[aclug-L] How do I install applications?

[Nathan & Jenny <njcozzen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another newbie question....

During the last meeting where we compiled a kernel, I feel like we kind of 
glossed over some of the basics I need to learn next.  I'm at the point 
where I want to start installing a few applications (like WordPerfect or 
Doom or whatever)  Here's what I still don't understand well enough:

Which type of files are the ones that are zipped and need to be unzipped?
What do I use to unzip them?

What are .tar files?  Are they the uncompiled source code for the 
application?
What do I need to know about "make" in order to compile the program in 
question?

After I've compiled it, what are some of the other obvious things that need 
to be understood or done....the kinds of things that an expert might assume 
when explaining it to a beginner?  (So far I gather that the equivalent of 
a Dos .exe file is one with a * in front of it.  Is that correct?)


Then I have one other question that's totally unrelated.
What's a good program to use for uploading stuff to my ftp webserver?  Is 
there one that's designed for X, giving me a nice graphical display of 
what's on my ftp site and what I want to copy over?

Thanks for your help,
Nathan

Learning Linux for relief.