Permalinks not working

I’m on a linux server with apache 2.2, trying to set everything up for the first time. I know my way around linux but know close to nothing about apache and wordpress. I’m trying to get the permalinks working, but I can’t get anything but 404s. I tried the documentation, but it doesn’t explain how to do anything. I’ve tried adding stuff like “AllowOverrides All” and “Options FollowSymLinks” to various config files with no luck. Please help me!