Mmm, yeah , i had been running other projects which required sql. temporarily shutting them or using an older sql version worked out for me
later following the following post helped me get my project working
so, if anyone else seems to get the site not found error in linux, try the method from the following post Can’t view local sites in browser: “localhost refused to connect” in Linux Manjaro
@Nick-B , thank you so much for your time 