Install gnuchess and xboard on ubuntu 12.04 64 bits

What is the output when you execute

lsb_release -a
uname -a
sudo apt-get install gnuchess xboard

in a terminal?

For gnuchess:

You are running Ubuntu precise. The version of gnuchess delivered from precise is 5.07-7
For Ubuntu quantal there is already the version 6.0.1-2 available.

If you want to have gnuchess 6.0 on your precise system, you can install it from the DNS GNU ppa:

open a terminal and isse these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dns/gnu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnuchess

For xboard it is similar:
the standard precise version is 4.5.3
quantal has 4.6.2-1
and the DNS GNU PPA has also a 4.6.2 version

(sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dns/gnu
sudo apt-get update # if not yet done for gnuchess)
sudo apt-get install xboard

Thanks for your instructions. I did according to them and noticed the change of chessboard field colours to usual green and yellow but the machine thinking display still disappears at machine move.

Thanks NikTh, that solved my question.