1. I'm having tons of trouble installing packages in mandrake 9.2. Whats the easiest linux distrib for s/w installation, and also which distrib do u recommend?
2. is there a way to move files around in konquerer without having to log in as root all the time or do it along the command line by first typing 'su'?
3. is there a way to choose my installation directory when installing stuff (from either rpms or the tar.gz)?
4. is there any alternative to urpmi? Like maybe a GUI alternative?
5. What were some of the best things you figured out that helped a lot along the way to learn linux (especially installing packages )

i'd appreciate the help very much.. right now it feels like i'm never going to get this. Thank you.

1. Search for 'which distro'
2. Open up konsole, su into root, type 'konqueror'
3. Not really, is there a reason you need to specify directory?
4. Yeh, under configuration menu where you can find mandrake control center there are gui apps for urpmi for installation and removal.
5. Just read the wiki. Tools like urpmi, and really gentoo's portage, debians apt-get make installation pain free.

for number 3.. you can try ./configure --help when installing from source.
I think it's ./configure --prefix=/path/to/directory/you/wish

thanks guys. I'll do some readin up on that stuff.