I'm not the least bit against using the terminal, but, like anything else, one has to learn to do it. More about this in another matter below. I also have no problem with calling up the Man page to learn about a command or how to use the terminal. So far, I've used only Synaptic Package Manager for installing/uninstalling programs, but I have no problem with using Apt-get; I just haven't learned to use it yet. Finally, I've already found and run System>Admin>Hardware drivers; it found nothing. But I still have found evidence--see the post just before yours, other than my response--that there may be a later or better driver. And I'm definitely having problems that two extraordinarily knowledgeable geeks say almost certainly derive from a video driver problem. To see what I'm asking about, read Joe's post above. He suggested that I use EnvyNG. I've read Wikipedia's description of it, but that's inadequate. I need to know exactly how to use it.
Re. the terminal, I need to run MD5Sum against a couple of isos that I've downloaded but can't make it work. No matter what I type, it responds with "No such command." I know it's extremely easy because I did it a month or two ago; it was dead simple. Either I'm forgetting something ridiculously simple or something's wrong with my U installation (I was using 8.10 Kubuntu, which I've just replaced with 9.10 Ubuntu). I haven't found the instructions in the Man page that work, either. Those isos are on my desktop (for easy access to the burning program).
I'll appreciate some honest help. Thanks.