help!

[nbrown <nbrown@radiks.net>]

i am trying to use apt and typing ... in pon......'apt-get' without the
' of course
i get msgs about not being able to contact host. It seems to be looking
on the web for debian and just is not able to connect can you tell me
what is wrong?
What i'm trying to do is get linux independent of windows .. (if i
download now i have to do it to a dos drive because i dn't have anything
that will work in the web in linux..  )
when i do that i have to mount a dos drive and gzip and tar it and the
function of those in that manner seems to be unpredictable.. i never get
anythign out of them .. just changes in the file names i dont' know what
to do to get it to a workable usable program..
At the moment i'm trying to use apt to get bitchx.. as i said i get
cannot find host error msgs



I have a bone to pick with you .   There are a bunch of irc linux
channels.. on of them Debian.net #debian.  most of these channels are
not very active and no one is actually there even though thier nicks are
there .  If you get help sometimes it is great really patient people and
quite helpful but most of the time you get ignored, or in the worst you
receive impolite comments and even insults .  What is going on ?? you
guys have something very good here and you wish to get it into the
public in a much greater way than it is now.  However your public
relations are terrible and so is support for dummies like me..
I know ,   you are not responsible for the irc sites but i bet that most
of you are there somewhere .  So i make that connection and so will
others.. that is for your info..

Can you steer me toward a one on one live conversation with someone in
irc or elsewhere where i can get help?? i cannot learn well in the book
environment but i learn quickly if i can learn by doing .... i need
somekind of help but am not getting it ... I"M in Omaha, Ne

thanks
tom