can't open add/remove or package manager

Asked by Draconian

'E:Type '“deb' is not known on line 56 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list, E:The list of sources could not be read.'

new to terminal was following a web help page to download a driver for a web cam (creative VF0070)
then this poped up.

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Draconian
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This question was originally filed as bug #245778.

Revision history for this message
Dimitrios Symeonidis (azimout) said :
#1

Please attach the file /etc/apt/sources.list

Revision history for this message
Dimitrios Symeonidis (azimout) said :
#2

Please attach the file /etc/apt/sources.list

Revision history for this message
Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said :
#3

Hello

You have added some incorrect lines to your file /etc/apt/sources.list, which probably should have been executed in a terminal instead.
To resolve this you need to edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and remove the referred line(s) that should not be there.
As a guide, sources.list should only contain lines that start "deb", "deb-src", "cdrom" or a "#" symbol, anything else is wrong and should not be there. Please refer to the error message, which should contain a line number.
To edit the sources.list file, press ALT+F2 at the Ubuntu desktop and then type the following command in the box, depending on your Ubuntu flavour:
For Ubuntu:
gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
For Kubuntu:
kdesudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
Exactly as you see it there, then press enter/return. Enter your password when prompted and edit the file in the editor as advised above. You should then save and quit the editor.
The program which reads /etc/apt/sources.list should work again.

For ubuntu 7.10 please paste the below:

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse

For ubuntu hardy (8.04 paste the below)

## a “general” sources.list for Hardy Heron; all sources are uncommented.

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in

## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the ‘backports’
## repository.

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical’s
## ‘partner’ repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted

Save the source list

Run the update manager

gksu "update-manager -c"

Regards

Bhavani Shankar.

Revision history for this message
Draconian (dracowalker69) said :
#4

      thank you all but i cant find anything
tryed alt.F2 entered in gksudo getit /ect/apt/soures.list it come up but was blank nothing thare to edit
someone eles told me to reinstall Ubuntu tryin not to

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said :
#5

Please be sure to type:

gedit /ect/apt/sources.list

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said :
#6

sorry

gksudo gedit /ect/apt/sources.list

Revision history for this message
Draconian (dracowalker69) said :
#7

    Its all good now had a friend come over. fixed it in 2 min.

       THANK YOU ALL you had me on the right track
                   EVERYTHING WORKS NICELY