The problem was indeed a server related issue on my end related to Apache 2. I don't know what it was. For a test I ripped out Apache 2 and put in Nginx as per the instructions on github. Again. This time it worked. The Apache 2 issue I have no resolution for, but I will say that the info on github did work.
As a side note for others having similar problems I found these to be important considerations especially with a new Ubuntu (or linux in general) install.
Tons of things you need for the setup of Solder are not installed. Eg curl. If at any step you hit a snag, do a search for the answer. I had to install several packages just to be able to setup as per the GitHub instructions.
