LinuxQuestions.org - unable to install proprietary driver for ati radeon 9250 on debian sarge (newbie)

I recently installed Debian Sarge 3.1_r0a on a dual boot system with XP Home SP2. I chose to use the 2.6.8-2-386 kernel from the Debian installation. Then I downloaded ATi's proprietary driver version 8.21.7 and ran it in a terminal and completely outside of X. Both times I got errors.
I'm trying to install a 256MB Radeon 9250. On ATi's installation instructions site, they show a nice window based setup, but mine uses a DOS-like GUI. Furthermore, the file ends in *.run, not *.rpm like I've seen in my search results for help with this.

For some reason, I get "permission denied" whenever I try to access the error log, even as root.

The only thing I can think of that could be wrong is I that I might not have POSIX shared memory configured. However, I have no clue as to how to set it up or to even find out if it is on or not.

Please help the helpless newbie :newbie:

Summarization of info:
Debian 3.1_r0a "Sarge"
kernel: 2.6.8-2-386
Radeon 9250 w/256MB VRAM
Misc info:
mobo: Tekram S3Pro-AU
320MB RAM
skt 370 P3 Coppermine 1GHz
HD: Western Digital 80GB
v.90 modem (not used)
Intel Pro/100+ Network adapter
Yamaha DS-XG sound card
no-name USB2.0 PCI card

Networked w/ crossover cable to a Dell C400, but no Internet on the Linux system.
no-name 52x CDROM
Yamaha 16x10x40 CDRW
2x floppy drives