Hello,

I installed Ubuntu on one of my computer as I want to try to learn Linux. I'm also planning to try Debian and Slackware.

I have a few questions:

• Installed, everything running fine. I download firefox just to try out installed something (first time trying Linux) and I get a tar.gz file and open it and I see a shell script so I figure thats the install file. It doesn't work. I figure.. I'll try to login as root. But ROOT IS DISABLED.. why the hell is this? is there any other weird surprices with ubuntu such as this?
• Is it possible to switch from KDE to Gnome to Fluxbox etc.. or do you need the distro that has that Desktop Enviorment?
• I'm planning to take linux certifications, buy a book or 2 to learn linux within time. Am I right with my distro choices? (I'm guesing I'll be trying many more over time), but is this good for now?

Just looking for answers, and comments for the other questions.

THANK YOU!

Also, is the in the installation partitioning the only way to partition?
And.. Whats this talk about Fluxbox.. Whats the diffrence between it and KDE or Gnome?

Ubuntu uses sudo instead of root (which is a big security risk in my personal opinion because a cracker only needs one passwrod to access everything on your system). You can get a normal root account by doing "sudo passwd root" as a normal user.

The version of Firefox you downloaded is a binary so clicking on the shell script (called firefox) or running it from the command line will launch firefox.

Ubuntu only ships with GNOME but you can installed KDE, fluxbox etc using apt-get or its gui, synaptic. Once they are installed you can use the login manager to choose which session you want to run.

If you are looking for Linux certifications eg. Linux+ and LPI, then you need to also try an rpm based distro like Fedora Core because there could be a few questions regarding rpm in the package management section.

As for partitioning, for Ubuntu and most Debian based distros, the text based partitioning and installation is the only one available although Debian proper lets you choose which packages you want. Other distros like Fedora Core, Mandriva, Suse have text based as well as GUI installers, so you choose which one you prefer.

I tried the sudo passwd and I changed the pass but when I tried to login I got a root disabled or not allowed error.


Just one more general question..

Past the looking at all the options and diffrent apps in Linux. What should I do or read to actually learn some command line, and other stuff..

Really don't know where to stuff..

I think I'll be switching around between Ubuntu, Gentoo, Debian maybe slackware and fedora.

Thanks red, you helped me a few times already

These two links should help you out a bit:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

You may also want to check out these two links:
http://ubuntu.xgn.com.br/ubuntu_user_guide.pdf
http://makuchaku.info/amnesty/#