“HOWEVER....Ubuntu DOES have the same “try before you buy feature”. I’ve had people tell me that Knoppix is a little less intimidating though.
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So far I hate Ubuntu. You can’t log in as root and the file manager won’t let you do anything useful. You can’t even create a directory.
If I wanted to run command line, I’d still be using DOS 6.3.
You’ve got something set up wrong if you can’t create a directory using Nautilus. ...unless you are trying to create a directory outside your home directory.
If you want to mess around outside the home directory, just type “sudo nautilus” in a terminal window. Then you can use the file manager to gut /usr/bin or any other directory you want.
Unfortunately, I don't have any Ubuntu systems at hand, so I can't be precise on this. On SUSE systems, it's on the Administration Settings -> Security and Users -> User Management screen, where, for any user, one can disable login or not.
Aha ... here's how to find the instructions to do this. Just do a Google.com search for " how to login as root on ubuntu", and the first few hits will each give you specific instructions (and associated warnings of the risks involved.)
Linux (and before that Unix) systems really are capable of a wide variety of security configuration models, and it really is just a routine configuration change to change the model to one you like, if the defaults aren't as you like them.
As systems such as Ubuntu have gained wider use, we've been tightening up the default security configuration, because an increasing percentage of users are better off that way. The only time they need root permission is when doing something like installing software or managing their disk devices, and the GUI administrative screens will prompt them for a password as needed for that.
This is quite distinct from Windows desktop which, despite adding the appearance of multiple login support, is quite incapable of running a reasonably tight multi-user configuration, with carefully isolated and minimized permissions to each program, using a security model that has been a well designed part of the system, for over thirty years now.
Ubuntu is for folks who just want to do normal office work. Go download Debian.