Running programs as root, what is the command?

[CMDR Sweeper]

I am a bit unsure where to put this topic, I got a HD Install (Debian from the Knoppix DVD by the way) to a brand new Maxtor 80Gb HD (Tried regular DVD booted Knoppix, it felt a lot greater than Windows ever did. So I will be using it more often now)

However, the problem I got is the aircrack program (A little white hat challenge that my dad has issued me, he thinks WEP is secure, and I want to proove him wrong.)
As I am relatively new to Linux I am still not familiar with all the commands used in the shell or the different shells.
But my main issue is that the Airodump program (Aircrack is a package) need to be runned as root via a shell.
THAT is where the problems starts, running it from the root shell just spits out "Unknown Command" errors and when running it from a regular shell it spits out an error about lacking root access.

My guess is that I am missing a command here, what I need is a command that allows me to run this program from the root shell I think, keep in mind that the program has quite a few additional parameters that needs to be entered after the program name (Like "gksu -u root" for an example, the -u is one parameter.)
This root stuff is quite frustrating too, I guess I should look around for a guide on how to install drivers as well (Found some updated WLAN drivers for my Ralink 2500 chipset)

[UnderScore]

root user & command explanation here http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11500

[CMDR Sweeper]

Thanks UnderScore, but that topic wasn't much of help as the info that was in the topic is allready of knowledge to me.

However, that was the bad news... The good news is that I have figured it out.
For future reference the solution to running programs was so simple that I feel stupid for not figuring it out.
But I will post it here for future reference for others that may run into the same type of problem:

When you are logged in as root in the console it works very different than DOS.
It does NOT check files in the selected directory, it checks directly at the harddrive where Linux is installed (In Knoppix from LiveCD/DVD that is the Ramdrive I think)

So when you want to run a program you will have to point out its directory as well.
In my case it was: /home/(username)/aircrack/airodump (Insert the parameters here) and then it should run.
Remember that you will have to include the executable name into the path as well, then it should work.

Thanks again UnderScore.

[OErjan]

OR you could do a ./ infront of the comand, that makes the shell interpret the command as "something to run is in this directory",
eh, how does that work? in this case, say you stand in the /home/(username)/aircrack/airodump
directory and wat to run iairodump, you then type ./airodump.
hope it helps.