hey all! couple questions:D

astromech_kuhns

hey im astromech_kuhns!

i had a couple questions about ubuntu! and kinda some in linux in general!

so i downloaded and am dual booting linux ubuntu through wubi, im not sure what version but whatever one is on there. is that like a quick download version of it made to dual boot and isnt quite the whole thing? i mean, its not a huge file, and im not sure the version it came with, so what is it compared to the actual ubuntu?

also going through the manual on the site, it says that it doesnt use certain video or music files, mainly microsoft, i did not see one mac file type listed though does that mean it runs like MP4 files and other mac files? they are both unix based so i could see them using the same files.

will i be able to download itunes on to this computer? relating to the question above, are downloads in general the same file type as mac, but more than that is there a linux version of itunes or will it work from the mac version?

also on here the different reviews on distros, people talk about ubuntu's system instability, is it much of a problem? something i should look carefully at while deciding between distros?

also i ordered 5 copys of ubuntu from shiplit, one for me to use even if i dond decide to use it as my main OS i will download it to this laptop once i build my computer. and four more to hand out, i know my freind and older cousin are both interested, plus anyone i talk to that is interested in using ubuntu.

again relating to whats right above, if it takes 6-10 weeks for a copy of ubuntu to send out, and a new version comes out (no one wants to wait:D) other than downloading it as a ISO and moving it to a disk, is there a way to get the latest copy faster than shiplit? i heard that some magazines have copy's of ubuntu in them, so is that a better way to get the newest version of the distro? is through that? cause i know that downloading it may not always be a option and if it takes so long for shiplit than it would be nice to pick it up faster.

also my dad has a external hard drive, if i decide to switch full time to ubuntu, then if i use this to back up my files, will it be able to have ubuntu recgonize it?i just dont want to do this withought a back up plan. im pretty sure it hooks up via usb so should it be recgonized with such a generic port or would you need the moddle and make for it?

thank you all very much for taking the time to read this! and thanks a ton in advance for the response!

astromech_kuhns

Goineasy9

so i downloaded and am dual booting linux ubuntu through wubi, im not sure what version but whatever one is on there. is that like a quick download version of it made to dual boot and isnt quite the whole thing? i mean, its not a huge file, and im not sure the version it came with, so what is it compared to the actual ubuntu?

Could you possible read the filename off of the iso your booting. It could be the LiveCD your referring to,

also going through the manual on the site, it says that it doesnt use certain video or music files, mainly microsoft, i did not see one mac file type listed though does that mean it runs like MP4 files and other mac files? they are both unix based so i could see them using the same files.

Some files require additional codecs, once you have installed Ubuntu, these codecs are easily installed.

will i be able to download itunes on to this computer? relating to the question above, are downloads in general the same file type as mac, but more than that is there a linux version of itunes or will it work from the mac version?

I haven't used itunes, although I've heard of its use while using linux.

also on here the different reviews on distros, people talk about ubuntu's system instability, is it much of a problem? something i should look carefully at while deciding between distros?

There have been problems with Ubuntu's new release, but the problems are specific to certain hardware, you might not have a problem at all.

also i ordered 5 copys of ubuntu from shiplit, one for me to use even if i dond decide to use it as my main OS i will download it to this laptop once i build my computer. and four more to hand out, i know my freind and older cousin are both interested, plus anyone i talk to that is interested in using ubuntu.

There are many flavors of Linux that run well on all types of hardware. Ubuntu is just one, It is popular, and runs well for man people.

again relating to whats right above, if it takes 6-10 weeks for a copy of ubuntu to send out, and a new version comes out (no one wants to wait) other than downloading it as a ISO and moving it to a disk, is there a way to get the latest copy faster than shiplit? i heard that some magazines have copy's of ubuntu in them, so is that a better way to get the newest version of the distro? is through that? cause i know that downloading it may not always be a option and if it takes so long for shiplit than it would be nice to pick it up faster.

Well, you either order it from Ubuntu (Which I can see you did, and it will take a few weeks), or, you download an iso and burn a disk. Link to Download: http://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=ubuntu&month=all&year=all

also my dad has a external hard drive, if i decide to switch full time to ubuntu, then if i use this to back up my files, will it be able to have ubuntu recgonize it?i just dont want to do this withought a back up plan. im pretty sure it hooks up via usb so should it be recgonized with such a generic port or would you need the moddle and make for it?

I don't understand which files your backing up and need to be read by Ubuntu, but, rest assured, all types of files can be read by Linux.

Hope this helped.

astromech_kuhns

yes it has helped!

so what i looked and it is 9.10 that i got from wubi but, this is the site i got it from http://wubi-installer.org/ so basically is that kinda like a smaller version than?

then also, i know i can burn the ISO to a disk, but i dont think my computer can write files onto one so that may be out for me. i always can look at a friend doing it though, plus when i do build a computer ill make sure i can write files because, well its going to be a nice computer. lol.

and then finally, my dad has a external hard drive and what i was asking is that the files i have on windows now, if i moved them to that, and installed linux as my OS, will it run the external hard drive? cause i need to be able to get my files from the external hard drive that were on my windows OS to linux. and when reading it said linux still doesn't recognize some hardware.

thank you for your help!

