Still new to Linux, i have mastered downloads using apt with ubuntu 7.04. I still struggle with tar.gz files. I have managed to unzip files run configure but got stuck when running make. I believe i must be missing part of the command. The message below is displayed when i try to run make. Appreciate if someone could steer me in the right direction.

make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

What are you trying to compile? The error makes it sound like maybe you're not running make from the correct directory.

Are you getting the source from the Ubuntu repositories? If so, you can compile and install it the Debian way.

First, install the package using Ubuntu's package manager. If you must install from source, the generic steps are configure && make && sudo make install assuming the package uses GNU autotools. The README, INSTALL, etc. files that come with package or the package website should have instructions for building or tuning the build beyond the generic steps.

Assuming the package uses autotools, if there is no Makefile, then the configure step failed for some reason and you missed the error message. Either look in config.log or clean the source tree and re-execute the configure script paying attention to the output.

Also, let us know what you're trying to build.

trying to build a linux interface for garmin gps devices called garmintools, downloaded from a google code site. i will try the above

It just worked for me. Course I have no used for garmintools, but it builds fine on my box.