Marius2 here was kind enough to suggest a change to my Samba config file so I could get samba working.

So I went to my /etc/Samba directory and edited it with kate and tried to save it and . .

. . . and it wouldn't let me because I'm only a poor dumb user!! Doh!!

Now I know I can save it to some user directory and then open a terminal window someplace and su root and use shell commands to physically move it back to /etc. But Jimmy Carter isn't the president anymore and telephones don't have round dials that go click-click-click and Archie Bunker doesn't berate Meathead every week, and numerous studies have shown that using ASCII terminal emulators gives mice finger cancer . . . SO I assume there's a more straightforward way to make myself root from inside Konqueror or inside Kate so I can save the file!!

How do I make myself root from inside KDE so I can use Konqueror and kate and other KDE tools with root priveleges?

Thanks in advance!!

Use the kdesu program.
For example, lets say you want to edit /etc/fstab using kwrite.
Press Alt-F2 to bring up the application launcher
enter kdesu kwrite /etc/fstab

Now make your changes and save.