Makes sense to have your own search engine on your own machine under your control.
Does it matter what version of linux you have when typing commands because I’m typing exactly as shown and I get command not found.
That would depend on what packages you will need to install before going forward with it. If you get unknown command it means you might be missing something.
I’m running mint and following the directions I find here
I’m a total nube at this so I’m just entering stuff without any actual understanding just to try and learn. (There is nothing on this machine of any significance to risk)
Is there anything you can see from those instructions he screenshots that would give issues?
I sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade yesterday
I see Debian in his screen shot. Does that matter as I’m on mint?
Ubuntu is based on Debian, and Mint is based on Ubuntu. Should translate 1:0.9 for the most part. There might be slight variance, but not much.