Permission Denied
 

Okay, I am a complete newb to linux, I have used it before, but I never had to install anything.

I am currently in the process of installing alsa sound that I can get my sound to work, but everytime I try to make a new folder/directory I get a not that says "permission denied". I am currently trying to create the folder in "/usr/src". The same thing happens when I try to install and make install.

Distro: Mandriva 2007

Any suggestions and keep in mind that I am newb so any thing that is second nature to you, I probably do not know about.

wow I feel stupid, just had to become root (su)

if any one has any pointers or suggestions so I can understand linux better

is there any way that I can set access so that I can create/modify folders without having to become root every time

As root:
chmod -R 777 /usr/src

Please don't. Making the /usr/ hierarchy world writable is a very bad idea.

Look into setting up sudo. It might be setup already. If not make yourself a member of the wheel group. Then run "visudo" to edit the /etc/sudoers file. There are one of two lines that you simply need to delete the "# " characters to uncomment them. The /etc/sudoers file is well commented.

Uncomment one of the lines above to allow you to use sudo.

Now, when you come to the install phase of installing from source, you just need to use "sudo make install" instead of "make install".

I will look into sudo, it would not be so bad if I did not have to become root in order use ssh, but that is currently the only way in order to access my school's cluster.

I will definately look in to Sudo and I am open to any other tips as well.

You shouldn't need to use root to use ssh. What goes wrong when you try to use it as a normal user (please post the exact error message)?