Installing Ubuntu

[Gorgon]

After installation, which was quick and painless, I can't get past the first restart where it says a file name has the wrong format.

 

The version I tried was ubuntu-8.10-desktop-amd64. I'm a bit worried about the AMD part in the name, I mean who's on an AMD these days, but it was the only 64 bit official download and it mentioned nothing about processor architecture.

 

Also my burner has definitely seen better days and coughed several times during the ISO burn, so I went down and got a new one. Going to try it again. This time I'll burn both the 64 and 32 bit versions of the Ubuntu live disk.

 

I have a few remaining worries, such as whether Ubuntu will be able to recognize my already created partition, I read somewhere that Ubuntu does not assign drive letters to partitions like Windows. If I can't use that old partition It would make sense to defrag my HDD first, it's an old installation and that is apt to take a loong time. I would rather not.

 

 

Also there is the off chance that my board does not support linux oficially. I don't think that will be a problem, it's an Asus Maximus formula, but I might look it up just the same.

Edited April 4, 2009 by Gorgon

[Gorgon]

Calling moving van...

[Kaftan Barlast]

Linux and the Ubuntu dists are much better at recognising partitions and file systems than Windows. If its there, it will find it. The 64bit version should be ok, but you might run into some problems with drivers. Unless its a server, I would use the regular x32

 

 

And a tip is to use the Kubuntu dist instead of Ubuntu. It uses a GUI called KDE, which is easier to use and more logical than Ubuntus Gnome. (Its also prettier) Its not a big change, its still Ubuntu, but better. Unless you think MacOS9 was the best os ever, then you'll love gnome.

[Gorgon]

So the 32 bit version installed without a hitch, although I did cramp up a bit when it got to the partitioning screen, as suspected all I could see was a section of my HDD marked as 'existing partition' I couldn't do anything with it.

 

I selected 'assisted mode' and 'use free space' because I had no real idea what the best parameters would be. After rebooting into windows it appears that Ubuntu took most of the free space from my spare partition and resized the rest, so now I have a 3 gig partition and my standard C drive.

 

Curiously, every time I boot into ubuntu I have to reset the monitor refresh rate, then upon reboot it spawns a 'signal out of range' message. Another reboot takes care of that.

 

Hickups are to be expected I suppose. At least now I have a working Danish keyboard, which windows had somehow screwed up.

[Gorgon]

Ubuntu is pretty clunky in some aspects, for instance it seems to get the standard web page layout wrong often, although that is not really the fault of the OS at all. Just logging in to these boards and some text is so minuscule it can't be read, other sections appear enormous.

 

By the way do I need software firewalls and anti virus and the like.

[samm]

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_computer_viruses, there's alle the usual freeware scanners available for linux, as well as Symantec, Panda, Kaspersky etc. if you want to buy it. The same should be true for firewalls. You can also manually secure your system a little easier than with windows, google for linux firewall (although this will bring up a lot of stuff about using a linux computer as a firewall, there's also a lot of info how to secure the computer itself).

[Humodour]

You don't really need any anti-virus software or firewalls.

 

Anti-virus software is usually only about 25% successful most of the time anyway, and Linux is firewalled by default (though you can improve this). You've also got security by obscurity (i.e. Linux viruses are amazingly rare). Also you don't have root (admin) rights by default, adding yet another protection layer. Your mileage may vary.

 

Regarding web browsing: uh, clunky? Firefox on Linux is exactly the same as Firefox on Windows. I don't understand your point. If you haven't got Firefox, go to the package manager and type it in the search field. Perhaps you actually mean incorrect fonts? You can download proprietary fonts in the package manager (Arial, Times New Roman, etc), but it's illegal for them to ship directly for free.

 

You'll also want to download music codecs from the package manager so you can play songs (again, illegal to ship directly with Ubuntu).

 

Yeah, KDE 3.5 is pretty damn good. I much prefer it to Gnome. Once KDE 4.3 comes out I'll switch to that, though (as the bugs will be gone - KDE 4.0 was horrible).

