how do I

[ipoduser]

install from source code on ubuntu(or however u spell it) becuase I like linux but its frustrating trying to interpret the readme

[Zelmo]

Install from source on Ubuntu? Interpret the Readme? I'm not sure I follow you.

Here's my guess at where you're coming from:
You've downloaded a source tarball, unzipped it, and checked the README to see how to install it. But the README isn't very helpful.

Right?
Assuming yes, there are two things worth noting here:
1. It is almost always best to install software from the distribution's repository, using Synaptic, aptitude, dselect, or simply apt-get.
2. When Debian packages aren't available and you need to install from source, the source code's top-level directory usually has a file called INSTALL that will give step-by-step instructions on installing that software. It's usually just a matter of issuing ./configure, make, and make install (last command as root) from that directory.

[scottro]

Going with Zelmo's guess, I would also add that Ubuntu doesn't include the various tools in the default install for you to do the standard install from source.

As he says, you're almost always better off using their packages as they do things in their own way, and sometimes, even if you install make, automake, gmake and the other tools you'll need (gcc g++ and the like) it won't find some library or another because it's in a non-standard place.

[ipoduser]

yes correct the readme is frustrating, and I installed ndiswrapper from ubuntu's pre installed packages but I cannot find it ,and I need this utillity to use the internet.

[Zelmo]

You don't really need to know where it is, just call it up from the command line. (It happens to be in /usr/sbin, but because that's in the global PATH, you needn't change to that directory.)

I'm guessing at this point you want to install a wireless network driver using ndiswrapper. Make sure you know where the .inf and .sys files are (that is, the full path to those files, and make sure they're in the same directory). Then use this command:

# ndiswrapper -i path/to/driver.inf

You can check out the man page for more options, but the best reference is probably the Wiki page at Sourceforge.

[ipoduser]

You don't really need to know where it is, just call it up from the command line. (It happens to be in /usr/sbin, but because that's in the global PATH, you needn't change to that directory.)

I'm guessing at this point you want to install a wireless network driver using ndiswrapper. Make sure you know where the .inf and .sys files are (that is, the full path to those files, and make sure they're in the same directory). Then use this command:
Code:

# ndiswrapper -i path/to/driver.inf

You can check out the man page for more options, but the best reference is probably the Wiki page at Sourceforge.

why thx I just installed ubunbtu again and tommorow I may try that since it is a neccesity for me to really start using linux