Ok, next issue I just tried installing Emacs (from source, of course. I've attempted doing things with YaST and got so incredibly fed up with its pain-in-my-arse-brokenness that source is one again the way to go) and when doing the usual ./configure && make && make install, I get this rather scary message:

creating cache ./config.cache
checking host system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
configure: error: no acceptable cc found in $PATH

........

Question 1) *Why* in heck isn't gcc a part of the default installation??

Question 2) When I downloaded gcc from gnu.org, it seems to require gcc in IT'S configure script. And while this is entertainingly recursive, it's making my life slightly miserable. Is there a way to fix this?

maybe find a binary gcc package on your distro's cd's or repositories??

if you download the source for a compiler you'd still need a compiler to compile the compiler...

gcc is included somewhere on the 9.1 cd, but should be installed when you did a full install I believe. if it's not, check for a development or developers pack on the cd

Don't know, ask SUSE! My guess would be that gcc is considered a tool for advanced user, who does not rely on the default package selection anyway

I am not sure what caused you to give up on YaST, but the easiest solution of your problem would be the installation of the gcc rpm package with YaST.

Suse 9.1 did not have a compiler. You will have to change your yast sources to point to Suse 9.1 pro sources.

Ah. Well, then...where do I find the sources for Suse 9.1 Pro?

And hmmm...what caused me to give up on yast:
1) no working commandline interface - yast2 -i <packagename> gives me a flash of a gui and that's about it. No functionality whatsoever.

2) no default online sources, and a really terrible default choice of packages....No browser other than whatever-the-heck that thing is that KDE provides, no emacs, no compiler at all, no gaim (despite the installer's pretty pictures of the gaim login window), no windowmanager other than KDE, no terminal other than xterm (konsole doesn't count). Yes, I do in fact realize that you've got to pick and choose your packages when you've only got 1 CD's worth, but jeepers...I'm sure they could've squeezed on a bit more in the way of choice and customizability. And if they couldn't...I can't stress this enough...default online sources! >_>

3) I have a pretty strong natural resistance to rpm-based distros. I realize that this makes Suse a bad choice of toys for me, but hey...I'm giving it a shot! The stuff that does work is so far impressive enough that I'm willing to work through whatever little stumbling blocks present themselves and achieve a simply working system.

This is not personal whatsoever, I assure you! and thank you all very much for your assistance thus far.

I assume you have installed the 9.1 Personal download. This surely has only a limited amount of software available. But you can always add packages from online repositories. Have a look at the sticky thread about YaST update sources. Also this link might be interesting: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=266647

About the command-line interface: You can always use the rpm command or the non-graphical version of YaST ('yast' instead of 'yast2', ncurses based menu). If you are using rpm, you should run ' /sbin/SuSEconfig' to ensure that the configurations are updated. An alternative to YaST is APT4RPM. Have a look here: http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/