Did you try running "alien" on the package? It's a wonderful thing that can convert between RPM, DEB, and a TGZ file. Thats what I did a while back when I was putting files on my empeg.
Usage: alien [options] file [...]
file [...] Package file or files to convert.
-d, --to-deb Generate a Debian deb package (default).
Enables the following options:
--patch=
Specify patch file to use instead of automatically
looking for patch in /var/lib/alien.
--nopatch Do not use patches.
--single Like --generate, but do not create .orig
directory.
-r, --to-rpm Generate a RedHat rpm package.
--to-slp Generate a Stampede slp package.
-t, --to-tgz Generate a Slackware tgz package.
Enables the following option:
--description= Specify package description.
-i, --install Install generated package.
-g, --generate Unpack, but do not generate a new package.
-c, --scripts Include scripts in package.
-k, --keep-version Do not change version of generated package.
-h, --help Display this help message.
-v, --version Display alien's version number.