Couple of noobish questions.
 

I tried searching for the answers to my questions, really, I did. Spent 2 hours on it so far. They're simple questions and I'm getting annoyed, so I'll just ask here.

1. How do I exit the X window manager so I can install my video drivers?
2. How do I install soundcard drivers?
3. XMMS refuses to play anything, and when I log in as root I get this error message:
"Sound server informational message.
Error while initializing sound driver...."

Trying Linux 1 more time and this time around, I'm determined to figure it out.

Running FC4, btw.

Not sure about the others, but for no. 1, you need to change to runlevel 3. Open a terminal:

$ su
Password: <enter root pass>
# init 3

That should give you a command line only.

Edit: for no. 3, you might wanna tell us what error message you're getting ;) :).

Re: I tried. :|
 

1. How do I exit the X window manager so I can install my video drivers?

If your running in runlevel 5 which is X, you need to run init 3. ctrl-alt-F2 and then issue the command init 3 or reboot issuing the same command at the lilo or grub prompt. Or temporarily edit your /etc/inittab file to boot into runlevel 3. If you start X by issuing the command startx, simply logout or do a ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X running.

2. How do I install soundcard drivers?

Depends on what sound drivers they are and the type of card you have. Most likely your current kernel already supports your soundcard, providing such details will usually tell us otherwise.

3. XMMS refuses to play anything, and when I log in as root I get this error message.

Well, if you don't have sound configured, XMMS won't play sounds. Refer to your question #2.

And the future, please try to use more helpful descriptive thread titles, your's doesn't not describe your questions at all.

Thanks for the quick responses. Guys...do me a favor, pretend you're talking to someone who's entire education when it comes to computers is Win-based. Actually...don't pretend.

"...issue the command init 3 or reboot issuing the same command at the lilo or grub prompt. Or temporarily edit your /etc/inittab file to boot into runlevel 3..." <-- Not English.

Let me give you a bit more information on what's up with my sound. I've got a 4.1 speaker setup going on, and it's pretty happy. Aside from the fact that since installing Linux, all the bass is being pushed through the speakers, rather than the sub. Now, being icky little speakers, they can't really handle it, and snap, crackle and pop constantly. I figured, updating the sound drivers will resolve the issue. Just before I went out looking for sound drivers, though, I get this error message that the sound card is busy with another application or is, for some other reason, unusable. It plays things when I'm logged in as root, but refuses to do so on a regular user.

Oh, and sorry about the title.

About inittab:

Open a terminal and change to root with su and then the password. Then, open the file /etc/inittab with any text editor (eg. pico, emacs, or whatever editor is on your system):

$ su
Password: <root pass>
# emacs /etc/inittab

You should see lines like this (amongst others):

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

You need to change that 4 (or whatever number it is) to a 3 and save the file. Then, when you boot your machine, you'll boot to a command line and no X Windows. There is some info about the file itself here and also here if you want to read :).

Thanks, nylex. That was easy.

So I ran init 3 from the terminal, got out of X. All was well. Ran the driver installer. It tells me my driver sucks and isn't compiled for my system (no precomplied kernel for the interface) , or something along those lines. Asks me if I want to compile one. I say sure. It tells me I don't have gcc. Fine. I go install gcc. I come back. Go through the motions again, and now it says "Unable to find the kernel source tree for the currently running kernel."

:( Pleh.

probably says the kernel headers are missing. You need to install the kernel source for your kernel version.

Okie.

And where do I find out what my kernel version is and where do I find the kernel source to match it?

You can find out your kernel version by typing "uname -r", without the quotes. The source should be on one of your FC 4 CDs.

I've got the dvd of it. How do I install the source?

rpm -i kernel-source-(version).rpm

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -i kernel-source-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.rpm
error: open of kernel-source-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.rpm failed: No such file or directory

One more thing. My cd-drive keeps freezing up when I try to install stuff. Just glitches out and won't eject the cd and won't continue with the installation.

you did not tell it the actuall filename on the disk.
try copying the rpm to ~(home directory) first.

I don't have the kernel-source-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.rpm file. I checked redhat's ftp server, it's not in any of the distro rpm folders either. :(

So this thread kind-of expired. Could someone please help me?