Rubygems

Can anyone help me regarding the gems utility? (links to FAQs,tutorials,etc)
Basically I'm trying to download and install from the .tar sources for various dependencies using the gem command.
Also, installing rails from command line is not working, is there any other alternative ?
However, ruby as well as rails is working fine on top of Netbeans ide. So, is there any way for me to reuse gems and other components from the Netbeans platform to the native installation and vice versa ?
Please correct me as I am just beginning the learning of this stuff.

gem install <name of gem> --include-dependencies

The --include-dependencies is optional, but it is a good proactive thing to do. Make sure you are root/sudo/admin.

To install a local gem you need to untar it first. and then use gem to install the *.gem file.

What are the specific errors that you get when trying to install rails?

You best bet is to install all gems natively, then they can be used system wide with no fuss.