Hi, I'm new to linux.... I have just installed Mandriva Linux. I thought SSH comes with it, but when I opened the terminal and typed SSH (host), it says command not found. So, I downloaded SSH, but I don't even know how to install it. I found a site that gives the command line: % tar zxvf ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz, but it says no such job... does that mean I have to install some other files??

No, you don't need to install other files. you need to cd to the directory where your tar/gzipped copy of ssh is located. Then first try tar -ztvf ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz , this assumes the name of your ssh package is ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz, since that's what you wrote in your post, if it is not, then put in the correct package name. This command will list all of the ssh files in the archive, and it should put them in a directory called something like ssh-3.0.1/. The reason you want to do this command is to see if it indeed will put them in a new directory. If you don't see a directory like ssh-3.0.1/ listed before the filename then you should create a directory called ssh-3.0.1 use mkdir ssh-3.0.1 and then move your tar file into it mv ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz ssh-3.0.1. Then cd ssh-3.0.1 and type tar -zxvf ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz and your tarfile should unzip and extract. Notice I put a - (dash) before the zxvf flags, this may be why your command didn't work. But if this syntax doesn't work, do gunzip ssh-3.0.1.tar.gz, and then tar -xvf ssh-3.0.1.tar and it should work. Once it's untarred read the readme files, and if it exists also read the INSTALL file to know how to install it. Basically install consists of configuring the program for installation by running ./configure, then creating the MakeFile(s) using the make command, and then creating the installation by runnin make install. Afterwhich you should be set to run a generic SSH. For detailed use of ssh/scp/sftp rtfm.

Also, did you literally type SSH in a console? You might wanna try ssh, because in Linux file names are case-sensitive. If you did try that already, then fair enough, just your post made it sound like you did only type "SSH".

Thank you very much for both of you!! I just got lost when I can't interpret the command.
d3funct, if you don't mind, can you tell me why putting a dash before it will make it work? or how do you know that's the exact command needed?? Thanks a bunch.

I don't know why the dash works on some systems and not on others. I've always used a dash on redhat based boxes and it's always worked fine for me.

Commands used here:

z: Gzipped file, you can tell this from the ending (gz).
x: Extract. Tells tar to extract the file.
v: Verbose. gives you more info. Useful if something goes wrong.
f: tells tar what file to use, needs to be directly followed by the filename.

Other useful commands:

j: Bz2 compressed file. This is for files that end with (bz2).

Else:

Doesn't mandriva have some sort of packet manager?

You can type "man tar" to see all of the flags and different examples on how to use this command. It is very versatile.

Different flavors of "tar" support or don't support the "-" before the option.
GNU tar is currently the most common one (on Linux) and supports both with and without the "-".

"man tar" would be a good idea to start

I think Mandriva support RPMs as well. RPMs are packages, like the .tar.gz, but you can install them without
explicit compilation (eg make; make install; etc).
You can find RPM packages for Mandriva at rpmfind.net, the Mandriva home page (probably), rpm.pbone.net, via Google, etc.
Be sure to look for your kind of Mandriva Linux (there are RPMs for all kinds of Linux).
After downloading them, installing is easy. Let's say you downloaded xyz.rpm to /home/you/Installs/.
open terminal
cd /home/you/Installs/
rpm -i xyz.rpm

Uninstalling: use "rpm -e --repackage xyz" instead of "rpm -i".
See also:
man rpm