I'm using Ubuntu 5.10 and I wanted to add a couple programs and it's available in the universal repository but when I try that says:

http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...6/Packages.gz: Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)

then I get a warning window that comes up and says:

W: Couldn't stat source package list http://us.archive.ubuntu.com breezy/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_breezy_universe_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

What can I do to get these applications so they're avaible and so I can use them? Thanks.

The lines in my /etc/apt/sources.list to add the universe and multiverse ubuntu repositories are:
These obviously use the Australian mirror, so you should choose one closer to you.
Add those line, and then run "sudo apt-get update", and then you should be able to install whatever packages using either apt-get or synaptic.

I hope this helps
--Ian

Thanks for the quick response. Now I have another question.
I'm in sources.list and it's a read-only file and it says that
"You are not the owner so you can't change these permissions."
How can I make it not a read-only file so I can make the changes?
I'm new to linux so sorry if these are fairly simple questions.
Thanks for any help.

Most config files on Linux are owned by root, unless they are in your home directory. To edit sources.list, from a terminal run This will open sources.list in gedit with root priveliges. The lines for the universe repository are about 1/2 way down, and are commented out with a #. Simply delete the #, and then save and exit. Then run "sudo apt-get update".

I hope this helps
--Ian

Thanks Ian, you're helping me out a lot.
I did all of that and tried to get it to work by doing all the things that you talked about and I'm still getting error messages that say:

Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...86/Packages.gz Sub-process bzip2 returned an error code (2)
Reading package lists... Done
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://us.archive.ubuntu.com breezy/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_breezy_universe_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

when I try to do an update. I've tried everything I can think of to fix it but I'm out of ideas.

Make sure that the line in sources.list is exactly the same as the one I posted above, and then run apt-get update. Try with a different mirror, because it is possible that the US one is down.

I hope this helps
--Ian

I suggest you check out the Ubuntu Guide for Breezy at:
http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu

You'll find this question along with many others answered in easy to follow steps. You'll also learn a lot in the process. I think you may find it very helpful.

Have fun with Linux and Ubuntu.

Rory