I downloaded the .deb skype file off their website. Since I'm still getting the hang of the apt-get commands, I'm not sure how to install the package off my harddrive. What command do I issue to install the package?

easiest way is to use 'kpackage'
its got a nice gui, then install the package with that..
its pretty intuative, i think you click File > New Package and browse for it where you saved it.

hit install

<edit>
with kpackage, you can also download / update packages similar to apt-get
its very nice
</edit>

Unfortunately I'm not a Debian user and I can't help you with yuor problem, but I recommend next time posting this in the Debian forum, because it's a distro-specific question. You will get a better response there.

Use "dpkg -i skypepackage" that'll install it. Apt is a frontend to dpkg (as you can see from the output of apt especially with errors).

edit: sorry double post

Sorry to be an annoyance, but I issued the command "dpkg -i skype_1.0.0.7-1_i386" when the file was in my home folder. I got the message
"dpkg: error processing skype_1.0.0.7-1_i386 (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
skype_1.0.0.7-1_i386"

What am I doing wrong?

The command should be dpkg -i skype_1.0.07-1_i386.deb

I entered that command and still got :

debian:/home/dave# dpkg -i skype_1.0.07-1_i386.deb
dpkg: error processing skype_1.0.07-1_i386.deb (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
skype_1.0.07-1_i386.deb

do I have the package in the wrong directory?

and your output from ls -l for the directory /home/dave includes this file?

Try dpkg -i sk and then hit the TAB button your keyboard, if the name doesn't auto complete then your deb pack is not in the /home/dave directory.

skype_1.0.0.7-1_i386.deb

is the name of the file that I see from google, not as you typed it. That was just a clerical error on my part. dpkg -i filename (including extension is the format)

You can install a .deb package from any directory. Just make sure you're actually in the correct directory when you issue the command, (or type out the filename as a full path, or whatever).

Also, you need to be logged in with root access to run dpkg -i ...

To get root access, you can type in the command "su" at the terminal. It'll ask you for the password (type in the root account's password).

I download any update debs at work and burn them to a cd and stick them on my home machines. (only 56k at home).

The way I do it is I have a dedicated folder (in my case /var/local/debs.

Anyway, I just drop them in there and run scanpackage on the folder.

you will need to create an empty file in var/local called file then, as root in /var/local issue the command.

dpkg-scanpackages debs file | gzip > debs/Packages.gz

This will create a Packages.gz in the debs folder.

Add this file as a source to /etc/apt/sources.list
This is done by adding the line

deb file:/var/local/ debs/

Once that is done, run

apt-get update

This will update the sources list and when you run synaptic you will see whatever new binaries in your normal list of available packages. Whenever you add new packages to the folder, you will have to run the dpkg-scanpackages and update again so the Comp knows what it has.

I have also mounted this via nfs so it is available to my home network when I update those machines.

I know this is a bit hard and longwinded, but it works for me at the moment and once you set it ip, its easy. I really must get broadband.

Hope this helps. The apt-howto covers this as well.