out young and master the terminal. Start out on computers at  
retirement age and (speaking personally) relish the simplicity of the  
GUI since I'm not interested in programming; I'm interested in living  
and enjoying my remaining years. And not tearing my hair out over an  
OS which has several design flaws and is not enjoyable to use.

So: is there a linux distro or distros which work particularly well  
with Scribus and get the updates without having to be told via lines  
of text in a terminal? I have available: Mint, Mepis, Damn Small,  
Zen, Kubuntu, Fedora.

As always, thank you to the listas for their help :-)

Elaine