Ubuntu: Didn't know root password

Ok, so... what happened was... cognitively not all there today. Fast as I thought of it, couldn't remember what I needed to do but it went something like... let a couple different live, active operating systems make nice with each other by sharing files.

BUT FIRST, I needed to undo a stupid I did a couple days ago... messed up permissions on the targeted folder. Well, I think I did it. Is also possible it's about trying to access a hard drive created by another operating system (Knoppix). But I don't think so. SEEMS LIKE... I was able to access the target folder until I bloopered the other day..

Bumbling around trying to figure the permissions thing out, I got the bright idea to search on "manage user accounts ubuntu". Ended up at Ubuntu Help's User Management webpage. Skimmed through and knew immediately that wasn't what I was looking for so sat here pondering.

Decided to try su in a terminal. That was a FAIL. Received back an "Authentication failure" error message. Remembered I'd JUST coincidentally seen something about root and password on that Ubuntu User Management page. Bingo > sudo passwd is what you need if you've never accessed root in your system before. Turns out Ubuntu's Dream Team keeps root turned off by default (for good reason). You can activate it by entering the "sudo passwd" command then entering information as requested.

BUT DON'T TO DO THAT!

Placing sudo before commands gets you most, if not all, of what you'd ever need accomplished as system administrator as long as you've been previously granted those powers. If you go in there with full power of root, you can do something really stupid by total accident (like what I did couple days ago). And actually not sure if I messed up while as "sudo" or root but, either way, what I did was... type too fast for my brain while accessing admin powers. Accidentally started changing an entire disk's permissions when I'd only wanted to change one folder, my photo folder. Left off the folder name and off it went....

And so here we are now.. less than 24 hours before I'd like to have solved/resolved inter-Linux distro communication by first undoing something that should not have occurred in the first place. So forget root exists. Take a few extra seconds to search the W-W-W for alternatives that others have used. There's so much more newbie and cognitively friendly information available out there than there ever has been. Research, don't take shortcuts just because they do happen to exist.. The sanity you save... will be your own (and most likely fellow members of some Linux community listserv somewhere). :)

Happy Safe Surfing out there!

PS My new office mate out here on the porch.. A Carolina Wren (CAWR, Thryothorus ludovicianus) sitting on her new nest... Patience pays... :)

PulseAudio in Ubuntu 12.04

How about that. If I'd waited two more weeks, it would have been 6 years since my last post on this blog.. But I'm antsy, so here we gooo....

Kind of like walking in at the middle of the movie here. For now, will be lumping these under "so what i did was"..

Sooo... What I did was.... I've got several LiveDVDs that I work with these days. Some graphics ones and long time favorite, Knoppix. BUT.. This second am working on a laptop that came with Ubuntu pre-installed.

Today's dilemma... Ran into an issue yesterday where the laptop's onboard microphone became mysteriously... muted. No, I didn't do it. Last time I made changes, it was to go to:

• System Settings
• Sound
• Input tab
• Click on Internal microphone
• REMOVE the checkmark next to "Mute"

That was about two weeks ago and haven't been back in there since. AND YET.. there we were yesterday and my microphone's back muted. I will grant that possibly an accidental combination of keyboard strokes did the dirty deed. Life lesson learned the hard way was to ALWAYS "test-test one two three" to make sure the sound level is working. If not, software is likely muted.

In the process yesterday, discovered that under the Output tab in the Sound System Settings, speakers were not working when "Digital Output S/PDIF" was highlighted. Alrighty then..

Today hit the search engine and found someone at the Ubuntu forum had the same issue. They mentioned HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). Lost me immediately BUT I do know I've encountered that early on in Ubuntu, just no clue where. May or may not be the problem, time and accidental stumblings will tell.

Per the Ubuntu Forums suggestion, I followed through today by downloading PulseAudio Volume Control:

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

What program name to use to download I noticed is provided if you go to Ubuntu Software Center. Pick software you like then click to highlight it. You'll be offered an "Info" button. Once in there, 100% of the time I've found the package name. Don't include version numbers, just first part of the name and you more likely than not will be ok.

So now I have PulseAudio Volume Control installed. I followed the further directions to wander through the tabs. Apparently has two interfaces. If you click the "lock" button on the righthand top corner, the tabs interact with each other. Unlock it and they don't seem to... Could be a glitch here but that's how it appears.

All well and good but.... Digital Output S/PDIF is still not functioning. Will keep plugging until it does.. :)

Happy Safe Surfing out there.. :)