setting up a server on my laptop

Hello everyone who reads this: I downloaded Koha, but could not extract the files because of permissions... Jamon suggests a lesson in this at the next users meeting since it's a fairly lengthy process to set up a server.
This has to do with setting up a small library of the books at the Linux caffe.
Anyone else interested? or anyone interested in introducing me to the technicalities sooner than the meeting?
Ciao
Rachael