[ardour-users] where do i start

[vector]

Hi all
I have no specific Q in this email just a big Im lost,, i need a hand to 
hold.

I realise long emails are a pain so i'll keep it as short as possible.
I was once a winxp looser ;) but have spent the last 6 months playing 
with linux.
My main reason? cakewalk was consistantly dropping its bundle right when 
you needed it to record.
Im not a: pro,technican, IT or sound eng, just a muso trying to get his 
band up and going.
ardour looked great so I started the slippery snake of linux.
and this is where im at.
im running debian on 3 or so machines. (sarge and ubuntu install) I have 
tried various others lately but im now used to apt-get and su root and 
really find other "flavours" confusing now.
problem is im having trouble getting alsa and jack to take hold
im like totally lost.
some cd player apps work others dont
ive never gotten ardour past the front "you dont have jack" message.
I think its gotten confused with whatever audio drivers were originally 
loaded. I hoped ubuntu would help.I just installed it fresh on yet 
another machine because it uses ALSA but i notice now it doesnt have 
jack and when I apt-cache search ardour its not listed. so im lost yet 
again.

If anyone is willing to hold my hand and take me thru this one step at a 
time id really appreciate it.