I got this trying to install from the software catalog with the sort of briefcase icon. It told me the install failed and i should issue this, which does not mean a thing to the terminal. this is on an EeePC which often has strange things happen.
You got what? (what is “this”?)
What were you trying to install?
What does a “briefcase icon” mean on your system?
What kind of Linux are you running?
Issue what?
It doesn’t mean anything to me either 
An ancient machine that was never designed to run Linux.
I’m sure it does. So why are you telling us this? How can we help?