Becoming Root

Changing system settings, such as the modem or network configurations, generally requires root access. Root is the term used for the all-powerful Linux superuser. (For more information on Linux users and privileges, see Chapter 12.)

If you are not logged on as root, you can log off and log back on as root. Or, you can su—change your effective user identity—to root.

To su to root:

1.
Open a terminal window, either by clicking the terminal icon on the Gnome panel or by choosing Gnome Terminal from the Gnome Utilities menu (Figure 4.1).
2.
Click in the Terminal window, so that it has the focus of keyboard entries.
3.
With the terminal window open, type su root at the prompt.
4.
Enter the root password at the prompt. You'll see at the ...

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