Linux Q & A

PatrickStar4491 · 06-16-2006, 12:12 PM

I would describe installing Ubuntu from the new graphical install system as painless as installing XP.

smhatahy · 06-16-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

I would describe installing Ubuntu from the new graphical install system as painless as installing XP.

I dunno about that, figuring out how to partition the drives was a pain for me.

PatrickStar4491 · 06-16-2006, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akshay

I dunno about that, figuring out how to partition the drives was a pain for me.

I already had free space set aside, so it was easy for me. I removed the Recovery Partition that HP put on my system.

fudrudler · 06-16-2006, 10:04 PM

Well currently I can't do anything with it the instrunctions I get from the install file are waaay to vague for me. I guess it wants me to install via the I terminal, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing witht the terminal. I know pretty much zero commands. I have my wireless driver and everything on my desktop and I still can't even get to the directory of it. I'm just confused, annoyed, and tired. I give up, I'll figure this out some other time. Right now I'm going to go find cute fuzzy bunnies to punch and possibly dismember.

ApparentlyNothing · 06-16-2006, 10:32 PM

Do you have the driver for your wireless card? Terminal can be scary at first. It was for me. But I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable with it.

If you have your driver and ndiswrapper installed already, try this.

Code:

sudo ndiswrapper -i (The Path To Your The Windows XP .inf File)

Obviously, replace (The Path To Your The Windows XP .inf File) with the actual path to your driver. If you don't know the exact, you should be able to just type the first part (sudo ndisrapper -i) and then drag your driver on to the Terminal and it will automatically put the path for you. It will ask you for your password, and when you type it won't actually show anything, but just type it and press enter and it'll work. After that, it should be installed. You can check by typing

Code:

sudo ndiswrapper -l

It should let you know that it's installed and hardware is present. Then type

Code:

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

That should activate it and it should start working then. I'm not sure if when you reboot you'll have to run modprobe again. I don't know Fedora, so I wouldn't know what to tell you to make it load every time you boot. So if it doesn't, you're on your own there.

fudrudler · 06-16-2006, 11:08 PM

I don't know how to install ndis. I can't get ANYTHING to install. I even have a nice installer for my GPU, but I can't make it run. I was told to shut off xserver, which my friend kindly told me was that GUI. I was told to type "Init 3" to do so. Well, I did that and my computer just went to a black screen forever. I was told that it might take a few minutes, so I let it do that and walked away for a half an hour, I came back and nothing had changed. I tapped my power button which kindly told linux to shut down.

I am confused by everything. I must be doing things wrong. People keep telling me how to do this and that and nothing is working. All I'm accomplishing is getting myself annoyed. I'm going to my dad's tomorrow and I was hoping to have at least my wireless driver installed before I left, because I won't be returning til the 13th of July. I'm interning at Cornerstone Music Fest and I kind of wanted to be able to come home to a computer that had something on it. At this rate though, I'll have my wireless stuff installed by next year.

ApparentlyNothing · 06-17-2006, 12:09 AM

Maybe you should try Ubuntu first. I tried searching around for your answer for Fedora, but I got confused by it all. Ubuntu is a bit more user friendly. Installing ndiswrapper was a breeze for me on Ubuntu, though it was after starting with SuSE first, so I kinda already had a handle on what I needed to do.

Fedora might not be the best first dive in to Linux. I suggest taking this test. It'll give you advice on what the best Linux distro is for you based on your answers.

fudrudler · 06-17-2006, 01:42 AM

Thanks man, that was handy. Fedora fit my needs perfectly, other than the fact that it "# May require Linux knowledge" I might just pop in my Ubuntu disc. Thanks for the help folks.

*Edit- I give up. At least for now. I just tried to install Ubuntu and the installer died. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back the screen had become very dark. Things were barely seeable. I let it be for a while hoping it was just a lil glitch or something, but when I cam back, nothing. Soo, I tried again. This time the installer lagger on the first menus and died. Once again I tried, it kept messing up the partitioning...thinking everything was swap space. Maybe my disk is messed up. I already filled out a request for a CD from Ubuntu, so when that comes I'll try again. I really do hope things go better next time, cause currently it looks like I'm stuck with windows, and I dislike windows.

ApparentlyNothing · 06-17-2006, 01:59 PM

Yeah, sounds like something wrong with the install disk. You could try burning it again. Does your burning software verify it after it burns? Or you could just wait for the one you ordered.

smhatahy · 06-18-2006, 12:16 AM

i heard those cds take forever to come in the mail

ThousandFootScore · 06-18-2006, 01:53 AM

6 weeks usually.

fudrudler · 06-18-2006, 02:12 AM

Eh, I'm actually downloading it again now. After friday I'll be at Cornerstone Fest 06, interning madre's! Three weeks of sweet music festival goodness. That being said, I'm not fretting about OSes right now.

I do kind of want it to work this time though, cause I'm at my dad's and I'm not using wireless. That will take away part of my hassle, so maybe I can focus on just using linux and learning where things are. Then after the fest, I'll return to my mom's and tackle wireless. I really am hoping my stereo just magically works with linux. I have a USB connection on my stereo and that's what I use for my computer audio. If not, I guess I'll just have to actually use the 5.1 outs on my Motherboard and get a surround sound. What a horrible thing to have to do. hahaha

ApparentlyNothing · 07-01-2006, 12:40 AM

Shot in the dark, but is anyone running Ubuntu Dapper on a Dell Latitude D600? It was working fine, and then something happened in an update or something that I installed that pretty much broke it. Every time I boot in to Ubuntu, it'll seem to work fine, but then it'll randomly either freeze completely on me or go in to a soft lock-up. Also, suspending used to work, but now whenever I do it and try to bring it back up later, it acts like it's doing something, but the screen just stays black. I've found other people with the same hardware who say they have the same problems, but they haven't helped me at all.

FreakShiny · 07-13-2006, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

Shot in the dark, but is anyone running Ubuntu Dapper on a Dell Latitude D600? It was working fine, and then something happened in an update or something that I installed that pretty much broke it. Every time I boot in to Ubuntu, it'll seem to work fine, but then it'll randomly either freeze completely on me or go in to a soft lock-up. Also, suspending used to work, but now whenever I do it and try to bring it back up later, it acts like it's doing something, but the screen just stays black. I've found other people with the same hardware who say they have the same problems, but they haven't helped me at all.

I had similar problems with Ubuntu on my notebook (gateway)... which is why I switched to SUSE 10.1 -- much happier with the system now. Course, I wasn't running Dapper...

**mtlmouth** · 07-25-2006, 11:23 PM

So, once I get all the old documents off it, I've got the okay to install Linux on our old Windows 98 computer. As a Linux n00b, I'm under the impression that Ubuntu is going to be my best bet. The computer has 256 MB of RAM, is that going to be enough?