[plug] Just started with linux, need help

[Oliver White]

Ari Finander wrote:
> 
> Okay!  Good news!  I've been able to get the cdrom/floppies/cdrive to mount
> without difficulty...but only from the root login.  From a safe user login,
> I can't get any of these to run (except cdrive, which I have set to mount at
> startup) and also can't get onto the internet (linux told me that using the
> internet under the root login was "stupid!").  When I try to have the cdrom
> mount at startup, after a while it goes berzerk again and the system
> freezes.  When I try to mount the floppy drive at startup, it doesn't
> function, because there's no disk in it.  I know I'll be flamed for saying
> this, but I kinda like the point and click activation of the windows OS for
> the floppy drive *hiding*.  With regards to Oliver's feedback: how much does
> VMWare cost?  I'd like to convert totally to linux for security reasons yet
> still have my wife able to use her win95 applications that she simply cannot
> part with.  First, though, I need to be able to use the cd-rom and get
> online from a user account as I won't be giving her root access just
> yet(she'll destroy something).
 
mount is set by default to be operable only by root. This is to stop any
untrusted users looking at filesystems they shouldn't be looking at.
Perhaps other's may be able to give you better information on the
security issues here.

I think both KDE and GNOME have pointy-clickity utilities for mounting
and unmounting. Btw, don't take a floppy disk out without unmounting
it... can get nasty.