trouble installing RPM (im a noob)

Also another problem I'm having is when I try to go to the root to install something. I type 'su' into the terminal and it asks for my password. When I enter my password nothing appears though and if I try to just type it in and hit enter it says it's wrong.

You can install packages as root by typing

sudo apt-get install ....

By typing only su (which came from super user) after you type the password you'll get an authentication failure message. Typing "sudo su" will log you as super user.

After you press return key you'll be asked for the your password.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager here is an explanation of RPM package meaning.

The error is shown when an char like "<" or ">" is used improperly in a bash command like cd /media/</dev/sda1> or in the source code of a bash script one line is ending with one of those chars. In which context you got that error?

You can not install rpm package in ubuntu,because ubuntu use deb packages.You can convert rpm to deb with alien package (you will find it in synaptic and you can install it from there).Better solution is to find deb package for application you want to install.

Thanks for the help