Mint 14 chokes when installing apps from repository

[km4hr]

I just installed Mint 14 yesterday. I'm currently trying to install the latest version of an app called freeCAD using instructions on the freeCAD website. The Mint repository has and old version of freeCAD. I don't want that. The installation fails with the error messages shown below.

Here are the installation instructions:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freecad-maintainers/freecad-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install freecad freecad-doc

Here's the error:
E: mint-artwork-common: cannot compute MD5 hash for file '/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/mwad0hks.default/places.sqlite': failed to read (Input/output error)
E: mint-artwork-gnome: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

I'm a Windows level user. I just want to use the app on my computer. I don't care to understand the problem or spend countless hours researching it. Can anybody just tell me what to do? (Go back to the MS world?)

thanks!

[kc1di]

Hello km4hr,

Tried the commands you used and it installs and works great here.

the errors you encountering have to do with something other than freecad.

try going to synaptic package manager and click on edit and select fix broken packages and the apply.
see it that fixes it for you and try the install again.

[km4hr]

Thanks kc1di,

Still doesn't work for me. I reinstalled Mint 14 and tried again. Still no joy. I wonder if you actually installed the latest version of freeCAD (0.13) or the old version (0.12) that's available in the repositories.

Anyway, I'm done. FreeCAD installs and runs beautifully on Windows, which is rather ironic since it is actually developed on Linux, I believe.

I try to use Linux about once a year but it never fails to disappoint. I wish somebody would create a standard Linux desktop like Google did with Android for smart phones. Maybe that would result in a version that works consistently everywhere that ordinary people can use.

[km4hr]

Ok, I finally got the latest version of freeCAD to install Mint 14, I think. On startup the correct version number (0.13) is displayed, then it seg faults. Wonderful!

[kc1di]

Hi I think the difference must be that I had installed in on mint 13 not 14 and it runs great on that. and yes I installed that latest version.
I forgot that I skipped mint 14 because of just such troubles with it with other software I needed.
Good luck I sure you could get it working eventually. but can't offer any help with 14 at the moment.

[km4hr]

Thanks for the tip kc1di. I'll try Mint 13 instead of 14.