Password question.

[Steven Vollom]

Bruce Marshall wrote:
> On Monday 24 November 2008, Steven Vollom wrote:
>   
>> My understanding was there is a difference between user and root.  I
>> have always been referred to steven and user.  I never thought about my
>> being the only one on my computer so that perhaps my password was root.  
>>     
>
> No, your steven password is NOT the root password.    steven + <steven's 
> passwd>  allows you to use SUDO to issue commands AS ROOT.
>
> You need to grasp this concept before we can procede.
>   
I don't know what to do, Bruce.  I have reread it several times, I can't 
see what you are saying.  What can ROOT do that SUDO cannot do?  My 
password made SUDO work.  I know that it is me who is in error, it just 
doesn't seem logical as I know the word Logical.
>
>   
>> I just always chose 'em' for any password needed within my computer to
>> make it easier.  I have always wanted to have a more difficult Login
>> password, but I need my computer like Feisty.  I could do things with my
>> Root Shell without a password.  I lost that in Gutsy, so in Hardy, when
>> I installed the new OS, I used 'em' for my Login password, and things
>> have been insecure, but fine for me.  I never thought losing the end of
>> one finger could cause so much problems.  I had to relearn to make
>> pottery,  Painting changed with loss of controll, typing has been filled
>> with errors, it is much more difficult to open a jar, it hasn't been fun.
>>
>>     
>>> What 'terminal' and why did it need a password?
>>>       
>> To get me into root.
>>     
I don't remember now what I needed root for, probably some instruction 
from the list.  That was quite a while ago.
>
> You get the window...... THEN you get to root.
>
>
>   
>>>   Aren't we talking about a
>>> Konsole window under KDE???
>>>       
>> I think Konsole was one of the ways Feisty used for an option to open a
>> shell or terminal.
>>     
When you open a Konsole, does it look like a shell?  I can't remember 
the term konsol.
>>     
>>>     It should not need a password just to get the
>>> window.
>>>       
>
> No you shouldn't need a passwd just to get the window.
>   
I finally found what you were talking about when I say window.  Right 
now I am typing in a window that is an email.  Then I was talking about 
the window that makes up a Shell.  To me it is a window on the Desktop 
that contains a Shell, which I consider some kind of engine that moves 
data around.  This window is a mail man or mail truck.  It delivers the 
mail that is in it.  Basically that is how I see it.  I have not had 
anyone question that before.  Up until the list I have gotten very 
little help.  I had to create ways for me to understand things to get 
any results.  I have posted the same problem several different ways and 
posted on several forums, then waited months for a response.  I am used 
to forgetting I asked a question on a forum and did not see the answer 
til months later, because no one usually answers my posts.  I have 
crashed and formatted my computer probably more than 30 times, 
experimenting and trying to understand.  This is the first time I have 
gotten any help that I did not have to wait weeks or months for ever.  I 
have been trying for close to 15 years.  Still I will never give up.  I 
wanted to use the computer to make art.  All I have been able to use it 
for is emails, finding information, movies.

Surely you see how many ways I posted my question about what I wanted to 
accomplish with my password.  I must have posted a dozen different ways, 
and still I don't think anyone knows what I need.  I don't have any 
hidden agendas in anything I say.  I mean precisely what I say, so when 
someone answers a different question from what I ask, I get confused.