The Ubuntu Linux Thread

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Buddy, first get the naming conventions right.

Sata drives, both the hard disk and CD drives, will be referred to as sdX by Linux. Even a USB pendrive will be sdX. (replace X with some alphabet - a, b, etc).

IDE disks will be referred to as hdX. Partitions within drives willb e referred to as sda1, hda2, etc. So, I suspect you installed Ubuntu into the IDE disk - which ought to be referred to as hdXN (like in hda1, etc), and you configured grub to use something like sdxN.

And are you sure of the partition sizes on the 250 GB SATA drive? I mean, are you sure that you have, for example, a 150GB partition, and not a 150 MB one? Partition tools sometimes show the capacity / size in KB, and that can get very confusing.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

IDE disks will be referred to as hdX. Partitions within drives willb e referred to as sda1, hda2, etc. So, I suspect you installed Ubuntu into the IDE disk - which ought to be referred to as hdXN (like in hda1, etc), and you configured grub to use something like sdxN.

And are you sure of the partition sizes on the 250 GB SATA drive? I mean, are you sure that you have, for example, a 150GB partition, and not a 150 MB one? Partition tools sometimes show the capacity / size in KB, and that can get very confusing.

Here comes the real matter. In my machine, both SATA and IDE were referred as dev/sdX. And when the 250GB SATA drive of Windows was not disconnected, despite me installing showing 200GB drive, the installation got there in Windows drive. Yes DATA loss. But when I disconnected the SATA HDD, the nothing would freeze, but the weird noise started coming. It was then I realized about HDD. My HDD was not performing properly.

This has left me shock, but still I am trying to figure out what was wrong and the first cause to cause more confusion to me.

[aaggoswami]

Got the new 250 IDE HDD. Now I have three devices.

1) 250 SATA for Windows.
2) 250 GB IDE for Linux.
3) LG SATA DVD player.

It took me three trials to get Fedora into the 250 Gb IDE. I have three partitions here
hda/dev1 ( I hope I am correct here again ) : Mount Point is " / ", ext3, 15GB
hda/dev2 : /home, ext3, 100GB.
hda/dev3 : Swap area, 15GB.
So around 100+GB were unused by Fedora 10. Now I went ahead with installation of my XP in to that 100 GB area. I was not able to do this as XP refused. It just said cannot install. Press enter to continue and after pressing enter, I was again at menu.
Right now I am utilizing that part as a part of XP from 250GB sata.

1) I want to know how to manage unutilized space in Fedora and add that space in /home.

2) I want to install Ubuntu within XP. I tried and it is possible. I want the 100GB partition to have Ubuntu. Are there any chances of Windows bootloader getting corrupt ? Any known or potential issues ?

3) I am not able to install Vista in my PC and I am also not able to install Server 2008. What is the problem ? The first screen of " Loading files comes, and then the small bar moving of boot up comes and then the screen is background of Vista/Server 2008 and no menu comes up. The machine wont freeze, but thing wont move ahead.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by HotChillyPepper

Hey,
No SUSE fans here? Very strange. Try openSuse11.0 openSUSE.org. Less buggy than many other flavors.

The main advantage is the professional gnome / KDE without messy animations and gimmicks by default.

I installed SUSE this week. working on linux after 10 yrs i guess. still exploring things to install and ways to install them. if anybody could help me here:

1. wireless seems to be installed, but i have no idea why it does not show my (or any) network. FAQ says see in network manager, YAST shows it's installed, how do i access it?

2. I need VPN (I use cisco vpn on windows), which one should I install?
3. mainframe emulator (i think hercules is available on suse site)
4. things that need to work on my lappy (webcam, finger print reader, wacom active tablet interface, will have to see what else i am missing)
5. I can see volume icon, i can increase and decrease via the hardware button. but it stays red (muted) no matter what i do.

I am going to work on most of these once i get home tonight.

[vivekiny2k]

I meant to mention it. I have a HP TX2000Z tablet.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

First, I need to own up a mistake - Ubuntu seems to name all hardisks - including IDE hard disks as /dev/sdX. I did not know this, till I tried an Ubuntu machine last week.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Got the new 250 IDE HDD. Now I have three devices.

1) 250 SATA for Windows.
2) 250 GB IDE for Linux.
3) LG SATA DVD player.

It took me three trials to get Fedora into the 250 Gb IDE. I have three partitions here
hda/dev1 ( I hope I am correct here again ) : Mount Point is " / ", ext3, 15GB
hda/dev2 : /home, ext3, 100GB.
hda/dev3 : Swap area, 15GB.

it is /dev/hdaX.

So around 100+GB were unused by Fedora 10. Now I went ahead with installation of my XP in to that 100 GB area.

Mistake, dear goswamiji. Mistake.

Dumb operating systems should be installed first. and if possible, in the first partition on the first disk. Grub, the linux's boot loader can be set up to fool any version of Windows into thinking that it is on the first drisk, first partiton. But that is a different matter.

1) I want to know how to manage unutilized space in Fedora and add that space in /home.

