When I use the super user console I am denied permission on some commands, such as /dev/hda and /dev /dsp*/dev/mixer* . I am trying to use Linux and am learning it little by little. I have no experiance with the command line and am reading the posts for info. I was under the impression that when logged on as root one had access to the whole os to do as one wanted for good or bad, and therefor one should be cautious using it. I don't want to crash the system, but as it does not have anything on it I can't lose, I'm not too worried about stumbling while trying to learn the system. All this came about as I have no sound on the cd program, but the test button on the config program produces sound, so I think it is a permission problem, but can not get to the point to change it if I could find the place to do so. Enough rambling, thanks for any help you send along.

You still may get permission denied if your command is invalid. "/dev/hda", for example, is a device file for your primary master IDE hard drive, not a command. You should get a book or find a tutorial about basic Linux or even UNIX commands (the most basic commands are the same in Linux and most versions of UNIX). If the test sound plays but CDs don't, your problem may be not having a cable from the drive to your sound card or motherboard. Did sound work in Windows or any other OS?

u need to read up on permissions, esp. the chmod command. as root ucan change permissions on any file with chmod, for ex. with chmod 744 'file name' root woulld have read, write, and execute permissions on the file. chmod u+x file name would do the same thing. good luck

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I agree, I should get a book of some sort to learn this system. I have been thinking of ordering the book on the Mandrake site for 9.1. Any thoughts on it? I should think it would cover the whole os in detail. As for the sound, yes it worked in win xp. Once again, thanks for the help, I'm going to keep on trying!

Yep, windoze plays audio CDs differently to linux....as jake said, you need to make sure that you have the audio cable connecting the drive and sound card.