Steep learning curve

[Scot Rogers]

Hello,

My name is Scot and I have a need to be able to send mass sms texts.
I've been running linux, a bit, here and there for a bit, starting
back in the late 90's but I never made the switch and stayed a
microsofty for many years out of convenience.  Recently, I made the
switch to running linux only on my PC's and laptops.  I'm not really
versed in everything, regarding linux, in fact, I'm a bit of a noob in
many ways.  So bear with me as I try and get this expressed.  I never
really mastered command line.  But I have basic abilities to navigate
in the filesystem.  I don't really understand how to properly command
much in terminal though.  So if it seems as though I "should"
understand, I may not have the right info.

I have a ton of questions.  First, I downloaded and installed the
software from the Ubuntu repository and it appears to be all there.
I've started reading some of the info within the package, but I can't
seem to find any solid guidance.

I can't seem to get Xgnokii to launch from the gui, and when I run it
from terminal, I get an error list revolving around the phone not
being connected - which it is not.  I don't have a phone, yet.  And
I'm not sure how to find a more recent model phone that accepts AT
commands.   If I can get a proper phone I think it'll help a bit, and
these old nokia phones are looking harder and harder to find.

Any more up to date info would help immensely.

Scot