I downloaded Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 from mozilla.org. I extracted it using

tar -xf filename.tar

I then went into the firefox-installer directory and typed:

./firefox-install and I got this error:
/firefox-installer-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Now what do I do? This is in my /home directory. I even tried as root and I got the same error.

Install the missing library which in this case is libstdc++.so.5. I am not exactly sure which Debian package provides it.

I heard there is this thing in Debian called Apt-get. Could I just apt-get mozilla firefox 1.0.6 in Kubuntu? But I do have my reservations about apt-get doing everything for me automatically.

if using Kubuntu
open Kynaptic in the admin section is Synaptic
install this

then open Synaptic and install mozilla firefox
apt will do every auto for the install ...

Yeah, just sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get install mozilla-firefox

What are your reservations?

You know, you can just install Firefox graphically (no terminal) from the .tar.gz from Mozilla. Just follow this tutorial (it's a little different for Kubuntu, but the same principle applies):

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/7d9a1b93.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/5ecb8626.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/cf84ab22.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/2cffab86.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/2cd2f4f6.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/3f4577a5.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/924e4feb.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/993d7d90.png
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...s/9d212f88.png

Oh, and if you do use apt-get to install Firefox, you can use this script to take back the normal Firefox icon. Just don't answer "yes" to the refresh Gnome panel if you're using Kubuntu. And instead of gedit, use kwrite.

Thanks for the graphical images.... too bad I can't get to them because that's the same thing as what I did. it's supposed to give me the graphical installer but I get that problem I stated earlier. I had no problems doing this in Mandriva, though. I thought this was weird that I could not do it in Kubuntu.

About my reservations, it's because I was used to Mandriva URPMI system and it auto installed software and packages just like apt-get. The onlly problem was that URPMI never told you where it installed it to and you never knew what kind of configurations it gave you. Plus you'd run into conflicts with packages and it could be a nightmare. I don't want the same thing with apt-get.

Sounds like you might be better off using slackware then.

I checked out the official Slackware website and it's pretty plain. No screenshots or graphics on the website. Seems very plain and it kind of turns me off. Is Slackware easy to use?

No, not particularly, but you mentioned an aversion to using package managemant. I figured this meant you'd rather compile your own packages, and that's more or less the slack way. Slack is very sweet if you are into doing most things yourself - very fast, thin, and has some pretty good documentation.

Maybe Gentoo might be more your cup of tea.
I've heard it's really easy, fully customizable and doesn't hide anything from you, but you have to follow the instructions very closely.