bash: make: command not found
 

I'm using Damn Small Linux 3.0.3

My Goal: Install Nvidia nForce motherboard driver to get onboard Ethernet working so I can connect to the Internet

I need to use 'make' to compile the driver except I get the following error bash: make: command not found

I googled the error and found I needed to download/install
GNU Make. After using './configure' to compile it, I get the following error configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH

I googled that error and found different solutions
A) download GCC (I looked at the prerequisites for gcc and it said it requires 'make' - so how am I supposed to install gcc then if I don't have make?)
B) DSL already has 'gcc' and 'make' they are in a package included with it.

What should I do? I'm rather new to Linux, so if you could please explain in detail what I need to do, I'd appreciate it!

Test if you have gcc and make installed already (the italic text is just a comment, not a command):

if you got results (using locate for example), like "/bin/gcc" or "/usr/bin/make", then you've got them. If you got no results, then you probably don't have them.

Now if you have those installed, but you get the error saying that they are not in your $PATH, it means that the $PATH does not include the correct directory where the executables are; you can either add the directories where gcc and make were (you got those using either locate or find) to $PATH using set command, OR you can give the make command (for example) with the full path, like

instead of just "make" (change /bin/make to whatever it was when you found it using locate or find).

'make' and 'gcc' were not found. What should I do?

You need to install them from binary packages (not build them from source because, as you point out, they are interdependent). Your distro install CDs should have packages for all the development tools. Maybe not for DSL though since it is minimalistic.

Edit to add: According to distrowatch, DSL does have a packaged gcc. DSL is Debian based so you can probably find the dpkg file and use dpkg -i to install it. I don't use DSL so maybe someone who knows it a bit better can help.

One thing, I assume you have it installed on your hard drive and aren't using it as a LiveCD, correct?

It's also possible that only root has access to make, gcc, and the directories they are contained in; If you did not try running find/locate as root, try it before you do anything you may not have to.