Help installing PHP and Apache on Linux (Ubuntu 9.04)

Hello guys, i am having some trouble installing them on linux.

i installed linux yesterday and they didn't asked me to set a root password,
only for the account that i use (nero), howeover i am able to update my
system and so on with that user.


i have installed apache, owrking, howerover i can't create archives or edit
the default index.html that comes with apache, its says that i don't have
permission to do that (i tried it and i just cant) and since i don't have
the root password, i can't touch on it.

i tried to install php, the make && make install command isn't working, its
says that don't have a make file (i download the latest version from
php.netsite, the tar.gz one)

trying the install command (using install -p /home/nero/php-5.3.0/
/usr/local/php/ it isnt working too

any hints?

thanks