mint 7 missing wvdial package

[Husse]

I don't know why it was left out - it was included in Felicia
If you can get another temporary internet connection installing it is as easy as opening the menu > type wvdial > Install package wvdial ...
Or on another computer with Gloria/Jaunty you could do
sudo apt-get install -d wvdial
the -d option forces apt to only download the package and you will be able to copy it to a USB drive
The package is downloaded to /var/cache/apt/archives
You can copy it from that folder as normal user
Edit//
It is this simple for a single file package, but if there is more than one file there is more to it
When the package start its download you can see in the terminal which other files are downloaded - take notice of that
Then copy all files to something portable
It is .deb files and you can install such by double clicking (in the right order) but the best way would be to copy these files to the /var/cache/apt/archives of the computer you want to install it in (you need root permissions for that)
Then run apt install --no-download wvdial
The --no-download option forces apt to look in the cache

[Husse]

experience compiling 'tar.gz' files

Well - you don't compile the 'tar.gz' files but their content and that can vary widely
I don't do it very often but I mostly find a Readme included
Some have been packed without a Readme and it may be hard to know what to do
I feel you can't just assume the standard sequence configure -make - make install

[vlovjz]

GeorgeVita over at the ubuntu forums shared this method of installing wvdial in 9.04.

http://acomelectronics.com/GeorgeVita/r ... vdial.html

EDIT: I've tested this in Mint Gloria ME. It works great. The KDE version of Mint, however, seems to have all the packages already installed and working.