I am totally new to Linux so am looking for a readable guide to common operations such as those in the topic.

Umm, what kind of drivers and programmes you want to install? And what distro are you using? Different distributions have different methods to installing new stuff.

Iam using Ubuntu 10.04 although I will probably soon update it. I have discovered that the hardware driver that I wanted for the wifi in my laptop was already in Ubuntu and I am using it now to write this reply. However, an example of what I would like to use in this system is the Linux version of the Xilinx FPGA development system. I think it is meant for Red Hat and so might need to be recompiled for Ubuntu to run, but I am mostly speaking from a vast ignorance at the moment. I did download the free book on Linux basics offered on this site and have begun to read it. There is a lot for me to learn just to become able to use Linux, but so far it seems an easier task than trying to learn MSDOS back in 1981. Yes I really have been around computers that long,even longer since the first program I ever wrote was on a Univac 1230 mainframe using punch cards for input and a teletype model 25 for output back in 1972. But I really am a hardware engineer so my software skills are not as well developed.

Well, these will help you:
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz - good tutorial
www.linuxtopia.org - lots(!) of free-to-read books/manuals

PS: If you're not wedded to Ubuntu, you could get Centos, which is a free rebuild of RHEL; might make your quest easier.

As footnote, in Linux, most drivers are in the kernel. That's one reason there is sometimes a small lag between the release of cutting edge new hardware and it's becoming compatible with Linux.

The exceptions tend to be certain proprietary binary drivers, commonly for certain wireless cards (certain Broadcom and Realtek chipsets, in particular) and some printers.

As regards software, you can find almost everything you want in the repostories ("repos") through the Ubuntu Software Center.