Absolute Newbie to Linux

Hello Everybody

I have been using PHP on windows and now I am trying to shift over to
Linux. I have installed Caldera's eDesktop 2.4 Linux and it
automatically installs Apache with it. It also installs PHP but that is
not working on my system.

Now I have download PHP4 in the tar format and when I try to untar the
file I can not see where it is being untarred.

Can anyone please please please help me and advise step by step process
for installation, compiling and configuration. I have tried several
times as per the manual, but nothing is happening.

Thanks in advance!