can't run bitcoin on linux mint?

[jorxster]

Hey guys!
So I've been trying everything to get bitcoin running on my fresh linux mint install, but no go. Synaptic and other software package managers only have bitcoind and not bitcoin-qt (which I've seen on windows).
So I managed to download a bitcoin tar.gz file which has the binaries and source.
But if I run the binary, I get an error:

Code:

A fatal error occured. Bitcoin can no longer continue safely and will quit.

EXCEPTION: 22DbRunRecoveryException       
DbEnv::open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery       
bitcoin in Runaway exception  

Any ideas? I haven't compiled stuff on linux before, but that's my next step if I can figure out how to compile stuff.