Mysql, PHP and a wrapper

I'm running apache-1.3.23-14 on a redhat 7.3 system. I have installed the php-rpm and the php_mysql.rpm from Redhat. installed php-4.1.2-7.3.4 and php-mysql-4.1.2-7.3.4. Cannot connect to my mysql-3.23.49-3 database. If I use "mysql_connect()" only, I get "Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mysql_connect() in /var/www/html/admin.php on line 9" elseif I put on my script "include_once(DB/mysql.php)" I get "Fatal error: Class db_common: Cannot inherit from undefined class pear in /usr/share/pear/DB/common.php on line 30" endif. :) can someone tell me how to preinclude /DB/* functions in my Zend engine so I do not have to "include_once" in every script. and if the php rpm needs to be installed how do I do that without breaking the install of mysql and apache.