how do I connect to MSSQL and mySQL with PHP4 and Linux?

I run Apache, PHP4, RH Linux, and mySQL currently. Everything is fine. What I need to do is get Microsoft SQL Server in there as well. I see this FreeTDS thing (www.freetds.org), but do I really need that? I don't even know what it is really? The 'FAQ' is not very informative for a 'novice'. It seems like some extra layer of minutiae that I don't want to deal with. Isn't there some way to compile PHP "--with-mssql" just like there is "--with-mysql"? And there are all these built in mssql_connect() etc functions in PHP already, how would FreeTDS effect that? on this page: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mssql.php there is an example on how to compile everything, but it still shows freeTDS in there. I looked through the archives: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-db&w=2&r=2&s=mssql+mysql&q=b but didn't find anything remotely useful. I guess I was hoping this would be simple, like mySQL connectivity was... Thanks in advance, Daevid.com