ubuntu

sobranie · Apr 29, 2008, 15:57:24

d/l ubuntu (decided it was time to try it).
Burned the cd ... all OK
Installed on HD.
Up comes menu, met with 'error 15 file not found'. OK, what file is not found for ***** sake?
Checked thro. the ubuntu forums and am absolutely amazed at the number of problems there.
Conclusion .... I can't be ar**d ..... so, back to Willy G's Windows I think!!!

Rik · Apr 29, 2008, 15:59:20

See if Les, Ted or Danni can come up with an answer for you (and apologies to anyone I didn't mention). It's probably one of those 'simple if you know' issues.

sobranie · Apr 29, 2008, 20:55:46

Have done some fairly extensive forum readings on this prob. It would appear that if one doesn't posess a pretty good knowledge of linux then it's a 'losing wicket scenario' and as I haven't the vaugest re. linux I shall probably remove this prog. Pity really, the last time I tried out a linux sys I ran it from a boot cd and it seemed quite good tho. rather lacking in its utilities.

Dangerjunkie · Apr 30, 2008, 13:35:39

Hi,

I'm sorry you're having pain. I'll do what I can to try to help.

First of all which Ubuntu release do you have the disc for please? Is it 7.10 (Gutsy) or 8.04 (Hardy)?

When you booted off the CD did you choose the option to test the disc to make sure your CD was good? If not please do this now to check you don't have a defective CD.

I would then run the memtest86 option from the CD for a couple of passes and your HD manufacturer's test program in thorough (or whatever they call it) mode to make sure you don't have a failing hard drive or RAM as these can cause installations to fail. I'm not trying to shift blame here but I'd really like to make sure that this is a Linux problem and not the symptom of a piece of hardware that's beginning to malfunction. If all these tests pass then it's likely you have a Linux problem.

When you mention "the menu" do you mean the first screen that comes up when you turn the machine on (the "boot loader") asking if you want Linux or Windows? If it is this menu does the menu display the correct things and fail when you press enter or does it fail before that?

Please will you describe your machine? Did you buy it made or build it yourself? What hardware is in it please?

All the best,
Paul.

sobranie · Apr 30, 2008, 18:49:51

Thanks Paul, have pm'd you.

Niall · Apr 30, 2008, 19:46:44

Don't keep secrets! I nearly posted about this yesterday as I'm tempted to try it on my laptop. I was wondering about partitions though. Would it create a partition when you're installing it for dual boot, or do you have to do this the old fashion way?

Dangerjunkie · Apr 30, 2008, 20:57:52

I partitioned by hand as I had special requirements but I believe the installer will offer to shrink your Windows partition if you select the correct option.

I would recommend running it as a "live CD" first. There should be an option on the initial menu to run it without installing. It will be really slow but this way you can check everything's going to work out the box before installing.

Cheers,
Paul.

Niall · Apr 30, 2008, 23:06:55

I must have downloaded about 50gb of different builds in the last few years with Nildram and never installed any of them

I might have a nose over the weekend.

D-Dan · May 01, 2008, 22:15:09

You can do it manually the old fashioned way - or let Ubuntu re-partition for you. Personally, I keep the first 100Gb of my second drive for Linux. If I want to re-install, I use windows to delete the existing linux partitions, then let the installer repartition the free space.

I generally feel safer doing it that way, since my Windows drive (disk 1), and data partitions on disk 2 get left alone during installation, and it also means I know my partition map in case of any kind of failure, and can recreate it if necessary for data recovery.

Steve

Ted · May 01, 2008, 23:22:08

Ok, i thought i'd better try Ubuntu and see what all the fuss was about.
So.......
Reluctantly i installed Ubuntu on the dual boot laptop. I did a manual install, keeping the /home and swap partitions but formatting /(root)

Worked like a charm. Install was very clean and slick, with no problems. I even ended up with all the old rubbish on the desktop that i had in Mandriva, Note, delete .kde next time. That was soon sorted though.
Bugger me (figure of speech) if Ubuntu didn't recognize my PCMCIA nic and install the Atheros drivers for it. If you've ever tried to install Ndiswrapper you'll know why this is a good thing.

As i think Gnome is "pants" i installed the Kubuntu-desktop-package, big mistake! worked great until i logged in with it. Very strange stuff, double desktops and WSOD. Grrrrrrrrr

Quick reinstall of "/"and everything works fine again and Gnome is looking more attractive now.

Set up the repositories and installed "Ubuntu-restricted-extras" and "flash plugin" and everything works great, mp3, flash and java have no problems.

I'll get all my favourite software on over the next few days and give it a good work out.

I'm fairly sure the problems with KDE were graphics related. I tried to install Envyng but it wasn't found in the repos. Any ideas Steve (D-Dan) The laptop has an ATI radeon card in, 9600 i think.

Good news is that i never touched the command line once, all pointy and clicky.

So far i have to say i'm quite impressed, sudo seems a bit strange but that's just me being used to the "root"system, i don't mean it as a bad thing, just different.

I would say installing Ubuntu is no more difficult than installing windows, on a desktop computer with an empty disk with a regular nic, Ubuntu would be way easier.

Any ideas with regard to the ATI drivers would be gratefully received. I'll have a punt round the forums in the meantime.

PS.....What's that bloody Heron all about??

D-Dan · May 02, 2008, 00:04:46

Quote from: Ted on May 01, 2008, 23:22:08

I'm fairly sure the problems with KDE were graphics related. I tried to install Envyng but it wasn't found in the repos. Any ideas Steve (D-Dan) The laptop has an ATI radeon card in, 9600 i think.

Any ideas with regard to the ATI drivers would be gratefully received. I'll have a punt round the forums in the meantime.

PS.....What's that bloody Heron all about??

try searching the repos for just "Envy".

I can't test just now - as I've mentioned elsewhere - I'm currently working on a 3D render in Windows - so kinda stuck here at the mo. If you have no luck before tomorrow - I'll boot Ubuntu and give you step by step.

Failing that - just go to the envy website and install from there (it's literally 2 minutes), and you get the choice - Commandline or GUI once it's installed (personally - I think it's one of those apps that is better in a terminal, since a failure of the graphics drivers means terminal may be all you have).

Ted · May 02, 2008, 00:25:15

Quote from: D-Dan on May 02, 2008, 00:04:46
try searching the repos for just "Envy".

I can't test just now - as I've mentioned elsewhere - I'm currently working on a 3D render in Windows - so kinda stuck here at the mo. If you have no luck before tomorrow - I'll boot Ubuntu and give you step by step.

Failing that - just go to the envy website and install from there (it's literally 2 minutes), and you get the choice - Commandline or GUI once it's installed (personally - I think it's one of those apps that is better in a terminal, since a failure of the graphics drivers means terminal may be all you have).

Part of this exercise was to keep it P&C, so stop tempting me with the command line, you naughty boy

I did have a quick look on their site, i must have missed it (no surprise) i'll have another look tomorrow.

cheers
Ted

Ted · May 02, 2008, 10:22:20

OK, i installed envyng-core and envyng-gtk.
Ran the program, automatic install crashed.
Tried a manual install, that went well until i rebooted. Not good, it seems to have installed the wrong driver! and was running on a generic Vesa module.

Oh well, another quick reinstall of the root dir and it should be back to square one. Ill look into it a bit more later.