It appears that flightgear is not installed. I tried the full command and nothing was listed. I typed 'rpm -ql flightgear', and the reply was 'package flightgear not installed'. Is there a more reliable way to install an rmp or did I not have a valid rpm?

Its either installed or its not, there's no unreliability. If it didn't have any errors on the install then maybe the package is named something else besides 'flightgear'. Just do a and find out the name of the package.

Ok, I typed rpm -qa | grep -i flight and did get a response of: 'flightgear-0.9.3-91'. Is that the executable file?

No that's the name of the package. Post the output of and I'll see if I can pick out which one is the executable file.

The command 'rpm -ql flightgear' returned package not installed. I also tried as root. The command 'rpm -qa | grep flight' still returns the package name. I did not delete the package from my home folder.

Use YaST to install the program. The rpm package is on your installation disk but it isn't installed.

I made it install and run flight gear. I am not sure if this was the problem, but I gave the package full permissions, then went to the /usr folder and saw the file, so I went to terminal mode. The first time, the box locked up, but the second time it ran. I am starting to learn how packages are installed and where. Is there a man file on terminal commands so I can learn how to use them?

There are a number of documentation sources available to you right now. 1) man pages 2) info pages 3) documentation packages 4) web sites.

You could use "info". info coreutils is a good place to start.
Also, look at the bash documentation: "info bash"

It will be easier to read in the konqueror browser:
info:bash

info:coreutils

This works for man-pages also:
man:mv

For "coreutils" and "bashref" you might consider installing the source rpm so that you can create a professional looking printed manual. This process is a bit involved, but if you are feeling adventurous:
step 1) install the source rpm. (For SuSE, click on the source box in YaST)
2) cd to the SPECS directory: cd /usr/src/packages/SPECS
3) apply the patches, just in case the documentation changed:
rpmbuild -bp coreutils.spec
4) cd to the BUILD directory. That is were the source is.
cd ../BUILD
5) cd to the package's source directory:
cd coreutils-5.3.0
6) run ./configure to produce the makefile
./configure
7) generate the doument:
make ps # for postscript
make pdf # for the pdf version of the manual
make dvi # for the dvi version. (This one is produced regardless because the ps and pdf versions are converted from the coreutils.dvi file)
8) now copy the coreutils.pdf (or .ps or .dvi) file where you want it.

The core utils manual is 201 pages long.

Here is another way to read man-pages:
man -t <topic> | gv -antialias -scale 2 -media letter -
of course you can use kghostview instead. For example:
man -t fstab | kghostview -

Maybe you want to print out a manpage.
man -t find | lpr

Also, be sure to explore your system for documentation that you have installed.
Also, look for documentation that you can install:

rpm -q -all | grep doc reveals these packages:

samba-doc-3.0.13-1.1
libbonoboui-doc-2.8.1-9
linc-doc-1.0.3-181
gnome2-user-docs-2.8.1-4
xen-doc-ps-2.0.5c-4
libgnomeprint-doc-2.10.1-5
atk-doc-1.9.1-4
libgnomecanvas-doc-2.10.0-4
xen-doc-html-2.0.5c-4
apache2-doc-2.0.53-9
python-doc-2.4-14
libbonobo-doc-2.8.1-4
cvs-doc-1.12.11-4
epiphany-doc-1.6.0-6
kdelibs3-doc-3.4.0-20
kdelibs3-devel-doc-3.4.0-20
libgnome-doc-2.10.0-4
qt3-devel-doc-3.3.4-11
libglade2-doc-2.5.1-6
glib2-doc-2.6.3-4
wxGTK-doc-2.5.3.1-3
xen-doc-pdf-2.0.5c-4
gtksourceview-doc-1.2.0-4
kernel-docs-2.6.11.4-21
php-doc-5.0.3-3
gconf2-doc-2.10.0-5
gtkdoc-1.3-4
gtk2-doc-2.6.4-6
python-doc-pdf-2.4-14
python-wxGTK-doc-2.5.3.1-3
gnome-doc-utils-0.1.3-4

The samba-doc package for example contains the html versions of the same samba books that you can purchase at Barnes & Nobles.

If you have SuSE professional, (maybe the other versions have it also, but I'm to lazy to check) there is a package of howtos that contains all of the howto's from the www.tldp.org website.

The www.tldp.org website contains a link to the linuxgazette website, where you can down load archives of their old magazines. These magazines have how-to articles showing how to use various commands from the console.

Here is a way to make installing by rpm's easier. Search for the rpm at the
http://rpm.pbone.net website

Use the advanced options feature to filter out the other distros from your search.
Select an rpm file for your distro.

This web site has added a feature to analyse your system and tell you if you need to install any dependencies. If you do, you can click on the filename highlighted and download that dependency.

In the case where there is a circular dependency, you can try downloading all of the rpm files and use the rpm command to install them. Include all of the files in the argument list:
rpm -Uhv package1.rpm package2.rpm package3.rpm

Thanks for the info. That looks like a good primer!

You are welcome. To answer an earlier question about the pbone site:
There is a button near the list that lets you install and run a java applet that checks what you have installed and highlights what you need. The highlighted entries are links to the rpm's that you need to install. Hopefully, in time, you will have the most common dependencies and won't need to install as many.