Ubuntu questions

[djohn]

Well I think the time has come to get my feet wet with unbutu.This will be desk top No server.


1.Question.When I download the ISO to a CD/DVD Should I select standard pc.My pc has the requirement for 64 bit but currently has 32 bit vista HP factory OEM OS.

2.Question.When Running The CD/DVD I will have the option of Testing am I correct.Not Really sure If I want it as my primary OS and Do not plan for VMware or partioning at this Time.

3.Question. Will Ubuntu work From A extrenal Hard Drive if I used that to run it.


4.If I choose to install to my Main OS,No more windows,Should I Download the ISO 64 Bit instead.

5.The pros and cons and any recomendations.

Nieve to linux based so please bear with me. Thanks In Advance


My specs HP laptopVista HP-SP1. Intel duo 2 cores, 1.7 g, 3 gs Ram, 250 HD-space,Intel 965 chipset.

[Arup]

I have been on x64 Ubuntu since its inception and by now there is nothing that doesn't work on the x64 version. You get to use the full power of your CPUs, flash works in Opera x64 and Opera is faster than its x32 counterpart. OO x64 works great as well and so does rest of the prorgams. Being Ubuntu and Linux, there is hardly any driver issue. I say go for it.

[djohn]

Thank you Arup that cleared question 4 up nicely.:thumb:

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> Well I think the time has come to get my feet wet with unbutu.This will be desk top No server.


1.Question.When I download the ISO to a CD/DVD Should I select standard pc.My pc has the requirement for 64 bit but currently has 32 bit vista HP factory OEM OS.

2.Question.When Running The CD/DVD I will have the option of Testing am I correct.Not Really sure If I want it as my primary OS and Do not plan for VMware or partioning at this Time.

3.Question. Will Ubuntu work From A extrenal Hard Drive if I used that to run it.


4.If I choose to install to my Main OS,No more windows,Should I Download the ISO 64 Bit instead.

5.The pros and cons and any recomendations.

Nieve to linux based so please bear with me. Thanks In Advance


My specs HP laptopVista HP-SP1. Intel duo 2 cores, 1.7 g, 3 gs Ram, 250 HD-space,Intel 965 chipset. <-QUOTE}
Djohn,

There are a couple ways you can do it. You can actually install Ubuntu from within Windows without partitioning and so on, it just creates a file in Win and runs it all from that. Then if you want to uninstall, just remove it from Win's add/remove programs. Beware though, when I did this, it didn't fully remove itself from the boot options and I got the boot choice even after uninstall from Win. If this happens you have to manually edit the boot config file in Win to remove it. Drawbacks of this setup is file i/o is a bit slower. I'd recommend just looking at the live cd first, and then deciding if you want to do a full normal install or not.

If you do install Ubuntu, definitely download the x64 version since you have x64 hardware. Don't even bother with x32 Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is the one and only distro that I can run on my new Triple Core AMD with 4 gigs ram and ATI graphics that doesn't have any issues at all. IMO, it's the best, and also easiest out of the box experience. #1 for me.

There's no reason why you can't run it from an external drive also, as long as you can set it up in the BIOS to boot from there.

Keep in mind also, if you keep Windows and install Ubuntu on another drive or partition, Ubuntu will set up a boot loader for booting both OS's. If you later decide to remove Ubuntu and return to only Win, you'll have to fix that boot loader yourself also (remove it and replace with Win boot loader), else you'll always see the Ubuntu boot menu. There are probably ways to do this with the Ubuntu disk, not sure.

What I do here, having 2 500 gig HD's, I have Vista x64 on one and put Ubuntu or whatever on the other, completely separate. When I install Ubuntu on the 2nd HD, I totally unplug the 1st HD with Vista on it, that way Ubuntu won't put any boot loader or menus on the Win HD, leaving it clean. Then after Ubuntu is installed, I plug the Win HD back in, and boot into whichever I want via BIOS options/menu. Cleanest way for me..

