user92591: So I downloaded and unzipped bitcoin core. I now have bitcoin-0.17.1 sitting in my home directory . What next? How do I install and run this? (Obviously I am a newb, help much appreciated.)

user92619: After extraction files from the tar ball you have to install the contents of its bin subdirectory into the /usr/local/bin directory using the the install command. The install command is part of the GNU coreutils available on nearly every Linux distribution, and the /usr/local/bin directory is a standard location for self-installed executables (you may edit the commands below to use a different location).
If you use sudo to run commands as root, use the following command line:
sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-0.14.2/bin/*

If you use su to run commands as root, use the following command line:
su -c 'install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-0.14.2/bin/*'

See reference here
You can then just run bitcoin-qt to startup the GUI

92591: <p>So I downloaded and unzipped bitcoin core. I now have bitcoin-0.17.1 sitting in my home directory . What next? How do I install and run this? (Obviously I am a newb, help much appreciated.)</p>
 92619: <p>After extraction files from the tar ball you have to install the contents of its <code>bin</code> subdirectory into the <code>/usr/local/bin</code> directory using the the <code>install</code> command. The install command is part of the GNU coreutils available on nearly every Linux distribution, and the <code>/usr/local/bin</code> directory is a standard location for self-installed executables (you may edit the commands below to use a different location).</p>

<p>If you use <code>sudo</code> to run commands as root, use the following command line:</p>

<pre><code>sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-0.14.2/bin/*
</code></pre>

<p>If you use <code>su</code> to run commands as root, use the following command line:</p>

<pre><code>su -c 'install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-0.14.2/bin/*'
</code></pre>

<p>See reference <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#other-linux-distributions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a></p>

<p>You can then just run <code>bitcoin-qt</code> to startup the GUI</p>
