dselect errors with no access methods available

I have just installed damnsmalllinux on my hard drive.

I have also decompressed and installed the /var/dpkg directory, which I obtained from the dpkg.tar.gz archive.

I run the command dselect and when I select option 0 choose access method to use, I get an error:

dselect: no access methods available

How do I configure dselect to access the debian packages that are available for damnsmalllinux ?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Mark Hobley

Email: markhobley at hotpop dont_type_this_bit dot com