a little help for the new guy, please.

czar960

I have just installed the Ubuntu version of Linuz on my HP DV8110us laptop.

New hard drive (320 GB) upgraded memory to two Gig as well.

( don't even know if that stuff matters)

anyhow I am having problems. It seams the problems might be with permissions. .. not sure

two errors so far- I listed the application and the resulting error in double quotes

Update Manager

""Not enough free disk space

The upgrade needs a total of 411M free space on disk '/'

Please free at least an additional 411M of disk space on '/'.

Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'. ""

Firefox

""Could not initialize the application's security component.

The most likely cause is problems with files in your application's profile directory.

Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is

not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem.

If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when

accessing security features.""

Also, when I reboot or shutdown from Linux I get a black screen with text. Not sure what all it says. But I have to hold down the power button to get it to turn off.

THANKS!!!

Eric

amnesia

Heh, the black screen with words is init 6 killing all the processes

open a console: type df -h -- Chances are good, that you allocated
space to the wrong partitions (or didn't use your entire hdd)
/ - root
/usr - should be where most of the packages are installed, every distro has different layouts
/home - userland

anywho

console: df -h
and paste results

czar960

thank you for the reply
i guessed you meant "terminal" when you said console.
seems I was right.
Please keep in mind I have to switch back and forth between system and paste text to a file that I can access from both sides so i might not get the formatting correct. soo look to the previous or next line if it doens't make sense to you.

Okay - results are pasted below

thanks, Eric


Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5 2.3G 2.3G 0 100% /
tmpfs 930M 0 930M 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 930M 104K 930M 1% /var/run
varlock 930M 0 930M 0% /var/lock
udev 930M 152K 930M 1% /dev
tmpfs 930M 628K 929M 1% /dev/shm
lrm 930M 2.7M 927M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/volatile
overflow 1.0M 16K 1008K 2% /tmp
/dev/sda1 296G 23G 273G 8% /media/disk

czar960

One other thing while I am thinking about it.
The Unbuntu Linux install disk did the partitioning itself.
On the Unbuntu disk I ran the test mode first and I did a "check integrity" of the install disk, too. It said there were no problems found.

This is a brand new 320 GB HD that had the whole thing formatted and the windows XP Prof OS installed.

Is there another verison of Linux that might be better for a home user with hopes of using the PC for a small home business?

I would hate go back and reiinstall all of the windows stuff too but there is nothing on the PC that I "need"

amnesia

k, from what I see

/dev/sda5 2.3G 2.3G 0 100% / <- your root partition
-- way too small ..
/dev/sda1 296G 23G 273G 8% /media/disk <- ? You have all your space tied up into this


(your root partition)


/dev/sda1 is the NEW harddrive, correct? 320 gig

it looks like you took a chunk off of it to make a root partition and nothing else ? lol

made a partition for each file system
/, /usr, /var, /home so on
/ should be atleast 20gb
/usr 20+ gb
/var 5 or so gb
/home 20 or so gb

that's not really based on your situation -- you have 320 gb to split up between the partitions, but you definitely do not have the correct partitions
When you Created your partitions, did you use an Auto Allocate or did you partition it yourself?

amnesia

I've heard alot of good things about LinuxMint ?

amnesia

You're in windows right now?

If -- you're in Windows Vista

An easy solution is:

start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management

On the left in the Menu tree

Go down until you see an expandable menu
'storage'
expand that tree, and look for Disk management

Once it connects to the drives, look for
the volumn that isnt labled, go ahead and delete it (not the one with C:... =P)
Now, Right click on C:
and it should give you an option to 'shrink' the partition
cut it in half
reinstall ubuntu .

czar960

I let the Install disk do the allocating.

So is this fixable or do I have to go back to square one?
is there a way to fix this install or is the best thing to go back and uninstall Linux and start anew?

As a matter of fact i don't even remember an "uninstall" option on the Ubunto install disk.

Is there an install disk that will set up correct HD space or does it need to be done manually?

Thanks!!

amnesia

Just follow those steps in my last post

The unlabled Volume in disk management is actually Ubuntu
-- once you delete that partition -- ubuntu is gone.

Shrink your NTFS partition in half..
So NTFS = 160gB
and Linux will have whatevers left after the shrink
-- ubuntu should automatically assume you want to use
this empty space and automatically create the correct
partitions for you -- if not

/ = very important
/usr = very important
/home = some what important (good idea to set aside a good size for it if you're going to be using it as a desktop)
/var = important

so use your discretion

czar960

I am in Windows XP Prof
there is no option to shrink the HD space (that I have found at least).
And even if so how do you tell the Install disk exactly where to put the Linus OS?

