For Nils who has helped me or any other expert, and Nubies like me.

[Nils Kassube]

Steven Vollom wrote:
> Recently, you, Nils, helped me with a problem where I had a partition
> owned by Root.  I did not know how to access that partition to use it
> for storage so you gave me the following instruction:
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> (An example of why I get screwed up.)  I am going to cut and paste a
> comment I made to you.
>
> I just did what you instructed and here is what happened:
> > >> steven at Studio25:~$ sudo mkdir /media/sdb5/$USER
> > >> [sudo] password for steven:
> > >> steven at Studio25:~$ sudo chown $USER /media/sdb5/$USER
> > >> steven at Studio25:~$
> > >>
> > >> What did I just do?
>
> (By the way thank you for the word prepend, never heard it before but
> like it very much)

That's what you get when you have to look up words in the dictionary. 
Sometimes the words are not often used, but the dictionary doesn't 
mention that detail :)

> Is this a proper translation for what I wrote in the first line of
> instruction?  'sudo' (give me root ability) '/mkdir' (to make a
> directory [or folder]) '/media' (in the media folder) '/sdb5' (of the
> partition sdb5[or does this mean the folder, sdb5) '/$USER' (and the
> folder created is a directory named steven)?

Apart from the typo '/mkdir' instead of 'mkdir', it is the directory (or 
folder) "/media/sdb5", not the partition. IMHO, that is a minor detail 
which isn't really that important for a normal user, but I'll explain it 
anyway. The partition is a so called device named "/dev/sdb5". As a 
normal user you can't access the partition (the device) directly. Instead 
there is a file system on the partition (made by the format command or 
qtparted, gparted etc.). That file system is then mounted to the 
(automatically created) directory "/media/sdb5". As a normal user you can 
only access files or directories of a mounted file system. I hope this 
explanation isn't too confusing.

> The second line, I assume, is where I typed in my password.

Right.

> Is this a proper translation for what is said in line 3:  Give me the
> Root permission to change the owner from root to user in the steven
> directory of the sdb5 partition of the media folder of my home
> directory?

That's correct (well it is directory instead of partition - see above).

> If correct, I may understand something now.

Yes, obviously you understand what's going on. If you want to learn more 
about the command line and basics of the hardware, you may have a look at 
the rutebook package. After you have installed that package you can start 
reading with the file "/usr/share/doc/rutebook/html/index.html". I think 
it explains those things much better than I can.

> Nils.  I keep my short-cuts to packages that I use often on the top of
> my Desktop.  Among the Icons that represent those packages is an Icon
> 'SYSTEM MENU Menu of Important System Places'  when I click on it, it
> opens Dolphin with a list of my Partitions.  I use this Short-cut every
> time I want to get to a specific partition, or to enter Dolphin.  I do
> not enter any of those folders or storage areas any other way.
>
> Is there an easier or faster way?

How about a direct shortcut for a specific directory? I can only explain 
it for Ubuntu 8.04 because I don't have a spare machine to play with the 
8.10 LiveCD right now. But I suppose / hope it is similar with 8.10.

You can navigate to the directory above the wanted one with Dolphin and 
then drag the icon for the wanted directory to the desktop. Attention: In 
the dialog select "Link here" and NOT "Copy here".

> When I open that short-cut, on the left of the window is a row of
> Bookmarks.  Currently my list is as follows:
> 1) Home, 2) Storage Media, 3) Users' Folders, 4) Root, 5) sda7, 6)
> Completed Downloads.
>
> The first five are self-explanatory, the sixth is a folder in sda5.  I
> use each title as a short-cut to what I want.  How do I change the name
> of a title in Bookmarks to make it understandable to another user? 
> sda7 contains movies.  How could I change the sda 7 Bookmark to
> [Movies]?

Right click on the bookmark and select "Edit". And if you want to change 
the name of an icon on your desktop, right click on the icon and 
select "Rename". Then you can enter the name you want to have for the 
icon. I think that should also answer the other the questions which I 
didn't quote.


Nils