trying to install program in pclinux2007
 

Very new user.

Trying to install ***.tar.gz

I think I'm supposed to use synaptic. I mark it for install, it says it needs to download a few things first, then it return a 404 error. (?)

So I need something that doesn't exist that didn't come with the package I just downloaded. I'm so lost.

In addition, can anyone recommend a good (slightly in depth) manual?

If you are using Synaptic, the various packages will not be in tar.gz format---where are you seeing this? In the Synaptic window, you should see the package name, Installed version, latest version, size, and description.

When first using Synaptic, hit the "reload" button to make sure the database is up to date. If it will not update, or if you cannot download anything, then check to see what repositories are enabled. At the moment, I use only one: http://pclosusers.com/pclosusers/pclosfiles/

If you can't find a package, try the search function.

You need to be more specific. Which exact .tar.gz (called a "tarball") are you trying to use.

In PCLinuxOS, you are supposed to use synaptic to install software from the PCLinuxOS repositories. The 404 error means "page not found". The most likely reason for this is that you are offline at the time.

In Linux, all software is modular. This means that any given app needs a number of other programs to work. This has the advantage that app downloads are smaller and you don't have multiple copies of the same code hogging system resources. The disadvantage is that you have to get lots of programs just to get one thing working - at least at the start... later on, you'll find you'll already have the dependencies installed. There is more admin overhead in managing all these packages, which is where synaptic and apt came in.

The developers have a FAQ page that goes into this.

new program
 

It's a new program I downloaded (actually, it's secondlife), so I'm "seeing this" on my desktop. Also, I was on the internet, that's how I posted... synaptic is directing me to download 3 items from a page that doesn't exist.

this is what it's trying
 

Error message returned by synaptic:


The following problems were found on your system:

W: Failed to fetch http://spout.ussg.indiana.edu/linux/...s2007.i586.rpm
404 Not Found


W: Failed to fetch http://spout.ussg.indiana.edu/linux/...007.noarch.rpm
404 Not Found


W: Failed to fetch http://spout.ussg.indiana.edu/linux/...s2007.i586.rpm
404 Not Found

I think (best I can tell) that the files available are not the same version synaptic wishes to download... the available files appear to be newer...

Remove the repository from your sources.list

However, what you describe doesn't sound like how synaptic works.
Synaptic is used to download and install files from it's database. It is not used to install files you have already downloaded - dpkg is the tool for deb files - though I understand that it may be configured to do this.

Synaptic and apt follow instructions in the deb file as to how to resolve dependencies. This is interesting because the files sought in your case are all rpm files - a format synaptic does not handle well. It is unlikely that a deb file will have rpm dependencies.

So the question must be: how are you going about installing second life for linux? What is the file you downloaded, and where did you get it from? What are you actually doing to install from this file? (Command used, sequence of menu-clicks, whatever; be pedantic.)

The official SL Linux client is here. And it arrives as a tarball. All you do is unpack it, cd into the top directory, and run ./secondlife.