I just installed Ubuntu 6.06.1 on my IBM A30 laptop as a dual boot. I d/led the CDROM iso starting from the Ubuntu site.

Well, turns out this cdrom is a live CD that can be installed on a HD, and according to the Ubuntu site this is the best way to go. So I did it.

During the install, it never prompted me for a root password, and now that it is installed I seem to have no access to a console window via X (though, of course, ctrl-alt-Fx works OK).

Having done a ctrl-alt-F1 to get a console, I can't log in as root because there is no password for root. Similarly, logging in as the user that Ubuntu prompted me to become during install works, but I can't su or sudo because there appears to be no root password - not a blank password, but no password that is known to me. I can't access /etc/shadow because I don't have permission.

This is ridiculous. I can always break into the system from outside and establish root, but I shouldn't have to do that. Does anyone know what (a) I did wrong in the install or (b) how I can establish root in a nice fashion?

Also, Ubuntu properly identified the laptop's wireless connection. But I can only connect to my DLink wireless router if I have WEP encryption disabled on the router (A30 is too old to support WPA; WEP is what I have). Seems that when I enable WEP on the router, nothing I do on the laptop enables a connection. I suppose it is a key error, but I can enter the key as either ascii or hex (should be hex) and it isn't taken. Is this a known bug perchance? WEP does work properly, BTW, in Windows XP Pro which is the Windows OS that is on the laptop.

My initial impression of Ubuntu is that it is trying to hide a lot of stuff from me - just like Windows does. I don't like that at all but, since it is linux, if I can get root set up I'll be able to change it to be what I want.

I decided to give Ubuntu a try because it was listed as the most popular distro on this site, so I figured I would see what it was about. The 40 Gig HD on my laptop died a couple of weeks back and after doing a full recovery of the old HD via Knoppix, I replaced the HD with a 100 Gig drive, and streamed the recovered image back onto the new HD. This left me with about 60 gigs free and, after fiddling with the partition organization a bit, I decided to install Linux in the free space.

But I really need root. And I really need WEP to work properly. Any ideas, anyone?

try System --> Administration --> Users and Groups
click the checkbox that says :"Show all users and groups"
root should be on the top. Select root, then click Properties
go down to password, set password by hand. Then set the password.

job done.

Unless I missed something in your post.

use sudo with your USER password
sudo never uses the root password, even if there is one

I hope that fixes your password problem.
Timely post for me. I'm just getting ready to install my first try of Ubuntu 6.10.
Is this 'normal' for the install not to allow you to set a root password?

It did let me set the root password from the Users & Groups utility. Now if I can just get WEP working...

My router is locked down sufficiently that I can turn WEP off without serious risk, and I normally browse from my laptop via SSH to a proxy on my workstation, so it doesn't *really* kill me to turn WEP off, but I'd prefer not to.

Then I want to install and use KDE...

Yes, Ubuntu is designed to work without the root account.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

I just finished my first install of ubuntu. No chance at all to put in a root pword during the install. Being a Unix / Linux user ...having no access to root makes no sense to me, but it's way to early for me to judge. When I logged in and finally found the terminal window it did say (first thing) to use sudo for root tasks.
I don't understand the 'no root' concept yet ....but I was able to change the root password via the user/groups window.

You can also do it from the terminal - just use "sudo passwd". But you should try to work without it, it's quite easy indeed in Ubuntu.

Well, I have kde installed now, so I guess this is now kubuntu.

It has gone together pretty smoothly, though I do have some complaints. I think that a beginner would like this distro because it pretty much set itself up. It annoyed me a bit by trying to hide some things.

I was impressed that it found and set up my wireless networking, but I'm unhappy that WEP isn't working. I do prefer kde to gnome, and I had to google to figure out how to install kde. Once I got that information, the kde installation went quite smoothly.

I haven't been able to install mplayer; apparently there is an unsatisfied dependency to a "broken package". I haven't exactly figured out the implications of that yet.

I usually compile mplayer and other multimedia stuff from source, but none of the development tools are available on this system and I have yet to figure out how to obtain them.

So far, I can't seem to get it to join my home workgroup, which is composed of a mixture of linux and windows systems. I can, however, access shared directories on either type of system (I use smb throughout just for simplicity) if I invoke the target machine by IP address. I have my linux workstation set up as a WINS server; I suppose I don't have the laptop properly configured to look for it.

To this point, I have to say that it has been a smooth and easy installation. I've had a couple of problems, but not real serious ones and the laptop is starting to look like what I like. So that is progress.

Well, you've done the hardest part. What card do you have?
You probably are mixing hex code or using a bad length. WEP is really straightforward.
Strange. I use aptitude which tries to resolve conflicts.
I see no reason for compiling Mplayer from source. Unless somebody proves me the opposite (as I've never tried, I could be wrong..)
mplayer has a builtin cpu autodetection and should adapt to your settings. It should be as fast as the source version.

THe card is whatever comes in the A30 laptop. I don't recall and that computer isn't in front of me. As far as WEP is concerned, all I see for what I type is a line of asterisks. Entering the keycode isn't a big deal; I reentered it many times with no effect. WEP pretty much has to be broken and I can't tell how without a lot of work.

Turns out aptitude had a bunch of the repositories turned off. When I turned them on, it found the needed files and mplayer installed.

As for compiling from source, this gives the capability to get the latest version, which is often a good idea if a security issue is discovered. It also enables configuring the package in detail with particular options. Also, sometimes a package isn't available or for some reason won't install.

And then, of course, there is the fact that sometimes you just gotta do it from the source...why not?

Ah ok I see. You mean from a gui (hum which one?) While I can understand the benefits of the GUI, sometimes you can also try the hardcore but easy way:
edit /etc/network/interfaces and try to edit your key manually:

man interfaces
man wireless

Good.
Ok for the options. Although I don't miss anything for mplayer with default ones..
For security updates they are handled high priority and generaly in a few days its corrected (we are talking about multimedia here not apache are anything, and you dont run mplayer as root)

The advantages is that a package is a self contained block, tested. You can also concentrate on really using your box, rather than just compiling everytime something new arrives.

you can become root by writing sudo su in the terminal

So that is where it is? Yes, often getting down and dirty with the config files is what is required. I didn't know where that info was kept for wireless and hadn't settled down to search for it.

GUI is the standard "Networking" utility that Ubuntu installed.

Actually, it turns out that my problem with the laptop connecting to the workgroup on the LAN came about because of this utility. Seems that the utility set the name of my workgroup someplace, but that someplace didn't include in smb.conf. When I edited smb.conf and changed the workgroup name, suddenly everything worked.

There's a good chance that manually setting WEP will fix that too. Does Ubuntu support multiple wireless configurations (like for when I am traveling?)