 

Curiously, every time I boot into ubuntu I have to reset the monitor refresh rate, then upon reboot it spawns a 'signal out of range' message. Another reboot takes care of that.

 

That's odd. It'll probably be fixed by 9.04 (really worth getting, comes out April 20th-ish). Actually I recall having a similar problem. Ask about it on the Ubuntu forums and they'll tell you how to fix it (they're really friendly).

 

You can also use Wubi (load Ubuntu from within Windows), or you can run Ubuntu as a Windows application: http://lifehacker.com/5195999/portable-ubu...-inside-windows

 

But yeah if there's one thing you should do, it's check out the package manager. So much amazing **** there.

 

Oh, and remember to get the Flash plugin for Firefox, and then get Flashblock to round things off.

[Gorgon]

So, I downloaded a printer driver. What exactly am I supposed to do with the file, double clicking didn't do anything. I noticed it was an '.exe'

 

Maybe it's an archive, no options for unpacking it though. It's like learning to walk all over again.

[samm]

*.exe isn't for Linux, this is very likely a Windows executable.

 

What I have to say is:

Anti-virus software is usually only about 25% successful most of the time anyway, and Linux is firewalled by default (though you can improve this). You've also got security by obscurity (i.e. Linux viruses are amazingly rare). Also you don't have root (admin) rights by default, adding yet another protection layer. Your mileage may vary.

Never count on that!

[Humodour]

*.exe isn't for Linux, this is very likely a Windows executable.

 

Hmm. What printer is it? Normally Ubuntu detects it by default (plug and play), but otherwise there's likely a Linux version of the driver you can find. You can usually also use a driver for another printer and it'll probably work (a trick I learnt from Windows 95).

 

What I have to say is:

Anti-virus software is usually only about 25% successful most of the time anyway, and Linux is firewalled by default (though you can improve this). You've also got security by obscurity (i.e. Linux viruses are amazingly rare). Also you don't have root (admin) rights by default, adding yet another protection layer. Your mileage may vary.

Never count on that!

 

Samm, you have to realise that not everybody has the same protection requirements as you.

 

I don't have anything important on my machines that's not backed-up on external HD's, and I certainly don't have anything on my computers a hacker might find worth stealing from me. Most people I've met are the same; their main priority is avoiding performance slow-down from spyware and having their comp hijacked by ads. Things which anti-virus software is hopeless at handling anyway. Further, I generally format every year or so (which any sane person should) when every second Ubuntu distro comes, which tends to put a kink in a botnet's plans.

 

As I said, your mileage may vary.

[Humodour]

Ahhh, I just found this for you Gorgon: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting

 

It explains printer compatibility on Linux. Some printers use Windows APIs which obviously means they won't work on Mac or Linux. The more reliable ones are unlikely to do this, however.

 

Edit: it's got a searchable printer database, Linux drivers, installation instructions, etc.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Krezack

[Gorgon]

The printer works perfectly under linux according to the database, however the printer itself seems to have a quirk with the paper feed, and will only print out half the pages I ordered, or just one. Then it spawns a hardware error screen.

 

In windows I can just reboot the printer and I'm good to print out what was missing from the job, in linux though the hardware error screen doesn't appear and this means it can't finish the job.

 

Fortunately Open office 3.o for windows seems to open files I have worked on in Ubuntu without a host of import errors after I switched to the Danish version.

 

I need a new printer anyway.

[Humodour]

Oh well, good to see you (sort of) sorted it out.

 

I just upgraded my laptop from Ubuntu 7.04 to 8.10 and the difference is amazing. I really like this all-brown theme in Gnome that (not the dodgy default brown one) and I've finally tried desktop effects (Compiz) - it's pretty fun and looks good.

 

Once my beefed up mac mini arrives I'll try out games under WINE properly (this comp wouldn't run most of them on Windows let alone Linux), but so far JK2 and Jedi Academy (use Quake 3 engine) work perfectly. It also auto-detected my graphics card and installed nVidia's linux driver for me.

