help with installation

[Michael J McGonagle]

Hello All,

I have been trying to get Lilypond installed now for the past week. I
have tried to compile from sources (which cause an error about missing
some guile component, the docs say 1.3x or better, I have 1.4), and I
have tried to use the rpm binaries (this complained that the rpm file
was in DB3 format, whatever that means).

Well, my first choice for any installation is to install from sources,
only because I have NEVER been able to use RPM (either I get the DB3
problem, or it complains about something else). I have tried to fix the
DB3 by doing the update that RPM suggested, but it did not change a
thing.

I am using Mandrake 8.0, and I followed the link the RPM that was set up
for this system, but the link is dead.

I guess I am old-fashioned, but I still like *.tar.gz archives better.
Does anyone know if there is an archive in this format for Lilypond,
either sources (if you can tell me how to ge around guile) or binaries?
(Just to let you know, I did  try installing Lilypond last summer and I
came accross the exact same problems).

Thanks,

Mike