Enigma's Website - *Nix Fun #1

If you've got an apple Mac with OS X and have been wondering how to get into the root account (which you should never be in by the way!) then here's a helpful tip I found on how to go about it.

Open terminal in > Applications > Utilities > Terminal and simply type the following:

$ sudo sh

Now type in your password.

Type; whoami and it should echo back: root :

Neat eh, now exit out of it quickly by typing: Logout before you break something. (LOL)

Remember if you break something whilst logged in as root it's going to stay broken!


Other Unix commands you can learn for use on OS X

at - Execute commands at a specified Date / Time
awk - Pattern Processing Language
batch - Executive commands when load permits
bc - Interactive C like calculator (Integer only)
cal - Print a calendar
cancel - cancel requests to printer
cat - Concatenate files and display their contents
cd - Change the currant working Directory
chgrp - Change group ownership of files
chmod - Change access mode (permissions) of files
chown - Change user ownership of files
clear - Clear the terminal screen
cmp - Compair two files
copy - Copy groups of files in directories
cp - Copy files
cpio - Archive and extract files
cron - Clock daemon (executes batch and at commands)
crontab - Schedule commands at regular intervals
crypt - Encrypt, decrypt files (restricted distribution hint: install GNUPG)
csh - invoke the C shell
csplit - Split a file into several files
cu - Call up another Unix system
cut - Cut selected fields from each line of a file
date - Displays the date (note: if root allows date change)
dd - Convert and copy a file
df - Report free blocks on filesystem
diff - Compair two text files
diff3 - Compair three text files
dircmp - Compair two directories
du - Report disk usage
echo - Echo argument on standard output
ed - Line orientated editor

There are at least another 95 Commands which I wont even bother to list. But thats a hell of a lot more functiuonality than anything you'd find on a Microshite Windows Machine. If you've got a Windows PC then you may as well stick with it or load Mandrake SUSE or Knoppix onto it from a bootable CD. Unless you know how to configure all the hardware under *nix which can be a bit of a bitch!