Use this as extra space to store things like music or tutorials / reading materials, etc. which you will not access frequently.

Step 1. "mkdir /mnt/FreeSpace".
Step 2. Add this line at end of /etc/fstab file

(singleline)
/dev/hda4 /mnt/FreeSpace ntfs rw,user,noauto,noexec 0 2
(/singleline)

Now, when logged in, if this disc does not show up on the desktop, right click, "add > new device > /dev/hda4. Once the icon is added, simply click on the icon to open the disk.

Note that this might be /d

[aaggoswami]

BackseatDriver, thanks!

One more question:
How is using ubuntu within Widows Xp ?

[deepclutch]

better use GNU/Linux as the host operating system and run windows etc inside using virtual emulation softwares.if you are a gamer ,you may need windows host.

[aaggoswami]

I have individual physical drives for Fedora and Windows XP. I boot into what I want to, for example some study data uploaded by friend/sir is to be downloaded, it Fedora and for Internet Browsing also its Fedora. But sometimes while doing work, i have to download and browse, and also insert pen drive, so here I may need Ubuntu. Booting into Ubuntu is faster as it is with XP and is basically better dual boot. Also I can see drives in Ubuntu and remove virus.

Its possible with Fedora but I have to basically mount the drive C:\ and D:\ by passing commands dev/xdax.

So thats why I was asking question about any stability issues. Googling does not reveal anything. I am not a gamer, but have to use Visual Studio 2008/98 and 3DS MAX. I can have Maya in Fedora, but still would prefer Windows and 3DS MAX. And nothing can replace the Studio, so windows is essential.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

You can do precisely what you want with any GNU/Linux distro. Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, SuSe, Mandrivia, Slackware, you name it, you have it. Nothing, repeat, no OS gives as much control over your system as a GNU/linux system does.

So what distinguishes the various distros? Here is my take:-

(1) Packaging policy. (stability Vs. "latest")
(2) Compiler. (Again, tried and tested compiler vs. "latest")
(3) Dependency resolution. (Means, if version 1 of application "foo"is compiled against version 2.1 of library "bar", you will have trouble running the binary "foo" on a system having only version 2.0 of "bar". The package management system should be able to handle these dependencies well and seamlessly.

I have used RH (in pre Fedora days), and Mandrake (before it became Mandrivia), and a wee bit of Ubuntu. I stick to Debian - it is rock solid. Ubuntu is treading the midway path between "latest" and "stablest". Fedora is out-and-out "latest". Means there would be problems running some applications.

On debian "stable", you know that if something is not working, only reason is you have misconfigured it. Not so on other distros.

Now, pick your distro.

Mounting ("click and mount" etc) are irrelevant. You can configure it yourselves once you get the system up and running.

And there is a multiple OS on a single system HOWTO on this forum. Do a search.

[deepclutch]

most easy package management I found is archlinux(pacman).but then I dumped it years back .
then there is the conary package management.both are not having good gui front-ends plus not much options regarding package management.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

I stick to Debian - it is rock solid.

I use apt-pinning for few years with Debian Sid apt-pinned to testing and experimental.you can support by testing the system and give your take to BTS.reportbug is a good shell script for that.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by deepclutch

I use apt-pinning for few years with Debian Sid apt-pinned to testing and experimental.you can support by testing the system and give your take to BTS.reportbug is a good shell script for that.

Err.... Sid is "unstable". "Testing" is between "stable" and "unstable". Did you mean "sid" and "experimental"?

Have you got kde4 running? I just got kde4 from experimental, and find that it is a bit too crashy.

[deepclutch]

No.I meant I use Sid as base.then use "testing"(currently Lenny) and "experimental" repo . Lenny for some nagging dependency problem and experimental for latest upstart daemon.
yes.it is painful.daily updates of ~50MB

I am a Gnome Guy(like it dont know why!).and Only Kde I liked is Kdemod(kde modules) provided only by archlinux custom repo.Kde mod is super fast.It is kde modules which means no more full kde libs as deps.Kde4 also is available such for archlinux.
Just go through arch wiki for more info.Good Luck!
Arch Linux
^go through forum and wiki.precious info are there.It is the next rolling release after gentoo(I had gentoo few months back..but hates the stage install and time for compile.and the parameters which are supposedly speed up processing speed aint make any visible difference).There was a guy who used to run a arch help site archux.com .something.

[given2fly]

Currently evaluating Kubuntu (whatever the latest edition is, probably 8.04, i know i know latest is 8.10, just not sure which edition I have) with KDE4. And it doesn't go past its x-loading screen. X dies and when I tries to start x using startkde, it will die again. It is on a Pentium 4 with just 256 MB ram (I may be below the minimum system requirement), but it is my given away home system. Will upgrade it to a little more memory in a little while but till then, how to get it going. I just downloaded Mint Linux and going to try that (apart from everygreen SLAX). Any suggestions?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

@given2fly, you can install kuuntu in text mode, and then install a light weight window manager like IceWM or xfce.

BTW, I am running kde4 right now. From experimental.