okay, so im running the ./configure mwavem program and it goes thru the checklist all ok until we get to C compiler unable to make executables. whats the deal here? do i have to now go find and configure my C compiler....?

sidenote: as i am trying to learn this system have a couple detail questions

i downloaded the mwave-bsdf-tar.gz file from ibm corp (for the tp600)
and then dropped it in the /root directory (where would the best place to put something like that?) then i unpacked it an it ended up /root/mwave probably not the best place to do that either huh? where should I set this stuff up?
Thirdly, being in the directory with the configure program (/root/mwave) when i type configure no go, but ./configure works why is that?
but those are just details what I really need to do is get this damnable mwave functioning....

please help

This could be caused by a parameter contained in the CFLAGS environment variable that the configure script checks ("echo $CFLAGS" to see for yourself). What is more likely, is that you didn't install something in the "d" diskset that you should've. Also, make sure that you installed the glibc package in diskset l. Check if you can compile other packages.
On your less important question, /usr/local is where you play with packages that did not come with the OS.

/usr/local is where the 'make install' step will install the programs.

When I compile from source, I download it in my normal user account, in a directory that I named downloads. I untar the tarball there, and run the 'make ./configure' and 'make' steps as a normal user. I su to root for the 'make install' step. When I'm done, I'll remove the directory and keep and later backup the tarball.

Did you install the full glibc package (not just the runtime libs) ? You'll need to if you want to compile software.