I have spent hours trying to load Inkscape but at the moment have had no success and I just wonder if it is possible.

I have downloaded an old version, Inkscape 0.42 0.1 i386.deb and also 0.92 but get nowhere.  I follow all the instructions as to how to install. but I just must be doing something wrong.  Any advise appreciated.

I use Inkscape on my MacBook Air and have no problems although still bumbling about

You should use synaptic (as root) to install inkscape

Thanks for this information.  I have tried numerous times and was able to load Synaptic but could not find the Inkscape package.  I have it downloaded and it appears in the Downloads folder.  Is there something else I should be doing and not quite sure what you mean by "(as root)".  Very much appreciate assistance.

Hopefully others will learn from my bumbling.

You need to open an terminal and log in as root user.

$ su

or

$ sudo su

Then your password.

Then start synaptic. It can also be called synaptic-pkexec

# synaptic-pkexec

In synaptic search for inkscape and apply

Which debian version are you using?

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list

debian buster will offer you v0.9.x

debian bullseye will offer v1.x

Older debian versions like jessie still offer older inkscape versions.

dpkg -i <downloaded-inkscape-package.deb> should do the job, too.

But in this case it might be for another (older or newer) debian version. So there might be dependency issues.

Thanks for help.  I have been able to start synaptic both from terminal and from System  but Inkscape does not show up

Im am using Wheezy

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.  "command not found"

dpkg -I Inkscape 0.42-0.1 i386.deb produced "requires superuser privilege"

dpkg nearly got there with sudo first "cannot access archive: No such file or directory"

I think I am nearly there and hopefully can get a nudge in the right direction

You need to be root (su) when using dpkg.

Please take care of proper syntax. -i (small letter) and the package name (Inkscape 0.42-0.1 i386.deb) has no space inbetween. Use keyboard key <TAB> for autocomplete or just rename the file in the case of.

Please be aware of that wheezy is completely outdated.

In view of your comment I am going back to the beginning.  My intention is to have Inkscape and Linux CNC on the same machine, my old Dell I386.  I have managed the CNC but stumbled at Inkscape.

The Dell has absolutely nothing on it so no difficulty in getting a clean sheet,  Can you please suggest where I should go Debian, Ubuntu, ????? or wherever 

Go with debian stable. It offers inkscape v0.9.x which works great for me for cut plotting.

https://www.debian.org/distrib/

For older machines choose a desktop environment like XFCE or LXDE during installation.

Thanks very much for that advice, I'm on the case now and doubt doubt I will be back.  Thanks again

Afraid I am about to give up as having spent many hours and am going nowhere.  I have downloaded numerous copies of Debian but I just fail when it comes to burning a disc.  I get "Inserted disc is full" and this is a fresh clean disc.  Attempt to blank disc and get "Error in determining disc". I am using Xfburn.

Is it time to give up on this Dell and get something more up to date or amI doing something wrong?

You could try USB Boot if your laptop is capable of that

Can I do that on my Mac?

what do you mean?

I have a MacBook Air and will I be able to create a bootable USB for use on the Dell

Yes of course. It doesn't matter on which machine or OS you create the bootable media

Will give that a go as it should be a lot quicker.  Please bear with me as I am well past my 3 score and ten so still learning,

what model exactly is your Dell notebook?

My Notebook is an ancient Vostro 1000 which I do not intend to use for Inkscape or Linux CNC.  I am attempting to load on an old Dell Dimension 3100 which I upgraded RAM and changed HD so all clean

It has taken me many hours to get here and how, I am clueless, anyway I appear to have updated my Xfce to ver 4.12?????  Unfortunately I have gone backwards probably due to my lack of knowledge as I was able to activate LinuxCNC but I am unable to load????  I have attempted to load Inkscape and Linux CNC both of whichI have impressive IOS files.  To install the process appears tor require me to create a  CD with the data.  Whenever I try this via the various burning ptograms  I get the problems, I have alluded to previously.  I will perserve but just fail to understafd when using terminal and following line b lineI just fail to get there.  Hopefully positive next time 

It took hours ro try and make a bootable USB and in the end it happened but how ???????????????/

Anyway thanks for help

Maybe your CD drive is somehow damaged? It shouldn't be any problem to burn a CD. Doesn't matter which GUI (or even none) you're using.

The "newest" LinuxCNC has dependencies for wheezy which is "oldstable", the predecessor of buster/stable.

Your linux OS tries to solve all dependencies to be able to run your software. These kind of downgrades often will make things difficult when the external software (.deb) has dependencies for older versions.

It could also be possible to make your Dell multiboot and have two OS parallel you can choose from when booting.

Even easier it would be to use LinuxCNC as Live-CD as they mention it on their website. So you keep your debian stable linux for Inkscape and run LinuxCNC from the Live-CD. You can create drives you can access to from both installations.

But this is really not Inkscape related anymore.

Thanks very much for your assistance. At moment not at home. I had previously had different partitions but had hoped to get both applications on the one as it would been easier to alter file in Inkscape and then load to CNC. I am not sure if my system is reading the cd drive and not sure of command to determine if it has been mounted and if not how to mount. Will try when home. Thanks again 

Well things have moved on and if thats due to Wetherspoons help I have no idea (forget that this forum is international and that Wetherspoons is a pub chain). I now have Inkscape installed and it has appeared in the applications menu within "Graphics" so delighted.  Have tried to get LinuxCNC on but I get "Dependency is not satisfiable  libboost python1.62.0" whatever that is??  Now on to the LinuxCNC forum.  Again thanks for help.

Inkscape is well maintained on debian linux.

LinuxCNC isn't in the repositories at all. I don't know why it hasn't be maintained.

Another update. I decided to attempt to install the current version of Inkscape which I downloaded, however ran into the previous difficulty with Xfburn in that it does not see the CD drive or comes up with full etc.  Opened up Dell and gave the drive connections a good reseat along with some contact cleaner.  "cdrom"  icon now appears on the desktop however I have only once been able to access it.  When I attempt to open  it results in "Failed to mount cdrom0". This suggest to me that the drive is faulty???

As a further step I decided to update Inkscape on my MacBook Air and that was very easily achieved and I now have ver. 1.0 

Not sure of the Dell process but once I have burnt Inkscape to a disc how do I update?

See post #2

See post  #3. Still can't locate Inkscape although it is in Downloads

Synaptic uses Apt.

Apt is reading the repositories.

Link: what is Apt

Thanks, but no further forward.