# Ubuntu tcltklib absolute beginner question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ubuntu-tcltklib-absolute-beginner-question/73708>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [October 26, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ubuntu-tcltklib-absolute-beginner-question/73708 "2006-10-26T15:56:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ubuntu-tcltklib-absolute-beginner-question/73708/1 "2006-10-26T15:56:04Z")

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I’m trying to start from absolute basics. I have ruby 1.8 installed  
and working and want to have a look at the Tk interface.

I get the following:-

irb(main):001:0\> require ‘tk’  
RuntimeError: tcltklib: fail to Tk\_Init(). this isn’t a Tk  
applicationunknown color name “Black”  
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/tk.rb:1102:in `initialize’  
from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/tk.rb:1102  
from (irb):1  
irb(main):002:0\>

Any ideas please?

Tony

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ubuntu-tcltklib-absolute-beginner-question/73708/2 "2006-10-26T19:30:29Z")

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removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> ```
> from (irb):1
> 
> ```
> 
> irb(main):002:0\>
> 
> Any ideas please?

Your system doesn’t have the Ruby Tk library installed. Have you  
considered  
upgrading to the current Ruby version? This might solve the problem. Or  
you  
could try to find and install the tk library.

FWIW, the missing library is named “ruby-tcltk -(version)”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 9:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ubuntu-tcltklib-absolute-beginner-question/73708/3 "2006-10-27T09:31:12Z")

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Paul L. wrote:

> > ```
> > from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/tk.rb:1102:in `initialize'
> > 
> > ```
> 
> FWIW, the missing library is named “ruby-tcltk -(version)”.
> 
> –  
> Paul L.  
> [http://www.arachnoid.com](http://www.arachnoid.com)

I think that I do have all the required libraries installed. Someone  
from the tcl/tk team reckons I need a version upgrade, I’ll try this.

Thanks for your help.

Tony