I'm new with Linux and I'm having a hard time understanding how to install programs. It seems as though there are various procedures depending on what kind of package the program comes in. Once I finally figure out how to install a program I often can't even find the executable to run the damn thing. I'm hoping someone can recommend a good tutorial site that explains this stuff in a manner that doesn't assume background knowledge.

Thank You

Since you haven't listed you distribution in your LQ UserCP,
and didn't mention it in your thread, lets start here ->
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ticle&artid=15

To find an executable you can issue which, for the path
to shell commands, from a terminal like this ->

mingdao@james:~$ which pico
/usr/bin/pico

My Distribution is Mandrake 10.1

Thanks

I'm not familiar with Mandrake, but it uses the rpm system.
I think that it's explained the the tutorial by trickykid that I
referenced. If you've using KDE, which I think is the default
desktop environment with Mandrake, you can add programs
with KDE -> Settings -> Menu Updating Tool

If you will put your distribution in your LQ UserCP it will be
easier for people to give you better help. And we have a
Mandrake forum where you'll most likely get better answers
to your Mandrake specific questions than in one such as
Linux - Newbie. In fact, if you click on that link and look in
that forum, there's a thread about installing .rpm and .tgz files
about second up right now. I say this because different Linux
distributions work differently. Search for posts by otish1000c
as he seems to know alot about Mandrake. Hope this helps you...