Matt, Thanks so much for the push in the right direction. I did manage to get everything working together as it ought to. I really appreciate the pointers as to where to look things up. It's helped a lot.
For those of you who are considering doing this (gee just a few days ago, there were several... where'd you all go? []/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/]) and who like me know nothing about nothing when it comes to Linux, here are a few things I have learned which may help you along...
You will install from scratch more than once. When the time comes, don't fight it. You'll only drag it out longer. it is possible that you've foobared it completely. Get a cup of coffee or tea and start fresh.
I can not fathom why the Enlightenement/Gnome desktop combination is so popular (other than it's really beautiful and wonderful and everything) because these are two of the most complicated damned things I've had to install. And that's after installing apache with SSL and php and all kinds of bits attached. Gnome and Enlightenment come in about 5 billion pieces and you have to find them and figure out how to put them all together. This is not a small job. If it came with your linux distribution, the instructions will be wrong anyway.
Do not bother trying to install apache, mysql, and php from binary if you want them to all work together (as in access databases with php). The binaries (at least for debian and red hat) are not set up properly to make the 3 work together. Install them all from source.
Do not under any circumstances be lured into trying to install a package that requires you to first upgrade libc6 (or libc5 if that's what you've got). Even if it's a micro-upgrade. Don't do it. It will appear to have gone smoothly. But everything will start to fail. Your C compiler will no longer work. Lots of things will no longer work. You will spend so much time trying to resolve conflicts (which turn out to be an enormous web) that you might as well have downloaded and installed a whole new linux distribution. This will lead you to treat your pets, friends, and lawyers quite gruffly.
In regard to any packages that will have to work together or are co-dependant in some way, do not try to install some parts from binary and some parts from source. Binary and source installations put stuff and look for stuff in totally different places, and so your packages that were supposed to work together will not even see each other.
Phoenix
