Looking for install support/advice with Maxima

Hi.

I am trying to install the latest version of Maxima as available on
sourceforge. 

I am running an AMD 2GHZ PC with RH8 Linux.

I originally had a problem with package dependencies: maxima wanted
maxima-exec and maxima-exec wanted maxima. I got around this problem by
doing an rpm --nodeps, installing maxima-exec first. 

I also installed clisp 2.30. to cover the lisp dependency.  I've got
nothing against Gnu lisp, but I cannot find RH RPMs and I don't know how
to build it. 

The problem I have at the moment is the following:

[krlux@h68-146-142-19 krlux]$ maxima
/usr/lib/clisp/base/lisp.run: initialization file was not created by
this version of LISP

Yet clisp itself seems to run fine.  The rpms are not available for
clisp 2.27 either. 

Any and all help and advice would be appreciated. 

BTW: the purpose of this installation is to solve the following matrix 
for a, b and r:

/                                              \
| /           2 \ /           2 \ /  /  2 \ \  |
| \ ( x1 - a )  / \ ( y1 - b )  / \ -\ r  / /  |
|                                              |
| /           2 \ /           2 \ /  /  2 \ \  |
| \ ( x2 - a )  / \ ( y2 - b )  / \ -\ r  / /  |
|                                              |
| /           2 \ /           2 \ /  /  2 \ \  |
| \ ( x3 - a )  / \ ( y3 - b )  / \ -\ r  / /  |
\                                              /

ie:
{{(x1-a)^2,(y1-b)^2,-r^2},{(x2-a)^2,(y2-b)^2,-r^2},{(x3-a)^2,(y3-b)^2,-r^2}}

I'd like a general symbolic solution, but if that is not available, I
could supply values for the three known x,y pairs. 

In english, the problem is this: I've got three x,y pairs that lie on a
circle.  I'd like to know the x,y co ordinates of the center of that
circle (a,b) as well as the radius of it.  (Obviously if I have a and b,
I could calculate r...) 

BTW Maxima looks great.  I can't wait to try it. 


Thanks 

Kim Lux