how to install something on linux running opensuse
 

WTF? There's a ton of resources that state in the title "how to install something on linux" but actually don't explain anything. What's the point of running linux if you can't install anything onto it?

OpenSUSE comes with a Desktop Environment. The Desktop Environment has a menu. One of the menu items may be called "Software Manager" or it may be called "YaST". Have a look.

Actually what I'm trying to instal isn't available on YaST. Supposedly all I have to do is find the install executable and click it but nothing happens when I click it. It doesn't execute nor anything.

Hmmm - try google.com/linux in future.
Pays to use the distro in search - "opensuse installing software" will find all sort of goodies, including the opensuse wiki.

here is the third on the list it generated for me - good general article for someone starting out.

That's different - show us (a link to) the doco that stated that.

yeah it seems to me that there's a different procedure to installing software on opensuse than on other distros. So opensuse is limited to YaST? Can't I just extract the .tar archive and just click on "install.sh"?

BTW, you just type "how to install something on linux" in the address bar of firefox and you get sent to http://www.control-escape.com/linux/lx-swinstall.html . Wasn't particularly helpful though.

After unrolling the tar, usually you'll get a README or somesuch - just a text file.
Try "bash install.sh" (no quotes) from a terminal. Or "./install.sh" (yes, you do need the dot-slash).

There are source-based distro such as Linux From Scratch, Slackware and others which use source code packages which must be compiled to create an executable application. The source code packages will have file extensions such at .tar, .tar.gz, and .tgz.

There are .deb based distros such as Debian, the Ubuntu family, and others which use the Debian packagement system. The file extension is .deb.

There are .rpm (Red Hat Package) based distros such as Red Hat, Fedora, Centos, Mandriva, OpenSuse, and others. The packages have the .rpm extension, but usually not compatible from one distro to another (with the possible exception of those in the Red Hat family: Red Hat, Fedora, and Centos). That means that a Red Hat rpm won't install on Mandriva or OpenSuse and vice versa. When you download an rpm, be certain that you download it from your distro's repository.

If you want to install a package with the .tar or .tar.gz extension, you can install it on any Linux distro. But, remember that it's source code that has to be compiled to make an executable binary file. You will have to chase down and install any dependencies you need in order to compile successfully, if you don't already have them.

Clicking on install.sh won't run it. It's a script which includes a set of instruction to be run, and must be run manually from the command line. Open a terminal and cd (change directory) to the directory which contains the install.sh, then run the script: ./install.sh. The ./ tells the shell "in this directory" run script .install.sh.

If the script attempts to write to directories that the normal doesn't have permission to write to, the install will fail. In that case, su to root (enter the su command, enter the root password), cd to the directory with the install.sh, then give the command: ./install.sh

Since your number of posts is low, and you knowledge of rpm based distros is also low, I've assumed that you are new to Linux. So I've given you information aimed at the new user.

Software not included in the basic selections in Yast,
( The 5,000 original Suse packages ) may be installed by
Yast when adding the "Packman software collection", etc.

http://en.opensuse.org/Additional_package_repositories
→ "Popular external repositories" → Packman: 6,000 packages

..

Thanks a lot you guys, especially bigrigdriver for leading me into the scavenger hunt that would ultimately solve my problem. Finally got my wacom bamboo working, just need to find how to do some tweaking.