I have a few questions about rpms. My understanding is that binary rpms are compiled for a certain version of linux. A source rpm I'm assuming contains the source code for a given program. Now, I'm assuming that the source rpm can be used to compile a binary rpm for a certain distro, is this true? And if so, how is this done? (I'm a newb, so try to make it somewhat uncomplicated)

Additionally, is there an easy way to make an rpm out of "tar" files? Since I'm using mandrake 9.1 I'm a bit reluctant to use "tar" files since my distro is rpm based. If there is a simple way to turn those tar files into rpms then that'd make me happy. Any information on this would greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
-calimer

rpmbuild --rebuild <source rpm>

It's not too simple. You can get lot's of info from http://www.rpm.org

Thanks! Your response was a great help.
-calimer

It seems very complicated, but for what it's worth:

http://www.linux-mandrake.com/howtos/mdk-rpm/

for your Mandrake 9.1.

The really casual answer is to look for programs packaged for your distribution and version. Other than for experience, there is often no reason to install from source unless a program or certain function is not available in the packaged version.
That being said. I think is is well worth your while to learn to compile from source. You may need to some time. Source installation has a few simple rules. Download the source code, uncompress it to the directory of your choice (/usr/src ?), read the README and other supplied documentation. Some programs are very simple and others are very complicated.
I found that working through the Linux from Scratch book was a good way to begin to understand working with my Linux system, including compiling source code.