Hmm, hard to say. I online have Suse 8.1 flying around somewhere.
But as I said: don't try to compile from the sources, but rather install an RPM. For that to succeed you have to uninstall the old RPM packages, get the 7.2.4 ones e.g. from sdb.suse.de or from rpmfind.net and then just install.
If you compile from scratch and are a Linux newbie, you completetely bypass RPM's nifty package management. Which means more trouble than needed
For installation it is often best to have someone around on-site. Why don't you just join us on the irc channel #openacs on the freenode network (irc.freenode.net)?
