Latex is being very annoying...

[jpalfree]

I'm just starting to learn latex and it is proving quite difficult since i keep getting errors...and errors that don't make sense...
this is a .tex file i'm trying to compile:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

blah

\end{document}

When i type "pdftex test.tex" this is the output:

This is pdfeTeX, Version 3.141592-1.21a-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.4)
entering extended mode
(./test.tex
! Undefined control sequence.
l.1 \documentclass
                  {article}
?(pressed enter)
! Undefined control sequence.
l.3 \begin
          {document}
?(pressed enter again)
[1{/usr/share/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] )</usr/share/texmf
/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmr10.pfb>
Output written on test.pdf (1 page, 6623 bytes).
Transcript written on test.log.

and when i open it in xpdf it looks something like this:

article
document
blah

i've searched google and various forums with little success. It makes no sense to me why this wouldn't compile properly. Even when i copy and paste from a latex "how to" it does the same thing...
Would someone please put an end to my confusion?

[spoon!]

try "pdflatex"

[jpalfree]

thanks for replying but unfortunately that doesn't work.
this is the output:

This is pdfeTeX, Version 3.141592-1.21a-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.4)
kpathsea: Running mktexfmt pdflatex.fmt
fmtutil: format `pdflatex' not available.
I can't find the format file `pdflatex.fmt'!

I get similar errors when i try to compile a simple document in kile (a WYSIWYG editor)
any other suggestions? this is really frustrating...

[spoon!]

Are you sure LaTeX is installed properly?

[jpalfree]

Are you sure LaTeX is installed properly?

It must not be. I went to another computer (SuSE 9.3) and tried pdflatex and it worked... very odd. Oh well. i'll just use that distro.
Thanks

[genesus]

On the problem computer, do you get the problem when you compile from tex to dvi and then convert the dvi to pdf?

[jpalfree]

it doesn't work even if i try to compile to dvi
this is the output:

$ latex test.tex
This is pdfeTeX, Version 3.141592-1.21a-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.4)
kpathsea: Running mktexfmt latex.fmt
fmtutil: format `latex' not available.
I can't find the format file `latex.fmt'!

[robolin]

This is a old post but I came across it searching for a solution to the exact same problem with pdflatex in Suse 10.3.

I fixed it by running texhash.

heres a link with a little more detail.
LaTeX Tips: Installing and using custom packages and style files

hope it helps.