So what is the solution for Windows XP Prof?

thanks,
eric

amnesia

Ok!

http://www.ehow.com/how_5124581_shrink-windows-xp-partition.html

from what I got from the ubuntu doc

Resizing Partitions Using the Ubuntu Installer

boot the ubuntu install cd

Automatic partitioning
1.Choose the First Option (It should be something like: "Resize IDE1 master, partition #1 (hda1) and use freed space"). 2.Specify the size of the new partition as a percentage of your entire hard disk. 3.Click on "Forward". 4.continue to Finishing Ubuntu Installation

sorry, I haven't ever used ubuntu :P

czar960

UGH!!....lol..

okay, you folks have been great so far. After i deleted the Unbuntu partion of the disk the PC would not go into windows. it was still trying to run Ubntu. went to system recovery and had it create a new MBR...master boot record...so I am baack for the moment.

okay, If I use the cd I have and go to advance and so manually tell it how big to make the partitions i do get some options.
But there are many choices and I don't know what to choose.
There is "primary" , "secondary" choices and a list of about 8 choices for as far as file system types. NTFS, FAT32, and a bunch i have never heard of.
also choices for root dir "/" and subsequent "/xxx", blah, blah....

is there a way I can find out EXACTLY what to choose and how big I should make each choice?
i do not want to give up on this but I am getting frustrated, here.
Thanks,!!
eric

amnesia

primary

Linux - File system Ext3

/ 40gb

/usr 60gb

/home 58gb

/var 2gb


Make sure you're able to 'SHRINK' NTFS

adjust those sizes as needed

(adjust partition size of /home to compensate)

czar960

Okay great, but what about the rest of it? To what file system do I format these portions of the disk?
I know it won't be ntfs or fat32... is there a standard for what to format the linux portion of the disk?
sorry I can't remember all of the options....but there were several
.
..so is it just this install of Linux or is none of this a surprise?.
....it shouldn't be this hard, heh?
I have rebooted and shutdown my computer more times today than i do in a month of Sunday's!
thanks again,
E

czar960

sorry, I missed the primary and ext3 part of the message at the top.
...cool...I am going to give it a try.
Wish me luck!
E

amnesia

Hey, I've been here all day, lol.
I don't even use linux for my desktop -- I just SSH to it :P
But ultimately with this experince you've had -- you'll have a great deal of insight for the next distro you try, haha.

You really want to have fun, install a copy of NetBSD o_0, no don't. heh stick with linux

amnesia

czar960 wrote:

..so is it just this install of Linux or is none of this a surprise?.
....it shouldn't be this hard, heh?
I have rebooted and shutdown my computer more times today than i do in a month of Sunday's!
thanks again,
E

Hehe, actually from my understanding Ubuntu is 'supposed' to be in some what of an extreme, 'user friendly' thorougly. But hey, easy isn't always best. It's always best before choosing to do anything to read-up on in great detail for anything in-which is unknown to you.. But, for people who like to jump in head-first isn't exactly a bad experience as it's not a good experience, just rather a frustrating one. Consider this, having basically doing this on your own basically with little help and a manual sitting in front of you -- you've accomplished something which makes or breaks alot of people. At the end of the day it'll be just another thing -- Which leads into experimenting with new concepts and trying out new things.. A great deal into the entirety, you'll learn alot.. And learning something new is what it's all about.. Hell, atleast you're giving it a shot. Who knows, you could be the next innovative super star. :P

czar960

well, I do so appreciate the help. i couldn't do it without you that is for sure.

okay the latest....tried the manual disk partitioning.
tried the number posted and was told that I had not accounted for "swap" space. tried to back up and adjust numbers and then add a swap space and I can't get the number to work. i keep ending up with an "unusable" portion of the disk.

I will adjust the main XP drive to be 200,000 bytes (200 GB) leaves me with like 105,000 (105 GB)
so it looks like I need space for the following directories:
/
/usr
/home
/var
/swap (is this correct) ??

