[ubuntu-za] Superuser

[Darrel]

Hi all

I have just loaded phpmyadmin with the idea of having a LAMP server to
parse php files through Apache. My problem is that I cannot load any
files into "/var/www" as I do not have permission. I have done some
reading regarding the use of "sudo", "su" and "sudoers" but can't
understand what the author is trying to explain.When I enter su in the
terminal it requires a password,I assume this is a root password as my
Linux password is not accepted.

How do I allocate myself a root password to become a superuser?

Am I approaching my problem correctly?

Please note I am a noob having started with Jaunty and recently
progressed to Karmic

Darrel