user accounts seem to have no access

[CRacerX125]

I've been using YDL for a while - but always logged in as root. I've been reading around, and apparently it's not safe to do that. So I created a new user account, and I have zero control. I can't change my desktop, I can't hear audio, etc. Is there an easy way to create an admin account?

[ppietro]

I've been using YDL for a while - but always logged in as root. I've been reading around, and apparently it's not safe to do that. So I created a new user account, and I have zero control. I can't change my desktop, I can't hear audio, etc. Is there an easy way to create an admin account?

First - root is the admin account. Linux doesn't have the same security paradigm as windows. You have normal users, and you have root. That's by design. You don't want to give normal users the same rights as root; if this type of account was compromised by an external hacker - BAM - they're root and they have full control of your system. This is what happens to most folks in Windows XP, and this is a problem.

So - what's probably going on with your normal user is that some folders in your home directory have been assigned to the root account. Your normal user can't change them. You need to reassign them to your normal user. I would use the chown command to fix this.

So - logged in as root - try this:

chown -R foo1 /home/foo2

where you replace foo1 with the name of your user account and foo2 with the name of your user account's directory.

Cheers,
Paul

[CRacerX125]

Thanks for the knowledgeable response! That all makes sense, and I typed in your command, but didn't have any luck . I have taken a few pictures to help explain my problem (the pictures are pretty large, so I just included the link)

This is under my root account. I'm playing a song, and I want to point out how the volume button is available and I am able to listen to the song.
http://i43.tinypic.com/11uymbs.jpg

Still under my root account, I typed the command you provided. I also brought up my user's directory (just to make sure I have the command right)
http://i41.tinypic.com/2uomdxv.jpg

This last picture is under my CRacerX125's account. These are the problems I'm having. Notice in my media player, the volume button is grey's out. I don't get any audio, and it seems like that account doesn't have permission to mess with the audio. Also, the window to the left shows my desktop (I assigned it a different wallpaper, yet the actual desktop remains at its default picture).
http://i40.tinypic.com/zkqv5t.jpg

Thanks for your help! I greatly appreciate it

[ppietro]

This last picture is under my CRacerX125's account. These are the problems I'm having. Notice in my media player, the volume button is grey's out. I don't get any audio, and it seems like that account doesn't have permission to mess with the audio.

This is weird. When you log in as normal user, you should get rights to /dev/dsp For example, here's mine as a normal user:

Code: Select all

[paulp@yurie dev]$ ls -al|grep dsp
crw-------  1 paulp root  14,   3 Mar 27 21:01 dsp
[paulp@yurie dev]$

and when I login as root:

Code: Select all

[root@yurie ~]# cd /dev
[root@yurie dev]# ls -al|grep dsp
crw-------  1 root root  14,   3 Mar 27 21:01 dsp
[root@yurie dev]#

You can try opening a terminal window, switching to root with the su command, and using chown to set /dev/dsp to your normal user.

But - I'm not sure why this isn't happening automatically. You may have a startup process that's reserving the audio hardware as root and not releasing it correctly. This might be a driver issue of some kind - I'm not quite sure.

Also, the window to the left shows my desktop (I assigned it a different wallpaper, yet the actual desktop remains at its default picture).
http://i40.tinypic.com/zkqv5t.jpg

In this case, you're trying to change the picture in Enlightenment. But - that's not what's generating your desktop. As shipped from YDL, the default Enlightenment desktop actually has a Nautilus desktop overlaying it. Nautilus is a file manager, and is used to generate the icons on your desktop.

To change that background picture, right click on your desktop, and pick "Change Desktop Background". From there, you should get Nautilus' Desktop Background Preferences dialog box.

I've included a screen capture from my box here to show you the difference:


Cheers,
Paul