Need a little help with rpms
 

I opened XMMS and tried to run a few mp3s. They didn't appear in the Playlist after I went add=> dir.
It seems XMMS needs a plugin to run mp3s. Is that true? Anyway I downloaded the rpm here. However to install the package i go to System Settings => packages - it informs me I need root access. Since i am a user and do not have the root password this is as far as i can go.

Surely there is a way to add a plugin to allow me to listen to mp3s without being the root user?!

I installed linux shockwave with no problem. It installed through the Shell. Is there a similar way for rpms?

TIA

You can install rpms through the shell, but you still need to be root (use the su command)

I used rpm -i filename

but how was i able to install shockwave then? I know it wasn't an rpm (I ran an installer) but there must be some way of doing it?

basically all i want to do is install something that let's me listen to mp3s? will i not even be able to install games?

erm... pass? AFAIK you shouldn't be able to install anything without being root (or super user, which is the equivalent)

you dont need root to install everything but usually when you isntall an rpm you need root..

can someone clarify this for me? I want to install some programs and i was told i can do this as it didn't interfere with the system.

what it basically means is that i can't even listen to mp3s if i'm not the root user?

has anyone found a solution to this? surely there's people out there on linux networks who are able to get around it. I'm going to get the root vs user speech aren't i? :)

send a mail to root and ask them if they will install it for you? i dunno much else to do unless you have the root password

You can listen to MP3s even if you're not the root user so long as the plugin is installed, it's only the installation itself that you need to be root for.

Why don't you have access to the root account?

I'm on a college network and have user access only. Its probably better that i don't have root access since i'm new to linux.

I'm the only one using this machine so i think i'll get onto admin and see if i can get dual booted into Windows. Seems a bit of a waste to have an account like this that is so restrictive.

Well, the easy thing to do is just to ask to have whatever you need installed.