eternet
 

i am trying to install the driver for an eternet port i just added. On the box it says its compatible with linux, but i dont know how to get the comp to recongize it. the cd im using contains .exe files, but my distro(D.S.L.) doesnt recognize .exe files. THe card i instered is SMC Fast Ethernet PCI Card. how can i get it to work

Which distro are you using? The CD will most probably have windows drivers, linux usually detects the card by itself and you don't have to do anything.

In a terminal, type lspci and paste the output here.

im using D.S.L. Damn Small Linux

... and DSL is, as it says "Damn Small". It doesn't have all drivers a full-blown Linux desktop-system has.
But first of all, have you tried assigning an IP:
# ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.2 (as root)
If it doesn't work, try booting with Knoppix, Ubuntu, Mepis... - most likely the card is configured. Then run 'lspci' and 'lsmod' to see what the card is called and what driver you need.
Finally google for your driver.