RH 9 - Am i over my head...???
 

I am relatively new to the world of linux. I have 'played' with RH distros in the past (6 and 7 - 7.2). Right now I have RH 9 loaded on my laptop (i had it on my tower, but it wiped out my hardware raid 1 and killed all my MS partitions) and I am having a couple problems - but being a newbie thats slightly expected right?

1. I am having a problem with the SIS 7012 soundcard. I have the ALSA drivers as welll as the ones from SIS - but i get lost in the directions (since i really have no solid experience with hardware inside linux its all gibberish to me). I can browse through the directories ok and have a general idea where everything is.
The soundcard autodetector can pick up the card, but it is disabled and the warning dialouge states there is not support for the soundcard inside redhat. I have tried to install the card reading the directions, but get lost with all the shell commands and other things like that.

2. Here is the big one I feel. I have a SIS650 video chip. From what i have read, no one is having a pleasant time installing it. I will explain no further than that (being a newbie i can only imagine the damage i could inflict on my laptop)

if there is anyone out there willing to spend a little time conjuring up a decent walkthrough for a soundcard install i would greatly appreciate it.

Is anyone brave enough to help with the SIS650??? I have found a website -winischhofer.net- that has the information for the chipset and everyone seems to recommend his website as i browsed for info.
However, after reading the information he posted, i felt dumber after reading all the homework has had posted there. Being as i know how to install linux and use the mouse i kinda had no idea what he was talking about.

I am well versed in the realm of MS and build my own pc's. So I know my way around a computer fairly well. I felt i was just ready to tackle the next great bound in OS's.

Any help????:newbie:

Being a bit new as well, I'd start by suggesting a search in these forums and in google, bet that gets you half way or better! ;)

I have an SiS630, which is a tricky little sod to install to get DRI working. However, you have the 650, which does not have 3D hardware acceleration. Therefore, you won't get a large performance hit with the drivers from winischhofer.net (at least not as large as you would with hw 3d). What do you want to install the drivers for? Does it work at the moment? When I first installed Redhat8 I never even tried to get specific graphics card support, and it worked fine.
Having said that I'd be happy to help, but just be sure that you actually need the extra hardware support (or if you just want to do it for fun)

Hmmmm.....
 

well... the reason(s) i would like to are:

1. for the knowledge and future pats on the back i will give myself if i could do it... and it works....

2. and the video seems a bit choppy now... mouse skips.. etc... i didn't know if that was atypical of the linux default vga drivers or not... i have a p4 2.4ghz in the system so i figured that a slow box wasn't the problem.. and i have 64mb assigned to the video...

3. any idea on the sound..? (from my original post)


thanks!!!!!:study: