Hi I am new to Linux,

I have installed RH7.1 on my laptop, however I have no sound, I have downloaded the alsa driver, while trying to configure I get the following error msg:

[root@localhost alsa-driver-0.5.2]# ./configure
creating cache ./config.cache
checking for gcc... gcc

checking whether the C compiler (gcc ) works... yes

checking whether the C compiler (gcc ) is a cross-compiler... no

checking whether we are using GNU C... yes

checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes

checking for ranlib... ranlib

checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c

checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E

checking for ANSI C header files... yes

checking for linux/fs.h... yes

checking for working const... yes

checking for inline... inline

checking whether time.h and sys/time.h may both be included... yes

checking whether gcc needs -traditional... no

checking for directory with kernel source... /usr/src/linux

checking for kernel version... expr: syntax error

expr: syntax error
expr: syntax error

failed (probably missing /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h)



The sound card is the ess solo1

Thanks in advance to those who help

Did you install the kernel source?

When it compiles (alsa) it looks under /usr/src/linux/include/linux for a file called version.h. On the installation CD(s) there is probably an RPM file called something like kernel-source-2.x.x. You should install this, with any luck it will install the above file and you should be away. Be warned though, you must use the same kernel as the one you're currently running. You cannot get away with downloading the latest kernel, extracting it (note: I didn't say compiling it) and trying to fool gcc (the compiler) into thinking you're running a newer kernel.

As I said, the file should be on the CD (probably CD#1).

Mount the CD, move into the RPMs directory and type:
ls *.rpm | grep kernel.
This should list all the RPM files which contain the word kernel.

Keep us posted (see the pun there?).

to be precise, s/he doesnt need the kernel source, s/he needs the kernel headers. as well as this, make sure that /usr/src/linux points to /usr/src/linux-2.x.x in a symbolic link.

You can check this by doing the following:

cd /usr/src
ls -al linux

On my system it returns the following:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Nov 14 12:04 /usr/src/linux -> linux-2.4.10