TIMAI2, and all,
So I started off rebooting the Ubuntu v22 computer, then doing the cleanup steps, checked the lib32z1 was already installed, and install step for the .deb package (the one you linked me to), ran the aiStarter and saw it listening in the terminal, (and fyi the developer setting was already in place for usb on the tablet), got into code.appinventor.mit.edu to an app, and did the Connect > USB, and there we go, it worked! And this time it did indeed load up the AI Companion on the tablet automatically and brought in the app on it.
dpkg-query -l | grep lib32z1 #already installed
apt-get install lib32z1 #says already latest vs.
ls -ld /usr/google/appinventor #dir not there
ls -l ~/.appinventor/* #removed "emulator" from the AI2Offline I believe.
ps ufax | grep aiStarter #made sure not running in process list
dpkg -i 'appinventor2-setup_2.3_all(1).deb' #install the newly downloaded .deb package
ls -ld /usr/google/appinventor/* #new stuff appeared
/usr/google/appinventor/commands-for-Appinventor/aiStarter & #ran and listened in terminal
[1] 138860
root@mypc:~# Bottle server starting up (using WSGIRefServer())...
Listening on http://127.0.0.1:8004/
ps ufax | grep aiStarter #saw running in process list
root@mypc:~/.appinventor# netstat -a
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
tcp 0 0 localhost:8004 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
Test Page:
Is aiStarter running?
YES, aiStarter v2.3 running!
Is your phone connected via USB?
YES, your phone is connected via USB!
So it appears my previous issues I ran into were (A) the former .deb file (the "App Inventor Setup Software") install did not work right for some reason that first time, and I had to uninstall that .deb at the time, then (B) I also tested AI2Offline which also has an aiStarter, so that confused things, though the USB connection worked, it could never start the Companion. So at this point, things are good.
Thank you all.