Hello Cruel World, C++ compile, no can do. Options

[lastmachine]

Howdy,
I have some controller ideas, neato stuff I promise. Problem is, I can't even compile. I have ProjectBuilder, but that's hopeless. Not the *introduction* I need. I can use gcc/g++ at the CLI, but not for C++. I can compile straight C, but no combination of #includes will get me the right headers (I think this is the problem) for compiling C++. As soon as I try to change a printf() to a cout<<, upon compile I get 'cout' unrecognized, etc...

Is this a matter of telling G++ where the headers are located? How? Other ideas?

I realize that this might be considered "too basic" for this forum, but I haven't found anywhere that would seem more appropriate, and I can't get to newsgroups from behind this miserable firewall.

I'll sure appreciate any assistance.

Hawk