I downloaded a driver from my dsl provider for my Linux machine and it says it's a .zip file. When I tried to access it, I got an error message: "sorry, the utility zip is not in your PATH. Please install it."

I searched the man pages and it said that gzip handles zip files.

So does that mean I have zip but it's not installed, or that I don't have it?

Also, the download only took 34 sec over a dial-up so I don't know if I got the whole thing or not. Isn't zip for windows only?

man gunzip
man gzip

What's the driver for?

My dsl provider sent me a cd with the software program for my Mac to run the dsl connection. They directed me to their download site for the Linux version of the software.

As I said in the beginning of the thread, I found the man's for gzip, but as a total n00b, I didn't see where it told me how to use it to install the software
I downloaded. I still need help understanding the error message as well.

Sorry, I read your original post too quickly concerning the man pages. Have you tried moving the zip file to an empty directory and doing "gunzip filename to extract the files it contains? One or more of those files will (should?) contain instructions on installing the sofware/driver.

How are you trying to open the file when you get the error concerning zip?

Originally, I was in the Mozilla browser download window and I clicked on a button, which I think said "access", when I got the first error message.
Now, just by dumb luck, I found the file: pppoe-1.310.000.zip this way:

K>quick browser>home directory

When I click on this file, I get the same error message and behind it is an archiver window, which says "no files in current archive".

When I downloaded the file, the full name was: /home/kevin/pppoe-1.310.000.zip.

I don't know how to move it to an empty directory. For all I know /home/kevin IS empty.

*> Temp bump

Response in the morning.

I opened the konquerer file manager and the file is there in /home.
I right clicked on the file and selected "open with". Then I typed in
gzip and now the file is named pppoe-1.310.000.zip.gz.

Now when I click on the file, the archiver window opens and lists the file along with permissions, owner, size, etc. It's the only file in there.

Am I making progess? There is an icon in the archiver window that says open. If I don't get any other suggestions, I'll try that.

Oops! I think you just gzipped the zip file (instead of gunzipping it). You might have to unzip it twice now...


You're on the right track, though. If you're using the archiver app to extract the files, highlight the filename and choose "extract" instead of "open". If that leaves you with a file which has the original filename (pppoe-1.310.000.zip), repeat the process on pppoe-1.310.000.zip.

OK. I gunzipped the .gz file and now I have two. One .zip and one
.zip.gz. If I click on the .zip file I get the same error message I had to begin with.

If I right click the .zip file and select open with gunzip, nothing happens.

I read the man pages about gunzip, and it said ".zip files must be uncompressed with unzip." So I unzipped and now I have a file with neither a .zip or .zip.gz with a read me file, etc.

Maybe before 2003, I'll get it installed.

Yes, so....
If you ended up with one file accompanied by a readme file, it sounds like you might have done it. What's the name of the resulting file?

Now the file is: pppoe-1.310.000. It contains a release folder with:
options.pppoe
pppoed-2.0 (exec)
pppoed-2.2 (exec)
3 shell script icons (start, status, stop)

src folder: makefile
pppoe.c (c sources)
pppoe.h (c headers)

Plain text docs: changes, license, read me

Any chance I can install this from Konquerer, or will I have to use the command line?

It sounds like yuo've got it all now; what does the "readme" file have to say about installation?

The read me file does have installation instructions,although as a n00b, it's going to take me a while to wade thru all the technical jargon.

What does uncomment mean? Leave it alone, delete, or change?

The short story:
In general, commenting/uncommenting is usually in reference to a certain line in a certain file. In Linux, any line beginning with a hash (#) is considered a comment, and is ingored when the file is executed; removing the # "uncomments" the line. Sometimes the line is indeed a comment, in which case the hash should never be removed from the beginning of the line. In other cases, the commented line contains code that in generic circumstances shouldn't be executed, but might be needed in special cases. If that's the case, you'll get instructions similar to:
"If you are using xxx video card with a Pentium III, uncomment the lines which reads:
# Pentium III using xxx video card".

In the list of files you gave, there are source code files (pppoe.c, pppoe.h), and also two different versions of pppoed, which I assume is the PPPoE daemon (I use cable, not DSL, so I'm not positive about that). If one of the pppoed programs is not the compiled driver you need, then it looks like you do indeed need to compile from source. This is nothing that a n00b should be afraid to say they're scared of, but it actually isn't that hard.

If you have questions concerning the specific steps, post the instructions you need help with, and we'll walk you through it.