I am new to Linux and I am trying to set up a server. For this I sometimes to need to install special software, but the installation of this is always such a pain.

For example I wanted to try the htscanner to see if it did the job for me.

1. When i got to the page there is NO INSTALLATION guide. I had to search for the right one on google. Even on google its a pain to find the right method. Just try it -> google search.After a long search and tried different things I finally found out that I had te install some more software before it will work.

2. The website says that the version I used did not had any dependencies. Thats a lie. Release0.8.1: No dependencies registered. You do need certain things for it to work.

3. After managing to set it up it still didn't work I can't figure out why because there is no official guide on the website. So I wanted to just uninstall it and find a better solution.

4. Uninstalling. Uninstalling something in Linux is a real mystery how this actually works. The best answer I got is to manually look for the files and delete them. Whats up with that! There is never something said about uninstalling on the websites. Even on the website of CentOS itself it tels you how to install something like rpmforge packages (it's a miracle they tell you and not have to google it) but there is no mention of what to do when you want to uninstall. Why not?

5. The forums you get on when trying to solve your problem are most of the time in plain text, and you have to scroll trough huge error logs before you see somethings that vaguely resembles your question if you are lucky.

The Question

My question is if there are any recommended websites / forums that explain the basic concepts of installing and uninstalling software on Linux. And explain other useful operations. And not Wikipedia or the first hits of Google, I have been there already.

I am looking for some easy to read trough guides on these operations on Linux. I have been on a lot of websites that explain some Linux operation, but I bet its easier to get a degree in rocket science than to read trough the website and understand what they try to say.