What are you currently installing/playing?

[Stephen Morgan]

Some multi-desktop/workspace eye candy:



A couple of flashy compiz effects, that sort of thing.

[eyeno]

If I am command line illiterate (i am) how hard will it be to get Ubuntu running and get a wireless connection to work? I seriously dislike being a windows slave. And what about old scanners and cameras? How hard are they to get working with Linux?

just download and burn the iso CD image. then boot from it. you can then choose to "try" or install. Just try it for now. it'll run from the CD and memory, but not as nicely as it would if it had a hard drive to live on.

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

it does a very nice job of identifying hardware and making it work. most likely your wifi will "just work"

one big question tho is do your have your windows install cd and/or system restore cd that came with the computer. if you don't and you decide to erase the windows partition and make it a linux system, you wouldn't be able to go back to windows. if you're not on windows 7 and don't need directX 9 or 11 for games, you can probably just go ahead and no have any major problems. with ubuntu you will rarely NEED to go to a command line.

if you only have the one machine, and would be unable to get on the net to look for help you'd probably want to hold off for a bit. another thing you may need to get into is how to go into the bios and adjust the boot device, most will default to booting from a cd if a bootable cd is inserted when the machine comes on. so trying it should be very easy.

Thank you. I am downloading it now. I will burn the iso to a cd and see how it works.

[eyeno]

If windows ever crashes and will not boot up I should be able to boot off this and still have a workable computer using this right?

[eyeno]

I burned the ubuntu to a disc. After it got through burning the iso it is asking me if I want to run wubi. If I run wubi it will attempt to install on a partition won't it? I don't want to install on a partition yet. I just want to run it on live cd.

edit: I pressed it to see what would happen. Wubi explained the options. So i'll boot it from the cd as you said and see how it works.

[Stephen Morgan]

If windows ever crashes and will not boot up I should be able to boot off this and still have a workable computer using this right?

Yes.

[82_28]

What do you think, eyeno?

So, you've booted from CD so far correct? Welcome to Linux, my friend. Hope you have fun, learn a lot and never have to have bullshit issues with a computer ever again!

[82_28]

When and if you install, hopefully when, we can begin to go over adding non-free repositories and other interesting repositories, were you can just start snagging any old *safe* software you want, such as WINE, Stellarium, many other games, apps etc. . .

[Stephen Morgan]

Perhaps he knackered his computer and is absent due to being unable to post. An unlikely turn of events in a Live CD, but it only takes typing `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda` and you're fucked.

[82_28]

Shit. Don't say that! Now I'm worried.

[eyeno]

Not knackered but didn't work. At the bottom of the screen there was a symbol that looked like a postage stamp, a minus sign, and a little stick man.

Then the screen went blank and I got the "monitor has no input signal" message. Then the screen went blank and stayed blank while the cd drive worked furiously for a while. Then all went quiet but still had a blank screen. Tried it twice.

[nathan28]

Not knackered but didn't work. At the bottom of the screen there was a symbol that looked like a postage stamp, a minus sign, and a little stick man.

Then the screen went blank and I got the "monitor has no input signal" message. Then the screen went blank and stayed blank while the cd drive worked furiously for a while. Then all went quiet but still had a blank screen. Tried it twice.

Ubuntu 10.04 used a new bootloader that had serious conflicts w/ a lot of display adapters. It shaves off something like three seconds in boot time and was an awful idea. *ALL* the 10.04 distros have this issue. It *can be fixed* by altering a few lines the startup uses, but it is trial and error and unless you know exactly what your hardware is and if you don't have another computer in front of you it's a huge, huge hassle.

I'm not sure if 10.10 is the same way. 9.10, which is available still, does not. You might run into update issues on *some* of the repositories. You should be able to burn 9.10 to disc the same way.

[eyeno]

Yes nathan28 it appeared to be something like a monitor driver incompatibility issue or something of the sort. I am not a command line guy nor a coder so I do not think I will try the workarounds on this distro.

And I give, what is a Linux Repository? Is that like a bridge between Linux and Windows programs?

[Mr. Blissed]

Ubuntu 10.04 used a new bootloader that had serious conflicts w/ a lot of display adapters. It shaves off something like three seconds in boot time and was an awful idea. *ALL* the 10.04 distros have this issue. It *can be fixed* by altering a few lines the startup uses, but it is trial and error and unless you know exactly what your hardware is and if you don't have another computer in front of you it's a huge, huge hassle.

I'm not sure if 10.10 is the same way. 9.10, which is available still, does not. You might run into update issues on *some* of the repositories. You should be able to burn 9.10 to disc the same way.

Thank-You nathan28

I wish I had read this earlier, it would have saved many hours of frustration. Question: would one workaround be to run the install in text-only mode [i.e. run-level 3] or is it already too late as far as the boot loader is concerned? I am thinking on-the-fly so apologies ahead of time.

The original train of thought was:
1. Install in text-only mode.
2. Update the distribution [apt-get update]
3. Pray that this would upgrade the boot loader, and restart in graphics mode as per normal.

I worked on my installation for so long I honestly can't remember how I got around this problem. But I did eventually.

Take care.

[82_28]

First of all, we do not have to stick with Ubuntu. But since we have it, let's stay with it for now.

Eyeno, what kind of a machine are you running? Age, memory, desktop, laptop and just for the hell of it, what version of windows you got goin' on?

Also give us your make and model of your monitor. That, it sounds like is the first thing. Is there another monitor laying around you can plug in? But give us your monitor status, also graphics card if possible. Also, is your computer 32bit or 64bit?

Repositories are servers in which you can get stuff on the Canonical network and also add other repositories for things that are not included in the official Ubuntu distro. It has nothing to do with Windows.

[82_28]

While it's booting try tapping F6 for some options.

Check out this thread. It's from 2008, so it is coming from an earlier version and may not apply:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=660715

Get back to us!