# Source code **URL:** \ **Category:** UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers\ **Created:** [August 12, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612 "2015-08-12T08:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![M\_K\_Raju](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/m_k_raju/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@M\_K\_Raju](https://community.unix.com/u/M_K_Raju)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612/1 "2015-08-12T08:41:28Z")
hii... i am a biginner....and i have linux source code ,downloaded from some website ,a compressed file on windows and dont know how do compile them..... ---
**Author:** ![vbe](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/vbe/32/266_2.png) [@vbe](https://community.unix.com/u/vbe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612/2 "2015-08-12T08:52:02Z")
Are you sure you have a pure source code and not an "image" of a distribution? Because starting from scratch using pure source files I did that years ago, yes far back in beginning 90ies, and I remember I had to struggle before getting something up, but I did that to see if I could do something else than just COBOL and oracle SQL stuff ( and mainframe proprietary stuff...) so I dont think it being a good trip for a beginner... ---
**Author:** ![vbe](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/vbe/32/266_2.png) [@vbe](https://community.unix.com/u/vbe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612/3 "2015-08-12T08:55:11Z")
As a beginner I would go for someting like KNOPPIX, a bootable debian based linux that you boot from a CD or DVD... There you can test and if feel like its what you want you can install from that same DVD.. ---
**Author:** ![RudiC](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/rudic/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@RudiC](https://community.unix.com/u/RudiC)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612/4 "2015-08-12T08:55:38Z")
For you being a beginner, my advice were not to compile things but to install a ready made distribution from e.g. [https://www.suse.com/](https://www.suse.com/) or [Debian -- The Universal Operating System](http://www.debian.org/) or [The leading OS for PC, tablet, phone and cloud | Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/). There's also smaller distros available, e.g. [Knoppix Linux Boot CD, Download Disk and Documents, Discuss, Get Help](http://knoppix.net/). ---
**Author:** ![sea](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/sea/32/2946_2.png) [@sea](https://community.unix.com/u/sea)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/source-code/354612/5 "2015-08-12T09:51:18Z")
You even may try one of Fedoras spins, providing various Desktop Environments (DE) configured live images. Simply write them on either CD, DVD or an USB-stick. [https://spins.fedoraproject.org/](https://spins.fedoraproject.org/) Have fun