Oh, it's not very hard to circumvent- it's just annoying always having to type in a password to do so. (I thought that was the whole idea behind LINUX- to be customized and experimented with by the user?)

Hey, I just installed the Flash plug-in by using the terminal and a command I got off of a Google search! I think I qualify as an advanced user now.

Are you kidding? They ship it to ya broken.......after a year or two of using it, it might start to work to some degree......

Things are a bit different with Mandriva, but with GNU/Linux,

the fundamental structure is still there across distributions.

Glad to see you have overcome most of the frustration points.

Cheers, Glenn

Hi,

Welcome to LQ & GNU/Linux!

'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' would be one link you should look at to help us to help you in the future.

(Linux is Not Windows) should be a must read for a newbie from M$. Good read!

Just a few more links to aid you;

Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Bash Reference Manual
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Linux Home Networking
Virtualiation- Top 10


The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Thanks, Onebuck.

I will definitely read those links (as well as look-up "slackware" )

I am usually one to be well-read and well-versed on what I am doing, before I actually do it.....but I installed Ubuntu sooner than I had planned, and this password business was just the one annoyance I wanted to get solved quickly. A month from now I'll be a wiz at this!

Now see what I mean about this password business? I started my 'puter this morning- booting to Ubuntu, of course (Did I mention I love Ubuntu?) and the update manager was present. From years of Windows use, my instinct to disable it's automatic appearance kicked in, and went I went to click on "change settings", I get the darn password prompt AGAIN! I'm going to really have to try that sudo passwd thingy!

But thanks to you guys, most instances of the password prompt's appearance have been eliminated, and I am enjoying my LINUX! (I always feel that part of the fun of getting something new is learning about it...and especially with computers, as they do not respond well to the traditional universal analog adjustment tool [puts baseball bat away])

Onebuck,

Those links are great! Just what I was looking for! Unfortunately, it stopped raining here...so I have to go outside and do some work.....but I know what I'll be doing tonight!!!!

And thanks to EVRERYONE who posted, again, for the great info and quick responses!

Ah, just another thing to love about LINUX...free tech support by real people and without the heavey Indian accent and stock answers ("Vhy doanjew try scanning your computer for viruses first, sir?")

Hi,

Glad the links helped. You can never learn to much.

As for the off shore comments. Here on LQ we are multi-national support. Loads of GNU/Linux users from all over that are helpful here.

Gentlemen, I give you: My first all-LINUX/no-Windows day!!!!!!

Computer has been on for 15.5 hours...and is running just as good as when I started it this morning. (With Windows, by this time it would be slow and drained of memory)

AHhhhh!!!

I'm happy for you!

And, I'm still learning too!

Congrats! Now the real fun starts. Try doing everything you did with Windows in Ubuntu. Know that Ubuntu has its ways, and sometimes is better or easier than Windows.

Thanks, Guys!

You know, overall, things are nice and easy to do, AND I don't have all the aggravation that I had with Winders!

With Winders, even though I ran a very clean machine and kept up my maintenance meticulously, I'd always have little isues that would make me mad every time I used the computer (response lag on the simplest tasks.....running slow....CPU fan screaming while just surfing the net....etc. Believe me when I say that I noticed very little increase in performance with Windows when switching from my old 500MHZ Win98 machine two years ago to this 3GHZ Vista machine)

I mean, O-K, the differences aren't like night and day...but just getting rid of all the little annoyances and having an OS that does what it is supposed to do and actually lets YOU control what goes on...is just...well...WONDERFUL!

Viva LINUX!!

(I'm going to slowly work my way through the LINUX Rute Users Tutorial that Onebuck linked......then I should really be good to go!)

Hi,

Yes, Rute Tutorial & Exposition will open doors and enlighten but don't stop there.

I fear I'm turning into a computer geek, Gary!!

I had learned to use Windows (and use it quite well) just by trial and error- never really made an effort to acquire and real computer knowledge. I think I learned what I do know mainly because when I started out on Windows in '99, I was day-trading commodity futures, and had a liver[EDIT: That should be "live market"- there is no "liver market" that I know of- except perhaps in certain Chinese hospitals] market data feed on a dial-up connection and was running a $2500 program on WIN98, and was perpetually calling tech support. I learned more in those first few weeks of computing than in the subsequent years.

Now that LINUX has become user-friendly enough for someone like me to try (which will probably be it's ruination), and I am trying it and liking it, I suddenly have a renewed interest in computers- so I am taking this opportunity to actually educate myself, and learn about this system from the ground up. -And why not? Since this is open-source and it can be changed and customized and improved, etc. it's not like I'm locked into the latest thing that comes down the pike from Seattle and just have to know enough to do what I want on it. No.....this is something that I feel I can actually derive benefits from truly knowing wehat I'm doing, and be rewarded for what I put into it...rather than just being a customer who holds on till his version becomes so obsoleteas to not be usable anymore.

I love it!

[EDIT What I oritinally came here to post: On Windows, to disable caps lock, I had to download an executable file. LINUX, all I had to do was check a box! There goes my prior assumption that LINUX was more difficult and required specialized knowledge!]

Hi,

Things get interesting at the system level. Jump into the 'cli' if you really want to understand the system.

Ubuntu is really awful about that.
To login with root GUI: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-397003.html
Scroll down to the third post.
If you are careful, nothing bad will happen.
You will probably be prompted once at startup and thats all (Exactly how i like it).

If you drive very carefully w/o a seat belt nothing bad will happen ...