5 directories 105 GB
i guess these need to add up in some particular way?
thanks,
Eric

amnesia

nope

ahh swap!

yea your swap is important

swap is in that list of file systems

make a swap partition 512 mb / 1024 mb or whatever

:P

if you have 105 gb of usable space
(I had just estimated for 160gb)
.. just downsize each partition proportionately

25 gb /
50 gb /usr
32 gb /home
2gb /var
1gb swap (sorry for forgetting this)

czar960

lol...no problem...it is late. (2 am)

okay, so is it "/swap" or just "swap" ?

thank,
E

amnesia

just swapfs
create a partition with a total of 1024mb
and change fs type to swap

thats basically all that is

amnesia

haha this is kind of ironic -- like the blind leading the blind considering I've never dealt with ubuntu :P Kinda makes me wanna install it and see wtf is up lol

czar960

okay, I have Ubuntu up and running and accessing the internet, update manager has worked. haven't done much else though, so I will see.....
But let me describe what I did with the disc partitions first:
like I said I kept getting "unusable" space at the end of the hard drive. even no matter how small i made the preceding portions.
So I knew that when I deleted the the disc partitions from the "first" (it was really the 2nd) that there were just two parts allocated on the disc. So I assumed that one was to be the root " / " one to be the swap space. seems to be working so far.
Of the 120GB I had left on the disc I made the root dir 80GB and the swap space 40GB.

so now if i do the df -h in a terminal I get the following..

somebody please let me know if these sizes sound right so I might know if there is a problem.
thank you,
Eric

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 74G 9.5G 61G 14% /
tmpfs 993M 0 993M 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 993M 92K 993M 1% /var/run
varlock 993M 0 993M 0% /var/lock
udev 993M 148K 993M 1% /dev
tmpfs 993M 712K 993M 1% /dev/shm
lrm 993M 2.5M 991M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.28-14-generic/volatile

amnesia

thats fine / leads to all things anyway that may be how ubuntang is laid out im d/l'ng it i got to see all this mess - i think you should try LinuxMint i installed it this morning on another pc, it's really simple and install is very streamlined and comes with a bunch of proprietary stuff, which is nice..

anywho - ajay

amnesia

czar960 wrote:

Of the 120GB I had left on the disc I made the root dir 80GB and the swap space 40GB.

wow, that's alot of swap space --
You only needed 1gb or less of swap, o_O

czar960

thanks for all of your help, Ajay. I don't know why a moderator did not jump in here somewhere.
I know the swap space is quite huge compared to what you said but I was so happy the numbers worked without any unusable space that I just went ahead and continued. Should I try and adjust it yet or maybe i should just go with the linuxmint you mentioned.
I don't understand all of the versions and their particular uses, if there are any.
These guys don't do a good job of laying out what to expect. I mean somebody put together these installs, right? They had to write down what each step does.:huh:
Do you have a good link to an install of Linux Mint? Do you know of major differences?
thanks,
Eric

czar960

...so I was just browsing the distributions and saw the Linux Mint. I wanted to know if you went with the x64 bit version or the regular. I do have an AMD Turion64 in this PC.
Just wanted to know if that is the version you downloaded and installed.
thanks,
Eric


...maybe i'lll go the the "mint" and that will give me a chance to fix the swap space.

amnesia

I don't use 64bit Linux
root@msu:/etc# echo $(uname -mrs && cat /etc/slackware-version)
Linux 2.6.30.4-sulfer i686 Slackware 13.0.0.0.0


I'm staying with slackware-current with rsync until I get a good feel for 64bit.. Which, infact is something I should actually get into to trying out --

as for trying something different -- heh yea. I would I'd get the LinuxMint I installed it on another box, and everything worked out of box -- printer, sound, video, internet, the partitioning was straight forward - I liked it ..


I'm still trying to bring myself around to installing ubuntang and try it out

edit: matter of fact, I think I'll go compile it into the kernel (have fun)

czar960

hate to keep bugging you but...back to the partitioning thing.
when I used the ubunto disk partitioner, it would not let me add more than two more parts to the disk. no matter what sizes I said. could there be a problem with the HD ?
I have found some documention on the site for installing and such but the recommended sizes are REALLY small. they are talking partitions in MB's not GB. or is it directories?

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/amd64/minimum-hardware-reqts.html#id2583646

thanks!

amnesia

those are recommended minimums :L

besides -- I don't know why Ubuntang is so strange --
I'm going to be installing it later on and see what is really doing

I have infact already deleted my linux parition and resized my NTFS partition to use the whole disk -- So, we'll see what happens with Ubuntang, and what was happening. It should, infact be a straight-forward process, I have no idea why you had such troubles.

I will take photos~ :P



edit:

There's nothing wrong with your harddrive.

czar960

okay thanks about the hard drive.

well, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I am going to go for the Mint x64.

thanks,
eric