Brenden, I figured out how to gain root access (ran a become root .deb and then did sudo gainroot)---hehehe not like i have a clue what i'm doin!...i have the files in my Kingston memory card (internal slot)...so i assume it's the /media/mmc1 directory.....i just need to know the exact syntax i should use
....i experimented with:
dpkg --install /media/mmc1/libcap1_1.10-15maemo0_armel.deb

....got an error message about bad filename or directory and something like can't access database cause in use--no idea on that one!