I recommend Ubuntu along with Arup (above), in my mind, it's just the best of them all, and without a doubt, it's the easiest for someone new to Linux. It pretty much offers to do it all automatically for you, including needed codecs for video and mp3 playing, graphics drivers, and so on. You can't go wrong with Ubuntu..

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,

1. Don't know what you mean, but if your processor is 64-bit, go for 64-bit Ubuntu.

2. Testing? You can use memtest to check the RAM, plus Ubuntu is a live CD as well, so yes you can test around before installing.

3. Might be, provided your GRUB is configured properly and BIOS recognizes the disk.

4. 64-bit.

5. All good, go for it. Might wanna wait for 8.10 in 2-3 weeks ...

Mrk

[djohn]

Great info and Help thanks to all.I will be patient and wait for 8.10 thanks again

[iceni60]

ubuntu runs from the dvd drive which means you can test it out with your hardware first, it runs faster if you end up installing it. there's an icon on the desktop called something like 'install' and that's what you use to install it.

all you need to remember is to defrag windows before you install ubuntu and, if you can, move all the windows files to the front of the hdd.

there are lots of videos on video sites like youtube that show how to install ubuntu and what livecds are.

you can use this to make the iso if you want -
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
all you do is right-click the iso and select the option to burn it.

[djohn]

Well I got impatient so I burned the first CD and did not boot unbuntu.I have another CD-R beer coaster:) The second burn of the ISO 64 bit went great.Loving it So far I really like the matrix screen saver to:thumb: Seems like it may be a very stable OS its a keeper but not sure If I want to be my main os or keep both.I will keep learning it see how all goes.Its much easer then I thought.I can not seem to wipe this look off my ugly mug:D

[midway40]

Something I learned from fooling with various distros was to always burn the ISOs at a slow speed. I never got coasters anymore.

[djohn]

wll here my first screenie with it

[iceni60]

the ubuntuforums is really good for searching if you need to find something out, and there's this tutorial section too -
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100
here's the Beginner Talk section.
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=326

here are some good links -
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/

i haven't used these two links i just had them bookmarked
http://www.howtoforge.com/quickstart-the-swiss-army-knife-for-ubuntu-8.04-desktop
http://maketecheasier.com/tweak-your-ubuntu-the-easy-way/2008/09/10/

EDIT: the first thing i think you should do is sort out the respositories, they are the urls for downloading and updating ubuntu, some of them are disabled by default for legal or ethical reasons.

[djohn]

{QUOTE-> the ubuntuforums is really good for searching if you need to find something out, and there's this tutorial section too -
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100
here's the Beginner Talk section.
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=326

here are some good links -
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/

i haven't used these two links i just had them bookmarked
http://www.howtoforge.com/quickstart-the-swiss-army-knife-for-ubuntu-8.04-desktop
http://maketecheasier.com/tweak-your-ubuntu-the-easy-way/2008/09/10/ <-QUOTE}
Great thanks I will do some reading:thumb:

[iceni60]

i don't want to get in the way lol, but here's how to enable the extra repos -
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-enable-the-universe-and-multiverse-repositories-in-ubuntu-804-hardy.html

then in a terminal you can install the packages that are needed to build programs when you install them. this is what you run after the repos are enabled -
sudo apt-get install build-essential

[Arup]

{QUOTE-> wll here my first screenie with it <-QUOTE}


Also try out Opera x64.

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> Well I got impatient so I burned the first CD and did not boot unbuntu.I have another CD-R beer coaster:) The second burn of the ISO 64 bit went great.Loving it So far I really like the matrix screen saver to:thumb: Seems like it may be a very stable OS its a keeper but not sure If I want to be my main os or keep both.I will keep learning it see how all goes.Its much easer then I thought.I can not seem to wipe this look off my ugly mug:D <-QUOTE}
Glad you're having fun there! :)

It's kinda nice to keep both Win and Linux if you can. That's what I do here, one HD devoted to each, Vista x64 and the new OzOS x64 (Xubuntu with Enlightenment). Then you can switch back and forth at will whenever you want a change. I tried to decide on one or the other for a long time, but eventually gave up, cause I like aspects and features of both Win & Linux. So now I just use both...

