Where do you get a c compiler
 

I seem to not have a c compiler when I install Fedora Core 1 and I seem to need it to use makefiles so where do you get one and how do you install it

it is probably on the install discs

how do you get it off of them because it errors whenever I try to install other applications from the disks

i had to do a fresh install. i couldn't install them off the disc once redhat 9 was already installed.

i assume your just referring to gcc when you are getting errors trying to compile stuff ..
so just install the gcc package ...