Problem logging into "Root"

[maxcruiver]

I'm very new in Linux.

1)What is "Root" actually? Is it something similar to Windows Administrator or Power User? I found that many settings cannot be done without accessing to "Root".

2)Would someone point out those shortforms like, what is the meaning or full words of ent2, ent3.......(Linux shortforms)etc, please? Or any website i can refer to?

Thank you so much.

[OErjan]

i would say root is a turbocharged admin on steroids, you can even trash hardware as root.
but to do that you need nowledge FAR beyond your level.
you can become root temporarily by doing
sudo su in a console window.
or you can run a program as root temporarily by doing
sudo nameofprogram.

substitute nameofprogram with what you want done, like
sudo fdisk -l or
sudo cat /var/log/messages
as for ent2 ent3 I have no idea, but i do know that ext2 and ext3 are filesystems,like ntfs and fat32 is for windows.
would be nice to hear where you found those end2, end3.
as for what they are. hmm... no idea as of yet.

here is a pair of edited qoutes from lats weeks harvest of my postings.
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17849&start=10

as to links with help.
the documentation link on top of page is helpful for MANY things, look trough that first.
oh and here are a few external links with more general information.
http://www.tldp.org/
http://www.debian.org/doc/
http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#apt-howto
and here a link to a "crashcourse" in linux from the comandline.
the level is not easy but it IS fairly thurough.
you get a fairly good grip of basics trough it.
http://floppix.com/labs.html

here are a few links that give linux to windows aproximate matches as to what programes do and so.

this is a little old but extensive.
http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml
another
http://www.linux.lk/software/windows.php
and another
http://www.tuxs.org/winusekde.htm
and yet another
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO.html
and
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software
...
http://www.goldfiles.com/multimedia/technology_editorials/portals/newbies_guide_to_open_source_software.shtml
...
http://www.impactsites2000.com/tekreview/Linux_Ark.htm
do you need more?
the first link is the least effort for quick searching, if you scroll down a bit it is all a table. the others are more like articles and lectures.
if you serch this forum for words you think should relate to your question you wil find TONS of info, i use the link top right and klick in the www.knoppix.net. checkbox.