Sorry about that, should have included nano

This is still very strange. Last time I checked, Ubuntu could install and configure Apache2 and mod_php all at the same time and make the whole thing ready to go.

its no problem!! Im just thankful youre helping me out you have no idea!!! I did the 2nd test and still dont see any difference.

Oops.......

I gotta go now, but let's try one last thing before someone else can suggest better.

Reinstall the whole LAMP stack!

apt-get purge apache2
rm -rf /etc/apache2
apt-get install --reinstall apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-mysql mysql-server mysql-client phpmyadmin

*** WARNING: ucf was run from a maintainer script that uses debconf, but
the script did not pass --debconf-ok to ucf. The maintainer
script should be fixed to not stop debconf before calling ucf,
and pass it this parameter. For now, ucf will revert to using
old-style, non-debconf prompting. Ugh!

Please inform the package maintainer about this problem.
Replacing config file /etc/phpmyadmin/config-db.php with new version
dbconfig-common: flushing administrative password

Im really at a lose... I thought i was just getting parts of it and now I have no clue why the php looks like that Im assuming its an issue with Apache ?

Must agree, this is all rather odd.

You could also try to update your entire distro first:

apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

Followed by hybinet's suggestion to reinstall the entire LAMP stack.

Okay, let's step back a little bit. You want to set up an environment that works pretty much like a shared host, and you need it quick, right?

Then let's stop trying to troubleshoot configuration files by hand and let's install a decent control panel.

Shut down your linode, shrink the disk image with which you've been working, and create a new Ubuntu 9.04 image. Yes, we're starting fresh.

http://ispconfig.org/documentation.htm

Choose Ubuntu 9.04.

Skip the first two pages, because Ubuntu is already installed for you. Start with page 3, number 7.

Just copy & paste from the tutorial, step by step, changing a few numbers as necessary (such as IP addresses)

Whenever it says vi something, replace the vi with nano. Vi is a text editor which isn't particularly n00b-friendly.

See if you have better luck with a more detailed tutorial like this.

will I be given a new Ip address?

No -- it'll stay the same.

UGH idk if its just because I have been starting at this all day but im trying to connect to terminal and im getting this error @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is
93:a6:62:45:bf:e1:ec:57:6e:19:ab:b5:ec:20:a4:e2.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /Users/newowner/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending key in /Users/newowner/.ssh/known_hosts:9
RSA host key for 97.107.135.162 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.
[Process exited - exit code 255]

If this is after you've created the new Ubuntu 9.04 image, then that's fine. It just means that the SSH keys have been created anew in your server (which is to be expected), and your Macbook is still expecting to be using the old keypair.

Just open /Users/newowner/.ssh/known_hosts and either delete all of the lines there (if you haven't used SSH for any other server), or just line 9, if you do want to keep the other entries.

If you haven't yet installed your new image, then it's possible something ill is happening; but don't worry, as it's all about to be wiped anyway.

hey mjrich I did install the new image where do I go to whip those lines out the dashboard?

Do you mean the RSA key errors ?

On your macbook (your new ubuntu image is fine). Just open up the file /Users/newowner/.ssh/known_hosts with your editor of choice.

There should be a file on my mac book?

never mind I figured it out... sorry for the silly questions