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installing third party programs, how to?

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hellow world

well im a newbe, i just installed debian running the kde desktop on a amd64x2 athelon, i have not costomized any thing yet(clean out of the box) i need to install a program that is from a third party vendor, synergy by webersys.com,

kde limits the root login, how do i get around this so i can use dpkg

in general im dont understand this process, i have a fair grip on the package thing with apt but the rest is confusing.

there is so much material im having a hard time sorting through what i need now verses what i should eventualy learn

and is there any help getting my nvidia gforce 8800gt video driver working, i had to remove it to get debian to load, id sure like reinstall it

thanks

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installing third party

Submitted by 1 on Tue, 2008-01-29 14:22.

To become root anytime, just open the konsole or any other terminal and type 'su'. It is going to ask for a root password, and after you typed it you become root.

type: dpkg -i whateverthefilenameis.deb

and your package is going to be installed and, hopefully, working. To exit root mode, type: "exit". There, you're back to your ordinary user.

In my experience, the most important thing for the beginner is to understand package managemet (e.g sources.list), basic console work, linux directory strucure, commands such as man, info, apropos, find. Yeah, not to install "third-party" software in the beginning ;-). Another good habit is watch out for different sounds comming out of your hardware(better yet for those not coming, like dead fans), as well as smell (e.g. your motherboard plastic burning as a consequence of malfunctioning ACPI). Keep your senses sharp.

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installing third party

Submitted by pinniped on Tue, 2008-01-29 15:41.

For several years now the Debian default has been to prohibit root logins to X. This is partly because many people develop the bad habit of logging on as 'root' all the time. There are a number of things you can do:

1. edit /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc and change "AllowRootLogin=false" to "AllowRootLogin=true". If you use a different desktop manager, edit its configuration file.

2. Just log in as a normal user and bring up an X terminal. Then do something like:
xhost +
(not really recommended for routine work - this allows anyone to 'attach' to your display)
Then use "su" to become root, and you can launch any graphical tool you want. After that, don't forget to restore the normal X settings:
xhost -
The better way to grant display access to other users is to set up keys via 'xauth' rather than using the old and discouraged 'xhost'.

Now for your NVidia card:
1. get the latest driver from the NVidia website
2. Make sure you've installed a compiler etc etc
3. Install your running kernel's headers:
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
4. Switch to a virtual console: [ctl][alt][F1]
5. kill X: /etc/init.d/kdm stop
6. run the NVidia installer
7. bring up X again: /etc/init.d/kdm start

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installing third party

Submitted by 1 on Tue, 2008-01-29 17:02.

Just a question about 2. Why would you need to do xauth/xhost before using su?

Couldn't you just run whatever you want as a superuser from the konsole?

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installing third party

Submitted by pinniped on Wed, 2008-01-30 05:30.

Even "root" can't connect to a display unless X authorizes it. As far as X is concerned, it's receiving all these messages and it needs to check whether to accept or reject them. The messages can come from anywhere on the internet and it makes no sense to rely on, say, PAM to authenticate a user and grant privileges. So X performs its own tests.

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