installing programs in linux

[Dswissmiss]

Hi everyone

I'm completely new to Linux and just recently installed Mandrake 8.2, I like it so far, although its really overwhelming. I tried downloading and installing gaim, but after I untar it, and type ./configure, I get an error message saying that "no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH...any ideas? I just klicked arroud reading readme's and thought I should download atk, glib and gtk, but get the same error for all of them.
Again, I'm completely new to this, and just learned how to untar a .tar file.

Thank you
Dswissmiss

[edit:gorn]fixed misspelled programs and untar[/edit]

[S_D_Willie]

drake 8.2 has lots and lotsa app that come with it as well as gaim. look around for it or try running "gaim" from the command line first off.

as root you can run "rpmdrake" and you will see all the packages you can remove and add. think of root as the administrator as in windows. you should have set a password for root when you installed drake.

[Dswissmiss]

thanx for the quick reply S.D Willie, ill try to install it using rpmdrake...but for future reference, if i wanted to download a different program, like limewire or the newest mozilla version, how would i be able to install them if i still get the same error?
thanx again
dswissmiss

[pbharris]

Hello,
Like SD said install a pre-compiled package. You can do stuff from source, but it is rarely needed. for mandrake down load packages tha end with a .rpm or an i686.rpm