[YLUG] Kunbunto

[Gaffer]

Hi Saleh,

On Saturday 09 September 2006 16:39, Saleh Odeh Inscribed Thus:
> On 09/09/06, Saleh Odeh <kirk.lock at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 09/09/06, Gaffer <derrick_s at tesco.net> wrote:
> > > Hi Saleh,
> > >
> > > On Saturday 09 September 2006 15:39, Saleh Odeh Inscribed Thus:
> > > > On 09/09/06, Gaffer <derrick_s at tesco.net> wrote:
> > > > > Hi Craig & saleh,
> > > > >
> > > > > On Saturday 09 September 2006 15:05, Craig Genner Inscribed 
Thus:
> > > > > > On Saturday 09 September 2006 15:01, Gaffer wrote:
> > > > > > > Hi Guys,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Really daft question....
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In order to edit the grub menu one has to be root ! 
> > > > > > > Since Kunbunto dosen't tell you what the root password is
> > > > > > > !  How do you get at this/these files to edit them ?   Or
> > > > > > > did I miss something ??
> > > > > >
> > > > > > sudo kedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
> > > > > >
> > > > > > or vi, emacs, etc.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Craig
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes thats what I thought !
> > > > >
> > > > > I tried sudo and get "Command not found" !   So I tried "su"
> > > > > ! When I use the password I use for login, it tells me that
> > > > > its the wrong one !
> > > > >
> > > > > Whilst I can get at the files I want from the other installed
> > > > > system (SuSE)  It doesn't help someone who only has Wins and
> > > > > Kunbunto.  ie a new user !
> > > > >
> > > > > The "Help system" isn't much use either !  Being pointed to
> > > > > the "Man Pages"  makes it obvious that the root password is
> > > > > needed !
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Best Regards:
> > > > >      Derrick.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > York mailing list
> > > > > York at lists.lug.org.uk
> > > > > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/york
> > > >
> > > > hmm strange..
> > > >
> > > > I have two questions
> > > > 1) did it prompt you for a password?
> > >
> > > If you are referring to "su" Yes !
> > >
> > > > 2) was the error report in the form?
> > > > "sudo: <someting else here>: command not found"
> > >
> > > No !  "sudo  command not found"  (then as below)
> > >
> > > > As for the 'su' thing not working, this is because ubuntu
> > > > variants tend to either:
> > > > a) Not set a password for root by default, in which case you
> > > > would have to set a password for the root account by using
> > > > $ sudo passwd
> > >
> > > How ?  "$sudo" command not found !!
> > > I tried  "$sudo test"
> > > I get "$sudo test  command not found
> >
> > Oh.. the $ sign doesnt go with the rest of the command, its just
> > there to symbolize the non shell prompt,
> >  So the command is actually "sudo <editor name>
> > /boot/grub/menu.lst" without the $ sign
> >
> > and editor name may be Kedit, vi, nano, pico..etc depends on your
> > preference.
>
>  sorry, imeant non root, not non shell..  my bad

No Problem.

> > > > b) The kubuntu version you installed doesnt create a root
> > > > account in first place.. which could be the case if you've just
> > > > performed a fresh install of one of the newer releases
> > >
> > > Yes I did an install from one of the "Kunbunto" Cd's that came in
> > > the post yesterday. Version 6.06
> > >
> > > The issue for me is that, I have installed Kunbunto along side my
> > > SuSE on my machine without a problem !  I am expected to install
> > > it for a client alongside Win XP !
> > >
> > > A second install on a machine that has Win XP on it as well shows
> > > a similar behaviour, in addition to not allowing Kunbunto to move
> > > files to the Wins partition !
>
> to my knowledge Kubuntu detects previous windows installations on the
> machine at installation time, its strange that it didnt add the XP
> installtion to the grub menu by itself.. anyhoo, this shouldnt be a
> problem, once youre in menu.lst you can just add the XP entry to the
> file.
>
> As for the file transfer thing, make sure that the windows
> installation (or whichever drive/filesystem that you want to transfer
> files to from your kubuntu filesystem) is not an NTFS filesystem,
> Kubuntu doesnt have built in support for writng on NTFS drives, youll
> have to install a package to allow you to do that. (i.e captive->
> http://www.linux-ntfs.org/ )

The Win XP filesystem is FAT32, so that the NTFS issue isn't one that I 
need to worry about.

I do however need to get to the bottom of this root access thing !  
Which is, by the way, the reason that files cannot be dropped into the 
Win XP partition.  In fact whilst I can understand the reasoning behind 
Canonical doing this, it makes a gradual transition from Wins to Linux 
very difficult !   If a newby can't get at and change their existing 
files from Linux, and put them back, then they are dissuaded from using 
Linux right from the start !!  This is is not what the Linux community 
want !!!!

> hope i was of help.. :)
> > Saleh M. Odeh

Yes ! Thank you.

-- 
Best Regards:
     Derrick.