please help me.
 

Okay first of all i am an utter noob with this stuff. I just made the switch from windows so please speak slowly. I am a fish out of water. I am using madrake 10 with the gnome setup and terminal.

1. To install a program, i extract the bz2 or gz files with the appropriate commands in the terminal. Got that. Now, i am supposed to go into the created folder, open up the terminal, and type "./configure". Sometimes that works other times it doesnt. The real problem is when i type "make". That doesnt seem to work. It says "no target specified and no makefile found" I did my homewok and people said that was because the configure had an error or the file was corrupt. I highly doubt that all of the programs i downloaded from official sources are all corrupt. It says no makefile even though i can see one in the folder.(would this work with a different terminal instead of the gnome one???)

2. My internet is extremely slow with mandrake. Would it improve if i switched browsers? Currently i am using the epiphany browser and surfing is way too slow. Is there a way to reconfigure your connection through linux like there is through windows? I have a fast broadband connection.(coming in through ethernet not usb)

3. I have learned a bit about rpm files. First thing, is there some way to reduce all of the dependencies? Some universal package or something? Second, how can i install them so that they are recognized by gnome as an application? (or maybe i am just asking how i can get them into the applications menu)

sorry to write so much. Please help if you possibly can. Thanx.

I can only help with the browsing...

Look in your main menu (similar to windows start menu) -> internet -> mozilla

That is the best browser I have found so far. If you don't see it there, look in menu -> internet -> more internet -> mozilla

Of course, if you're up to date, it may be called firefox instead. Either mozilla or firefox should give you MUCH better performance.

I tried epiphany once...hated it...

Good luck...

yeah i like firefox. I used it on windows. Problem is, one of the programs i am trying to install in question 1 is firefox. So i suppose i need question 1 answered to fix the problem in question 2.

Did you download the source distribution of Firefox or the binary distribution? Both come packaged in .tar.gz files but the binary distribution has already been compiled, so there's no need for ./configure, make, make install. I suspect you have the binary distribution -- like for a binary called MozillaFirefox (or Firebird) in the directory you extracted. If it's there, that's the binary, and you're set. To run Firefox go into that directory and type:

./run-mozilla.sh MozillaFirefox

At least, that's how it works for me with Firebird -- YMMV,

okay well we are beginning to get somewhere. Yes i guess i do have the binary because when i extracted the tarball there is a file that just says firefox. I went into the directory, opened up my terminal, and used the line of code you gave me. I can even see the file in the folder. The terminal acknowledges it but just says "cannot execute". I am beginning to think maybe something is wrong with my terminal or something.

try, as root, doing:

chmod a+x firefox

and then execute it as root...

I tried that didnt work. I'm beginning to get discouraged here. It shouldn't take someone two days to install a few programs.

Okay, im about to give up. I cant install any of the bz2 or gz files. I did however manage to install an rpm file. Now how do i use it? There is no icon and it is not in my program list. I the command in the terminal but once again nothing seems to work for me.

It seems you do not have some "developement packages" installed (possibly "gcc" and "make" aren't).
"configure" works since it is a shell script included into the sources.
When you type "make" actually you execute a command (program).
To make sure you have "make" installed, type from the terminal
which make
if installed you should get an output like
/bin/make or /usr/bin/make according to your distribution.
The makefile(s) you find into the source folder are not the "makefile". They simply are some "intermediate" files used by the configure script on certain steps of the "real" makefile construction.
Hope this helps
Ciao

to execute a program which is newly installed one should make it's own icon in the programlist with the program: menudrake.
To locate a program type: whereis 'program'
If you want to execute a program and you're in the right directory type ./'program' to execute it.

I don't know much about installing binairies so i can't help you with that problem.
Good luck it keeps getting easier. :D