Hello,

My first problem is with emerge (on gentoo). Whenever I run emerge I get the error:

"Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.


When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
Please report problems to xfree86@xfree86.org.
"

Second problem:

I have no sound, I'm not sure what driver to load.

Third problem:

When I boot up I log in via the shell and then I am taken to Gnome, is there a was to login using Gnome?

Also my system has become a bit slow, when I use 'su' I type in the password and nothing happens, when I log in using a console it takes a long time to log in.

Edit: and the middle button on my mouse doesn't work.


Any help?

Wow there's a lot to go at there...

1) Erm I dunno - that error is the one you goet if you try to startx twice. Shouldn't happen if you just use emerge, which does not use X.

2) A few ways to solve this one:

a) run the livecd and do /sbin/lsmod to see which module the livecd uses

OR

b) run the livecd and do /sbin/lspci to see what make your soundcard is

OR

c) emerge pciutils then do /sbin/lspci

then recompile your kernel with support for that driver, or use genkernel. Add your module to /etc/modules.autoload.rc/kernel-*

<edit>
# 3) I have seen this posted in other threads.
# I think you want to change your default runlevel to 5 instead of 3.

Update:read arrruken's post! Thank's arrruken for correcting this!
</edit>

4) I have no idea why your system seems slow. Sorry! This has never happened to me. Gentoo should be one of the fastest distributions because you only install the things you need.

5) Your mouse 3rd button... erm dunno! I only have 2 buttons and I use emulation for the 3rd.

Your thread is a bit overwhelming though (IMHO) - I think if you split up your questions over several threads, you would get more people that were confident enough to answer subparts, but few people can answer the whole thing.

I hope I have been of some help and I hope you will enjoy using Gentoo!

Regards,
Mark Byers.

edit to your 3rd response:
Gentoo doesnt have standard runlevels per say, instead it has runlevels like "boot" and "default". If you want a GUI login, you would type "rc-update add xdm default", and change the default login manager in "/etc/rc.conf" to gdm(gnome), kdm(kde), or xdm(default xfree86 login). You will still use the above command no matter which login manager you choose in rc.conf.
p.s. if you want to get rid of the GUI login then do "rc-update del xdm default.
You should look through the forums for things like "performance tweaks", etc. Some things you should make sure of is that you are using DMA and and you have enough swap space.