My perferred method of administration when running a regular user is:

Open an xterm window

run su -
do admin stuff
exit term window


Alternatively, you can get a dedicated root command line screen by pressing control+alt+f2 to switch to a virtual terminal. When you are done, you can switch back to the gui with control+alt+f7


what you do NOT want to do, is run a full gui as root. The first method gives you a single window with root access inside your gui, the second gives you a command line console that is totally separate from the gui.

Bliss - thank you both Tiger and Kahless.

Yikes - it works!!! run Root Terminal - navigate via cd .. to /ect/apt and type gedit sources.list - then type #this is a rafkid test - and save the file and reopen it and there it is!

Grief - it has takend four days to do that............still I could probably do it again if need be - so I learnt something today. Many thanks for the nudge in the right direction. It is going to be very interesting running my Doze legacy software under CrossOver Office and seeing if it works. If it does............a transtion will have occured for good.

I am beginning to think I may actually manage to do this.