[Xastir] XASTIR install?????

[patrick friend]

ok, I admit it, I am stupid. I read the whole book (Learning Red Hat Linux)
and I finally got the energy to install Red Hat (took 2 tries to get the x
configured and working right) but everything seems to be ok now. I can get
online with it. I downloaded Xastir, read the docs and the faq but there
does not seem to be an installation guide. I click on it and get a blank
page, from the Linux box (Netscape) as well as here on my Win (Explorer)
machine. Can someone please tell me how to get it up and running? tried
typing "xastir &" from terminal window and I get "command not found"...tried
using the RPM thing to install it and it says no package found. So help
someone....oh, yeah, here's the particulars:
It's a dedicated aprs/amatuer radio machine,
networked through hardware router to cable modem,
RedHat v7.2 using X and GNOME,
Celeron 700,
30gig HDD,
256mb ram,
512mb swap file,
Kam plus with newest firmware,
yaesu ft1500 2m rig.

also any advice on how to install maps and use them? I have Street Atlas
v8.0 and Garmin MapSource Roads and Rec v3.0. Will either of them work?

Background: I was using SA+2.15, actually been using SA+ for quite a while
(over a year and half now), but it seems to be a real processor hog. Even
when SA+ and Street Atlas are the only things running...it would be fine for
a day or so, then the system clock would start losing time and when I moved
the mouse it would hang...this happened on my first  aprs machine, which was
a 400 Celeron running Win98SE, so I put together a completely new computer
with the above listed hardware and I get the same problems....sooo, gonna
try Linux and Xastir. Hope it works better for me than SA+!

Appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Patrick, K7ETT
Billings, MT