 

Oh, and the tablet pen draws even better than on Windows! I still need to get the eraser working, though. I must have made a typo in X.org config.

[Syraxis]

Does anyone have any experience with sound cards in Linux? I installed Kubuntu 8.10 fairly recently but I can't get the sound card to work. I've followed a few guides but nothing noticeable came from doing so.

 

My card model is a Sound Blaster Audigy SE.

[Humodour]

Hmm. I've never heard about sound problems in that manner. Have you tried switching sound drivers (e.g. between ALSA and PulseAudio)?

[Gorgon]

This time what i was trying to install was the danish language version of open office on ubuntu. I got this : OOo_3.0.1_LinuxIntel_install_da_deb.tar.gz

It's an archive, unzipping it presents you with a bunch of folders. I don't know what to do with those.

[Humodour]

Rule number one for using Ubuntu: If more than 10 people use it, it's in the package manager.

 

But I don't think we even need to go there, as Open Office comes installed by default and within it you should be able to simply switch languages: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/for...hp?f=6&t=69

 

For reference, though, um, I dunno. Just extracting it all to a directory and then running the programme would work but it's rather messy compared to the package manager. Always avoid it unless it's a last resort.

[Gorgon]

Yes, this is true. However the spell checker does not appear to function unless the program is itself is the Danish version.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Gorgon

[Humodour]

Yes, this is true. However the spell checker does not appear to function unless the program is itself is the Danish version.

 

Can I suggest you make a post about this on the Ubuntu forums? I guarantee the Danish dictionary is meant to work in the English version of OO. Somebody more knowledgeable than me (and probably even Danish) should certainly be able to help you.

[Gorgon]

By the way where to I change the desktop environment into something other than the standard blood spattered paper theme.

[Humodour]

It's horrible, isn't it? I downloaded a wallpaper pack. But I guess you can figure that out yourself, so I'll just show you where to change wallpapers:

 

System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Background

 

You can also turn on or off 3D desktop graphics in the same place

 

You can also change your desktop theme in the same place. I just switched mine to DarkRoom. It's orange and brown like the default theme but more stylish, IMHO. Especially with a black/techno wallpaper.

 

This might also interest you: http://www.gnome-look.org/

 

Frankly I'd suggest switching to KDE 4.3 when it comes out. It's prettier and makes more sense than Gnome.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Krezack

[EUIX]

Even with Ubuntu the most user friendly distro there are still things that just don't work right out of the box. If you are switching to Linux be prepared to fiddle around a lot.

[Humodour]

Even with Ubuntu the most user friendly distro there are still things that just don't work right out of the box. If you are switching to Linux be prepared to fiddle around a lot.

 

Fair enough. Got any examples? Please exclude things that also don't work right on Windows out of the box. For obvious reasons.

 

I think Apple takes the cake on things "just working right" out of the box, but that's an extremely closed environment.

[EUIX]

More so in the 64 bit version of Linux there are a lot of issues, if you don't want problems with flash especially, go with 32-bit. I have had a lot of problems with Maple classic worksheets the Java Gui works okay but when you need to do intensive computation its too tedious, and I have never gotten Mathematica working. That said Linux does have an excellent analysis suite that would otherwise cost big $$$$ on Windows like, the Linux clone of Origin which is totally free but will cost you a pretty penny otherwise. Then there are printing issues and issues with fonts because some are propriety and burning software K3B is good but there are problems out of the box with burning mp3's into audio cds and the like. Ubuntu is relatively good for most of the stuff but I run Fedora 10 with xfce and its a pain to get everything running. I never yum update, because every time I do some piece of crap stops working. I particularly like how you have to reinstall nvidia drivers every time you update the kernel, not a big deal, but still annoying.

 

Ultimately a lot of the problem is just there is so much variation in distro and relatively little standardization, solutions to technical problems mostly rely on spending an afternoon combing through technical support for Linux forum posts using google.

[Gorgon]

One thing that has befuddled me is how the mini navigator you get when you open a file from within an application, for instance VLC player, you can't locate the physical drives, all you get is the file system where you can open a 'my documents' type folder.