still trying to get my head around su and sudo

[amelia1512]

basically, I'm new to using Ubunto and there are a lot of videos on the internet that I can't view, there is just a grey box with a grey play button in the middle, but when I click it it does nothing, so I'm assuming it's java, as I have downloaded the recent flash, and so can't be this.

Downloaded java successfully to my desktop, followed the instructions on the website, and told me to type su in command, asked for password, typed in password, press enter and then I get authentication failure, I know the password is right...but I can't go any further from here, I'm only doing what the website is telling me, but I don't know what else to do. I don't even know if it is java I need but the website I don't have the most recent one installed.

[bigtomrodney]

The su command doesn't work on Ubuntu by default as the root account is locked. When you use sudo, it's asking for your password, so to run any root command just prefix the individual command with sudo and enter your password when prompted.

Now with all of that said, try to get out of the habit of installing things manually; avoid it unless you absolutely have to. It is my understanding that Java is already installed in Ubuntu but if you wish to install it or a different version, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and search for it in there. If you stick to your package manager you won't have all of the heartbreak of dependency problems or searching online to find a particular package.

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

I'm pretty sure you can install Flash player from the terminal.

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

I may be a little off on that... I'm not a Ubuntu user

[reed9]

there is just a grey box with a grey play button in the middle,

This would sugggest you might have an open source flash player installed - swfdec, gnash, or both. These sadly don't work too well, yet, and either will conflict with the non-free flash player. So make sure they are uninstalled when installing the adobe flash player.

You can get java, and most the non-free software you need to multimedia with

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

[amelia1512]

thanks guys, got them working now, just getting used to it as I've recently transferred from windows :P thanks again