Im a newb so please be patient . I have installed Debian on my system and have been using KDE as interface. Upon start up I get the same message
Error while initializing sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (permission denied)

The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

I have attempted (i think) to use chmod to get permission for the device but to no avail. The system uses a Yamaha OPL driver (I believe) and works OK in windows but can't get it in KDE. I have looked around and tried a few things but having no luck. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. With a new child don't have an awful lot of time to spend, but have been enjoying the little of my Linux experience I can do

Thanks in advance (he says hopefully)

ls -l /dev/dsp

Should tell you the owner (usually root) and the group audio.

Make sure the user is a member of audio. to add the user to audio group su to root and type.

usermod -G audio youruser

That should do it.