For anyone interested, check this, it's quite nice, very very fast, and based on Xubuntu. Very slick:

http://www.cafelinux.org/OzOs/

[djohn]

{QUOTE-> Glad you're having fun there! :)

It's kinda nice to keep both Win and Linux if you can. That's what I do here, one HD devoted to each, Vista x64 and the new OzOS x64 (Xubuntu with Enlightenment). Then you can switch back and forth at will whenever you want a change. I tried to decide on one or the other for a long time, but eventually gave up, cause I like aspects and features of both Win & Linux. So now I just use both...

For anyone interested, check this, it's quite nice, very very fast, and based on Xubuntu. Very slick:

http://www.cafelinux.org/OzOs/ <-QUOTE}
Thank you Kerodo. What would be your suggestions, I would like to keep both but only one drive in my laptop and a portable usb Drive that has my images

[djohn]

{QUOTE-> i don't want to get in the way lol, but here's how to enable the extra repos -
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-enable-the-universe-and-multiverse-repositories-in-ubuntu-804-hardy.html

then in a terminal you can install the packages that are needed to build programs when you install them. this is what you run after the repos are enabled -
sudo apt-get install build-essential <-QUOTE}
Not in the way at all,all this information is great.

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> Thank you Kerodo. What would be your suggestions, I would like to keep both but only one drive in my laptop and a portable usb Drive that has my images <-QUOTE}
Well, if you have some good images of your drive, especially one right before installing Ubuntu, then I would probably just run the Ubuntu installer and let it install on another partition on your laptop drive, and create the boot menu and so on (don't install it in Win, boot off the Ubuntu CD and install). Only thing you need is another partition with enough free space. If you have Vista, or another app that can create one, that's good. Just defrag your laptop drive 1st and then try to create a new partition. To be honest, there are others probably more qualified to offer advice on this, I usually just wipe the HD clean and dedicate it all to one OS at a time, rather than a true dual boot on one HD. If I remember right, Ubuntu may also offer to make space for you and create the partitions from what free space is available, you might see if that's the case first. But do defrag before doing anything to pack what's on there as tight as you can and free up the most continuous space. I have installed most distros on as little as a 5 gig partition, you usually need a few gigs (2-5) for the root partition "/", and another gig perhaps for swap, and then what ever else you like for /home, where all your config and data stuff will be. Or you can also leave your data on the Win partition and Ubuntu can mount that and read it easily, and write also with ntfs-3g. So you may not need much space for /home. If you can muster up 10 gigs, that's probably all you'd need for now. Even less maybe.

I would ask for some other's advice also, and then give it a try and see how it goes. That's how you learn. As long as you have a good image there on an external drive, and you can restore it, then you're good to go. You really can't do any harm or lose anything playing around. Just make sure you do have that image..

[djohn]

Ok thanks and yes I have the images handy and Recovery CD's that restore the factory OEM as a last resort.

[Kerodo]

Yep, good luck... it's mostly a learn by doing type of thing, as it is with most things actually. But there are many here who know Linux pretty well, and Ubuntu in particular. You can always ask questions and get help. It's really not too difficult at all with Ubuntu, it does most everything for you. I think you will enjoy it....

Have fun... :)

[djohn]

Thanks again to all for the help and just a update on things, I am formated to my single drive and officialy on Ubuntu.So far all is well,even my wireless conection.just searching for a basic soft firewall now.fair well to windows for now.

[Longboard]

Hey djohn :)
Hope this is going well.
There are some very experienced users here for problem solving.
this link might be useful while exploring:
http://maketecheasier.com/archives
lots of Ubuntu goodies there.
:thumb:

[djohn]

Well I spoke to Soon,I like ubutu but I had some problems with Email and wireless. After every shut down, I lost connection and had to reconnect my ethernet cord.After words I manually configured the ip address,gateway address etc,To no avail.Just the short trial I Had I missed all my software on windows.Nod32,first defense pc rescue and the list goes on.I am back to Vista for the time being.

