DSL Embedded :: dsl embedded and xampp

i'm trying to make a remaster of dsl 1.4 and xampp 1.4.14 but hit problems everywhere i turn

first problem was i couldn't untar the tar.gz for xampp within the embedded to a hdb because i get "archive contains obsolescent base-64 headers, skipping to next header". i never got this in dsl 1.2.1. why am i getting this error?

i am a linux newbie so if anyone could talk me through this i would be most appreciative.

EDIT: OK, this is what i've done so far, i've remastered dsl 1.4 with the files of lampp. i've created symbolic links for the logs,etc and htdocs to point to /home/dsl.

apache is refusing to start, despite mysql, and proftpd working well. any ideas why?

thanks everyone for your help in irc already!
lra