Xubuntu Terminal Errors

[StevoTheWise]

after searching for a very long time: i've come to understand my problems aren't really experienced anywhere else so i decided to post for some help

Problem 1: I cannot access root usually.

I can get into all the system programs that require me to put in the admin password, but when im in terminal, the SU command always says I'm unauthorized.

Examples:

stevothewise@calcifer:~$ su
Password:
su: Authentication failure
Sorry.

stevothewise@calcifer:~$ su root
Password:
su: Authentication failure
Sorry.

Problem 2: I cannot run the install or configure commands

Configure doesn't work, Make doesn't work, and make install doesn't work.
In trying to install example program: Neverball

stevothewise@calcifer:~$ cd Desktop/neverball-1.4.0 && ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
stevothewise@calcifer:~/Desktop/neverball-1.4.0$ make
bash: make: command not found
stevothewise@calcifer:~/Desktop/neverball-1.4.0$ make install
bash: make: command not found

What exactly is the problem? Did I neglect to install some imperitive software or is my copy just acting weird? Also, it is Dapper Drake so it shouldn't be just the copy.

Thanks ^^

[daark.child]

Ubuntu does not use a root account in the way that most Linux and Unix OSes do. You need to do "sudo passwd root" whilst logged in as a normal user (the one in the admin group). After that the root account will be unlocked and you can then login at the console as root.

As for the problems with make, you need to install the "build-essentials" package. It appears that there is no ./configure script in the neverball directory, so ./configure, make and make install may not be the right way to install the package. Read the installation files that are usually located in the directory that you are trying to install from.

[StevoTheWise]

Thanks for the help on that ^^.

Just one more quick question though:

when running apt-get update, i get the folllowing errors:

W: GPG error: http://www.backports.org sarge-backports Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY EA8E8B2116BA136C
W: GPG error: http://wine.budgetdedicated.com dapper Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 58403026387EE263
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems

the last line i personally find ridiculous since i just ran apt-get update, and its telling me to do it again. i do it again, same outcome... whats the problem exactly?

Thanks.

[Juan Pablo]

You added Wine's repos but didn't install their pubkey, it's not an error. Just a warning. apt-get update is trying to get the pubkey automatically but it can't