[farmerlee]

You can always just run it inside windows using virtualbox, you have the necessary system resources to do so. That way you can safely play around with it. Theres also plenty of alternatives to try, pc linux, opensuse, mandriva, fedora etc...
You could also check out portable ubuntu as posted here http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=222295 it lets you run ubuntu inside windows just like you would any normal program.

[djohn]

{QUOTE-> You can always just run it inside windows using virtualbox, you have the necessary system resources to do so. That way you can safely play around with it. Theres also plenty of alternatives to try, pc linux, opensuse, mandriva, fedora etc...
You could also check out portable ubuntu as posted here http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=222295 it lets you run ubuntu inside windows just like you would any normal program. <-QUOTE}
Thanks farmelee.Yes i see that posted by the op I will check it further.

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> Well I spoke to Soon,I like ubutu but I had some problems with Email and wireless. After every shut down, I lost connection and had to reconnect my ethernet cord.After words I manually configured the ip address,gateway address etc,To no avail.Just the short trial I Had I missed all my software on windows.Nod32,first defense pc rescue and the list goes on.I am back to Vista for the time being. <-QUOTE}
If there is a weakness in the Linux distros, it may be wireless support. I have heard a few mention this in the past. Also have heard mention of problems on laptops with power management, although only from one person. Sometimes in Linux you have to spend some time "debugging" things and tweaking and researching support forums till you find answers. That's all part of it. Perhaps you can pick it up again and dig into the issues further if your interest remains....

[AKAJohnDoe]

I installed Ubuntu onto my old Dell Inspiron 5100 (http://linux.akajohndoe.com/lconfig.htm) awhile back. The old notebook did not have integrated wireless, but I had a D-Link Wireless G PCMCIA card. I plugged it in, installed some "non-open-source" drivers, and left the card in. The notebook powers up and down and recognizes the card and the network on each startup.

I have noticed that if the AC power cord gets disconnected, the battery indicator stays on battery, but the fly-over tip says it is on AC after plugging it back in.

[djohn]

{QUOTE-> If there is a weakness in the Linux distros, it may be wireless support. I have heard a few mention this in the past. Also have heard mention of problems on laptops with power management, although only from one person. Sometimes in Linux you have to spend some time "debugging" things and tweaking and researching support forums till you find answers. That's all part of it. Perhaps you can pick it up again and dig into the issues further if your interest remains.... <-QUOTE}
Yes if everything permits in the near future, I may purchase a desk top and run ubuntu and connect the ethrenet port from the router to the desk top Then i can have each machine dedicated to its own OS and will not have to worry as much when the kids or wife want to go online.Since my laptop is off limits to my happy clickers family.

[midway40]

{QUOTE-> Glad you're having fun there! :)

It's kinda nice to keep both Win and Linux if you can. That's what I do here, one HD devoted to each, Vista x64 and the new OzOS x64 (Xubuntu with Enlightenment). Then you can switch back and forth at will whenever you want a change. I tried to decide on one or the other for a long time, but eventually gave up, cause I like aspects and features of both Win & Linux. So now I just use both...

For anyone interested, check this, it's quite nice, very very fast, and based on Xubuntu. Very slick:

http://www.cafelinux.org/OzOs/ <-QUOTE}

Kerodo, I tried the OzOS live CD on my laptop last night. You are right as it is very slick but I could not find where the hardware settings were. My Atheros wifi wasn't recognized (I kind of expected this as I had the same problem with Ubuntu in which I also had to use "non open source" drivers to make it work) and I was looking around for something that might would set it up. I am not used to Enlightenment as I used to be a Gnome fan (though they share some elements though).

[Kerodo]

Hi Mitch,

I have not had to fiddle much with hardware here in Oz, so I'm not sure. I am in Vista right now but I will have a look later and see if I can find the settings and config. The only thing I had to do here was manually download and install my ATI drivers, then run the ATI config to tell Xorg to use the drivers. Other than that, nothing else... I found it odd as Ubuntu and Kubuntu both prompt you for the proprietary drivers, but Oz didn't. I suspect it's the same with any network related drivers, you'll probably have to install manually and then figure out how to let the system know they are there... Let me see what I can find also, I will check it out tomorrow....

