Is it possible to install a program that is a tar .gz file under Suse which uses rpm? I would like to use Frank's WineTools to help install the new Wine.

You mean install a program using the source!
Ofcourse u can
Just be carefull with the dependencies ....

./configure
make
make install
[usually]

It's a compressed file. You've to uncompress it first, then compile it, if it's in source format. Examples:

or

Read this thread for a good understanding about uncompressing and installing programs under Linux....

Regards!

so if I get this file --- winetools-2.1.0.tgz --- I should be able to unpack it, compile it and use it under Suse 9.1 even though Suse only recognizes(?) i586 rpm's?

sorry if I'm repetative but this is what Frank's corner says to do, just want to make sure that it is or isn't possible to do it this way under Suse:
"After downloading unpack the archive (tar zxvf winetools-2.1.0.tgz) and run ./install.sh (as root).
WineTools will be installed in /opt/winetools. Type wt to run WineTools"

That's a special case. Files ending with .tgz are Slackware packages, but I've managed to unpack and compile a few in the past. However, I'd recommend you to go to RPM Search and check if there's a Suse package for that.

I will give a little tip to you though; Wine is very, very very bad to get it to run _any_ windows applications. Make sure that you really need it. Basically, _any_ Windows application has an equivalent for Linux, usually free. I can see that you are trying to use a XP theme for KDE and getting wine to run some windows applications. This will make your transition to Linux harder then you think, because those Operating Systems are so different of each other and those tools are quite inneficient to make "Linux more like Windows". Best should be to keep learning Linux the way Linux is . But don't you worry, everybody been there once. I did the same as you are trying to do too

Here is a nice table of replacements of programs that are Linux native. You are better off using them then trying to make wine to run anything else then notepad .

Suse uses YaST to install/remove packages. Try always first through YaST, so you will save yourself the pain of handling dependencies as well as compiling programs from the very first start

But off course, these are just some few hints and you are totally free to try out any path you choose

Good luck!

Thanks, forgot about the RPM search. It did find a i586 rpm however its for the "arklinux" platform. The file name is "winetools-2.0.2-2ark.i586.rpm " could I use it under Suse even though it's (compiled?) for Ark?

SuSE is still linux, you can install any source you want - provided you meet all the dependencies. Just because a system uses the RPM, does not mean that is all that it can use. In fact, I rarely install rpm's in SuSE unless I get the package from SuSE themselves.

EDIT:Try and find a regular .tar.gz file - that may be easier than trying to find a pre-compiles SuSE rpm.

Yeah, thats what I thought, but so far I don't have a source yet, just a slackware package. I'll keep looking. Thanks