Hi - ive been thinking about switching to linux for some time now, and finally decided with the release of win4lin pro (which emulates winXP) that I would take the plunge. ( luckilly I have windows on another hard drive)

What I was afraid would happen, did happen.

How do you start installing anything? Is there a pre-required download of "essential files" somewhere that I should know about?

I'll explain what I'm talking about. Every program I have run into has other programs that is requires before it can install. Like trying to Install Python 2.0. Pretty basic program, used for lots of other programs, right? Well, I cant install that, because the outcome of ./configure says it needs a C compiler
where does it end?? Oh did I mention that the only reason I am trying to install Python, is that is required for another program. (another helper program to install the original program i set out for)

Does anyone have any ideas where to start with this problem? It seems like i am just chasing around the bush here.. If i had know i would be spending hours chasing around the net getting other programs to install the programs that let me install the original program i had set out for, that would have been nice.

any help would be Greatly appriciated.

What Linux distribution doesn't ship with a C compiler?

guess

Yay! its Red Hat Fedora Core 4

Well how the hell did that happen? So weird.

Anyhoo... You'll need to install a C compiler, of course. One of the most commonly used ones is Gnu C Compiler (gcc in your "configure" checklist), and that *shouldn't* have any requirements to install it (as a package). I'd also suggest moving to a non-broken distro like Slackware.

A lot of these programs will be on the installation disks. See the redhat/fedora help sections for how to install the rpms from the cd's.
What's win4linpro?

win4lin - like wine only works without problems.... operates macromdia and adobe products on linux

and you are correct, it seems some of the required files are on the CD .. BUT

it tells me "Fedora Core 4" Disk 2 needed to install packages ... insert disk and press OK...


well..

I INSTALLED FROM THE SINGLE DVD

yea. wtf is right.

you should look into using yum for fedora core. Not that installing from source is a bad thing, but you may not want to spend every second of your time doing it. Basically yum is an updater program a little like apt for debian, urpmi for mandrake, or pacman for arch. It'll search repositories for newer rpm's and update your system accordingly. Plus, you can install fresh packages from the repos too, meaning you don't need the cd's.

Check out

http://www.fedorafaq.org/#installsoftware

you should already have the yum package.

Since you're an absolute newbie, install with Mandriva on your first. Make sure you add the Development section of packages on the initial installs. This will aid in a lot of future problems. You can then start using urpm to download and install any programs you like and keep problems like you described to a minimum.