When I try to make oskit, I get an error that gcc doesn't exist, though apt-cache shows gcc-3.2 installed and OK. Are you sure that it is OK? That is, can you compile say hello world and it works? I try to apt-get install build-essentials as you say and I get a broken packeges error on g++ and gcc. I did just notice that the only apt source I have is ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main. Do I need to add the alpha.gnu.org source? Yes.