import data from Matlab & error msg when install package "e1071"

Hello,
  I am trying to import data from Matlab..
  when i looked up R documentation, it says, package "e1071" have command
(read.octave) to import data from octave.
but when I tried to install package by using:
install.packages("e1071");
I got the following message: ( BTW, my platform is linux version 2.4.18-3
my gcc is 2.96).

* Installing *source* package 'e1071' ...
checking for C++ compiler default output... a.out
checking whether the C++ compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C++ compiler... yes
checking whether g++ accepts -g... yes
configure: WARNING: g++ 2.96 cannot reliably be used with this package.
configure: error: Please use a different C++ compiler.
ERROR: configuration failed for package 'e1071'

I am wondering did anyone successfully install "e1071" on linux box, what
gcc are you using?

Or Is there another way to import data from Matlab?

Thanks a lot,
yan