New to Linux, having a frustrating issue

[jwparsell]

Okay, so I installed Ubuntu on a virtual machine (Sun VirtualBox) and I'm trying to get it to recognize my resolution. I guess Ubuntu only has 800x600 and 640x480 for some reason. So right now when I go full screen mode I get a little box in the center surrounded by a lot of black space.

Now on to the actual Linux problems. Here is what I've tried so far:

First, I tried to follow a tutorial which required me to change my xorg.conf file (after saving the original) and the file was read only, so a no-go there.

Next, I tried to download something called envy which is supposed to do everything automatically, but I couldn't download it, because it was supposedly in the repositories.

Next I tried to access the repositories and it gave me a nice ermission denied message.

Frustrated, I tried to do a shutdown -h now, and I can't even do that.

So now, I'm really just wondering two things:

First and Foremost: Is there ANY way that I can find a root password for Ubuntu? When I do an su- command, it asks me for a password, which of course I do not know.

Secondly, does anyone know how I can get ubuntu to recognize my laptops resolution.

Thanks

[waterhead]

Your problem may be the fact that you are running it as a virtual system. You may need a specific video driver for your laptop. It is not Ubuntu that is not supporting more resolutions.

I would recommend running it as a LiveCD first, and see if the video is better. Then you may be better off actually installing it.

Ubuntu doesn't create a root account, therefore there is no root password. It uses the sudo command to gain root privileges, and the first user created is granted those privileges. When using sudo it will ask for a password, so give it the password for the first user that was created.

There is a stickied thread at the top of the Ubuntu Help catagory daling with sudo.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ubu...in-ubuntu.html

[Dapper Dan]

Most of the problems you mentioned require root privilages as you have surmised... however, in Ubuntu, the way to get that is by using "sudo" For instance... to download envyng...

sudo apt-get update

Then,

sudo apt-get install envyng

You will be required to provide your password the first time you run sudo in the terminal, but after that and for the rest of the terminal session, you'll still need to type in sudo.

On envyng... I've never tried configuring Ubuntu graphics inside a virtual machine so I'm not sure if it will work the same. I've found envy extremely helpful when configuring X windows in Ubuntu. There is a GTK frontend (or "GUI") for envy but it's mind numbingly simple just to run it from the command line...

sudo envyng -t

...and follow the instructions.

EDIT: waterhead was quicker on the draw!

[samilx]

Hi. Try to install guest additions... in virtual box
(when you start a virtual machine, go to Devices-> Install Guest Additions ...)