I'm back with a new set of questions =)

[swe_kitsune]

Hello everyone!

I have been using mandriva for about a week now, and so far I am very pleased. Although I have a couple of new questions that I would like to get answered.

1 - if I rename a folder with a "." before the name, for example ".music", what happens then? Well I realised that the folder disapeared. And how do I get it back? if I write "file:/home/marcus/.music" in the location bar, it just says that the folder doesn't exist... please help!

2 - how do I get acces to the folders in /usr? I only have one account on my computer, the admin, so I can't figure out how I can edit the files in /usr...

Well, Hope I can get a reply soon =) And thanks for all the help that I have previusly recieved!

-Marcus

[Slip]

Hello everyone!

I have been using mandriva for about a week now, and so far I am very pleased. Although I have a couple of new questions that I would like to get answered.

1 - if I rename a folder with a "." before the name, for example ".music", what happens then? Well I realised that the folder disapeared. And how do I get it back? if I write "file:/home/marcus/.music" in the location bar, it just says that the folder doesn't exist... please help!

2 - how do I get acces to the folders in /usr? I only have one account on my computer, the admin, so I can't figure out how I can edit the files in /usr...

Well, Hope I can get a reply soon =) And thanks for all the help that I have previusly recieved!

-Marcus

1. The folder becomes hidden, you can type its name in the address bar with a dot infront of the name and it will display its content. Or you can use ls -a command in a terminal.

2. What files you want to edit in /usr? Your personal user information is stored in /home/<userinfo> and admin account (root) is stored in /root. Create a user account for yourself and do not use the root account unless you need to, its very easy to break your system and is a major security risk to run as root for everyday use.

[Seren]

Hello everyone!

I have been using mandriva for about a week now, and so far I am very pleased. Although I have a couple of new questions that I would like to get answered.

1 - if I rename a folder with a "." before the name, for example ".music", what happens then? Well I realised that the folder disapeared. And how do I get it back? if I write "file:/home/marcus/.music" in the location bar, it just says that the folder doesn't exist... please help!

Directories that start with . are invisible in many ways. But you still should be able to put their full pathnames into most things and get into the directories that way. Also, you can see them if you're in the directory above and you enter ls -a. To get them back to being fully visible you should be able to do a normal renaming of them with the mv command.

2 - how do I get acces to the folders in /usr? I only have one account on my computer, the admin, so I can't figure out how I can edit the files in /usr...

If you have root privileges (for instance if you're working from the root account, or use the su or sudo commands), you should be able to get into the /usr directories. What happens when you try? When you enter ls -ld /usr and ls -l /usr, what rights to you have to /usr and its contents?

[sabin]

(edit : my menus being in French, all the english menu texts are home-made translations, I can't promise it will be exactly like that for you )

For the hidden files and directories : there's an option in Konqueror called "show hidden files" : magic !

To edit files requiring root priviledge : rather than start a root session (uberly bad idea, we will all agree), I suggest that instead you just run Konqueror as root, that is much less risky.

Here's how to do, two solutions :

- open a console (alt-F2 : "konsole", or find where the konsole icon is in your menu bar), run "su" to log in as root (it will ask you to enter your root password), and then run "konqueror" to start a konqueror session with root priviledge. You can also run "konqueror /usr/bin" or whatever directory you want to open.

- create a new shortcut on your desktop, application : "konqueror", and in the advanced options, check the option "run as another user", select "root" as that other user. And every time you launch that shortcut, it will ask your password and start a root session in konqueror.

[swe_kitsune]

Ah, thanks guys, once again you have helped me out =) I was scared there for a moment, when I accidentley renamed my folder .media... Thanks alot!

[borromini]

Swe_kitsune, don't tell me you're working as root constantly? You have only one account, does that mean you only have a root account? I hope you don't... If yes, why didn't you stick to Windows?

[Seren]

For almost all the years I've used Unix and Linux, I've done so only as root. Piously-intoned proscriptions don't impress me, and I don't make system-destroying mistakes.

However, when I switched for the last time from Red Hat back to Mandrake recently, I did mostly work in a user-level account, for the following reasons:

1) I'd get used to a practice that would be helpful if I got a job working on other people's Unix or LInux systems.

2) Malware operating over a network can run with root privileges much more easily if one is logged in while in root than if one is in a normal user-level account.