Note:

. (dot) is the directory that you are currently working in within the terminal applicaton. In your case, /home/john822. You ALREADY OWN that directory. You cannot change permissions for that directory.

.. (dot dot) is the parent directory of the directory you are working in currently. In your case, it is the / (root) directory. You cannot "own" or change permissions for this directory either.

Well, firstly...

Please, just call me "Eric". I'm neither master nor geek. I'm just a fellow traveler who's been on the road a little longer than some, not as long as others.

Anyway, when you use the command "sudo" in Ubuntu, you are granting your regular user temporary root privileges to perform certain operations. It's not usually a good idea to run apps as root.

In the Xsane interface somewhere you will find "options" or "preferences". You probably need to add your regular user name as a user for that app. Restart the app as a regular user after making this preference setting. All scanned items should be accessible by your regular user after that point, as long as you're not running the app as root.

That list of files and directories you posted is the entire contents of your /home/john822 directory. Everything in that directory has permissions set so that you as the regular user/owner of the directory can access them.

Read HERE for some further information about Xsane permissions in Ubuntu.

Luck!

This is NOT the way that you should be doing this, John. Indiscriminately changing file permissions is NOT a good idea.

Please, from the very beginning, tell us what it is you did and are trying to do here.

Matt,

Unless you've manually enabled the root account on your Ubuntu, then there won't be a root account accessible to you. Ubuntu uses "sudo", which is a command that gives regular users temporary rights to perform what would normally be a root (administrator) chore.

When you open Synaptic (Add/Remove Software in the Menu), it should ask you for your password. It's asking for the password you created for your user account when you installed Ubuntu on your system.

Once in Synaptic, you should check to see that the repositories are set up correctly and have not been changed. One thing to always try to remember in situations like this is what did you do JUST BEFORE this problem started? Did you install something new? Did you update something? Did you make any other changes to the system? Et cetera... This will help you to troubleshoot where the problem began.

I'm not an Ubuntu guru. I haven't used it since '06 or so. I don't really remember the layout of the Synaptic package manager or how it works. I can tell you how to update manually, though...

In the command line (Terminal application from the Menu), type the following:

$ sudo apt-get update

This command will ask you for your password. Enter it and continue. The "apt-get update" command will check the repos for updated files. Once it's completed its thing, type:

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

This will again ask for you password. Enter it and go on. This command will upgrade all the software on your system for which there are updates available in the repos.

The two commands above "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" are the actual commands underneath the pretty graphic Synaptic Package Manager that you use from the Menu in Ubuntu.

If there are any errors while running these commands, please post them here. They could help us to help you better to figure out what's wrong on your Ubuntu system.

Luck!

John,

What Linux distribution are you using? It looks like your regular user does not have scanner group permissions.

Matt, this could very well be a temporary error with the Ubuntu repository servers. Just give it a day or so and make the attempt again. Let us know what happens, please.

Regards,

~Eric