For now, the Oz forum is here: http://cafelinux.org/forum/index.php

There aren't many posts yet, but someone there may know how to handle it all.....

[farmerlee]

{QUOTE-> If there is a weakness in the Linux distros, it may be wireless support. I have heard a few mention this in the past. Also have heard mention of problems on laptops with power management, although only from one person. Sometimes in Linux you have to spend some time "debugging" things and tweaking and researching support forums till you find answers. That's all part of it. Perhaps you can pick it up again and dig into the issues further if your interest remains.... <-QUOTE}
I find it sometimes pays to check out alternative distros. For example i tried installing the standard ubuntu on one of my laptops only to run into some nasty problems. I then tried linux mint which is a modified version of ubuntu and it runs great with no problems.

[Arup]

Actually with standard wireless cars it works out fine, its with other cars that the problem arises. Makers like Realtek, Netgear, Linksys, Intel and others pose no issues, others need 3rd party drivers which are there but just need to be searched.

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> Actually with standard wireless cars it works out fine, its with other cars that the problem arises. Makers like Realtek, Netgear, Linksys, Intel and others pose no issues, others need 3rd party drivers which are there but just need to be searched. <-QUOTE}
Yep, I think that most issues can be solved if one searches for solutions and/or is willing to do some manual driver installation....

[Nick Rhodes]

It gets even more interesting with wireless cards that have free drivers, but the firmware is part of the windows drivers, freely distributeable, but not open source, so in the case of my broadcom wireless card, there is a tool to extract the firmware (because it cheaper to buid the device without RPM to store the firmware ...) out of the windows driver archive and incorperate it into the open source linux drivers. It is all automated, but it adds complication to being able to distribute actual working wireless drivers and I suspect the issue could be similar with other manufacturers.

PS, I use Linux Mint (a fork of ubuntu).

[Pedro]

You guys should be trying Kubuntu Intrepid to see KDE 4.
I think when it goes stable i'll probably ditch Gnome for good. Man, that's a desktop!
Pity the naming scheme ;D

[pandlouk]

{QUOTE-> You guys should be trying Kubuntu Intrepid to see KDE 4.
I think when it goes stable i'll probably ditch Gnome for good. Man, that's a desktop!
Pity the naming scheme ;D <-QUOTE}
I agree. KDE 4 is great!

Panagiotis

[Pedro]

And it's not just the shiny stuff, it's what Kontact promises, and other applications. It seems KDE is on to something big.

[Arup]

Mandriva 2009 is coming with KDE4 and is also a good alternative to Kubuntu.

[Nick Rhodes]

{QUOTE-> And it's not just the shiny stuff, it's what Kontact promises, and other applications. It seems KDE is on to something big. <-QUOTE}

Do you have links (saves me googling) ?

I had various issues with KDE (In different distros), that has prevented me really trying out KDE, things like the current Kubuntu having high memory usage and certain processes crashing on startup (installed version, not livecd), Open Office and Firefox feeling out of place (compared to Ubuntu). Just lots of niggles, probably more to do with how the distro has configured/built KDE than KDE itself.

[Pedro]

I read Linux Format. But i do recall reading something online, i'll see if i can find it for you.
One idea that stuck is that, both KDE Office and Kontact integrate several programs, and you would work with them as if it's one single program (sort of!)

[Pedro]

I found these links that mention some of the keywords. Since i think these are some of the best publications online, they might do the trick.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9946
http://polishlinux.org/kde/kde-4-preview-rev-723381/
http://www.linux.com/feature/114235

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> You guys should be trying Kubuntu Intrepid to see KDE 4.
I think when it goes stable i'll probably ditch Gnome for good. Man, that's a desktop!
Pity the naming scheme ;D <-QUOTE}
Yep, I have loved KDE4 ever since it first appeared on a few distros. SuSE has a nice setup with KDE4, I also like Kubuntu as well. It just seems so much nicer all around than the tired KDE 3.5. My experience with it so far has been good too, in so far as I have not noticed too many bugs of any consequence.....