Download the installer and run, plus there are good faqs and help pages. I have wordpress and GetSimple installed on a local LAMP stack without any complications. Incredible. the whole thing seems to go in the Home folder so there are no issues with permissions. I don't want anybody thinking I am spamming, the download is easy enough to find.
I will leave this here for other users. There have been plenty of lessons learned, and not all good ones really for linux mint, like
- It has been an absurdly long and difficult session of trial and error to set up what should be a straightforward and commonplace arrangement - a LAMP development server.
- Also that the internet is awash with helpful tutorials and instructions, almost all of which are out of date, or wrong or irrelevant or incomplete. I haven't found a single one which I would recommend.
- And the last lesson - with linux you are on your own. Paddle your own canoe. Nobody is going to help you.