Status report on the computer:
I now have Xfce4 installed and working. The system is running much more smoothly, and is much easier to use now that I have a complete desktop environment in place, instead of the addhock measures I was using while I built it to that point.
Next, I think I will install kate or gedit before moving on to install anything else. Vim is great. It is an awesome console based editor, but I like to be able to point and click. I have gotten used to GUI based text editors, and they make things much easier for me. I think I actually like kate a bit better than gedit, because of it’s extendibility.
After I install kate, I will check over all the dependencies and install Gimp, Ogre, and Blender. That order may be best for completeness.
After that, I will install OpenOffice.org 2.x, and that will bring me up to speed with the minimum requirements I posted in my prior post.
From there I will research into other graphics programs, and perhaps music creation programs. I will see what I find. 🙂