Goineasy9

and then finally, my dad has a external hard drive and what i was asking is that the files i have on windows now, if i moved them to that, and installed linux as my OS, will it run the external hard drive? cause i need to be able to get my files from the external hard drive that were on my windows OS to linux. and when reading it said linux still doesn't recognize some hardware.

I have never found a cdrom or external usb hard drive that wouldn't work under Linux. I suppose there are some, but they are few.

Now, about your files. It depends on what kind of files they are. All documents should copy over, pictures, music etc. should also copy over without a problem. If your talking about games or files that work with windows programs as part of a database etc., they might not be so easy to deal with. What kind of files are you talking about?

mfillpot

astromech_kuhns wrote:

yes it has helped!

so what i looked and it is 9.10 that i got from wubi but, this is the site i got it from http://wubi-installer.org/ so basically is that kinda like a smaller version than?

The wubi installer first downloads the necessary components to grab all additional information from the disk or web, the smaller size is only because it is a windows executable meant to complete the actions during your first boot into ubuntu.

astromech_kuhns wrote:

and then finally, my dad has a external hard drive and what i was asking is that the files i have on windows now, if i moved them to that, and installed linux as my OS, will it run the external hard drive? cause i need to be able to get my files from the external hard drive that were on my windows OS to linux. and when reading it said linux still doesn't recognize some hardware.

Ubuntu should not have any problems reading and interacting with the external hard drive, but if you used the built in backup program that was on the external hard drive then you may run into issues because those apps are usually windows based and rely on the windows encryption libraries to work.

If you don't have a CD-ROM then you can attempt to install it from a USB stick or do a network install, the guide is https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick.

I have heard of itunes being installed in Linux distros using wine, but it has been a while since I have researched it, last I heard Apple pushed some kind of an update that disabled it from working properly, but that may have been resolved since then. The capability to play specific music file types is questionable, the community has made codecs to support most audio types, but certain ones with DRM encoding like m4p have been troublesome.

The problems with Ubuntu 9.10 have mostly been related to sound and video card interoperability, the sound one is the most frequent, if that problem effects you then you can always roll back to Ubuntu 9.04 which was much more stable.

astromech_kuhns

EDIT: fixed the problem. found it by myself. i think the only things on the original panel is the trash, desktop switcher and the thing that opens/closes all the windows.

now, also what im wondering is there a item that that will allow you to hover over the minimized window and a picture of it pops up in real time. its the effect windows 7 has.

mfillpot

The function to display minimized windows in real time has been included in KDE based distros for some time, but I am unaware of how to activate it on gnome. I believe you should find something in the compiz settings that will enable that, you should install compizconfig-settings-manager to find that option.

astromech_kuhns

alright well i played around with it a bit, didnt find that but i did get it so that i can switch between windows in the circle. i am liking ubuntu a lot.

i as most have the sound problem with ubuntu. i looked around a bit and entered some command line codes but it didnt succeed in getting me my sound, i saw two threads on it and tried both of them one someone posted in here and one was offsite but no success at all. not a total concern if it doesnt work but it would be nice, im sure with the alpha of the new ubuntu OS that this would be fixed by the time the new OS comes out fully.

astromech_kuhns

so if i am going to put this OS on my laptop via a disk i use, do i download it from the category live disk or desktop?

mfillpot

What OS are you trying to install?

astromech_kuhns

uuhhh! nothing is going right!!!!!
okay i was trying to install ubuntu 9.4 i think is what karmic kuala? the newest one.

any way its the newest one that i am trying to install. its on a older XP HP computer. i downloaded it off the desktop section and then i put it on a disk. i put that disk in and booted from the cdrom. it then proceeded to go to the ubuntu menu. all is well.

then i hit install ubuntu and enter and it stays on that screen. just sits there. and after a while if i try to hit something like a button on the keyboard it makes a loud beeping sound.

so i thought maybe i needed to do it from live disk thing instead of desktop category.

then tonight my computer that i am dual booting ubuntu and XP on got BSoD and rebooted. it worked. then failed. now i have to reinstall it cause its missing a file that is needed. one with the drivers. well i can get another disk and repair it like it says with it, but i use my computer a lot to have it not working. lucky me i have ubuntu on there. well its not working

i can boot up in it just fine. but for whatever reason, and it did this a couple days before having troubles with XP, i dont know if i hit something, but the wireless internet thing on my panel up top is gone and i cant seem to get it back on or connect to the internet.

so my options are, try to reinstall the XP operating system/fix the missing file.

or

wing it and try to use the desktop disk i made and install that completely onto my computer and hope it gives me back the wifi icon at the top and even though i dont have sound i atleast have wifi.

i actually happened to back up all my files the other day but for now they dont do me any good on ubuntu.

idk. so my original question, i used the desktop disk and tried that it wasnt working right i think maybe so, and the OS was the newest ubuntu. and i was installing on XP.

then my main computer now needs some work so what do you all think i should do, borrow XP disk from my friend and fix it like it says on the boot screen? or wing it and try to instal ubuntu on my computer with no sound and hope the wifi setting is there?

thanks!

mfillpot

Did you attempt to install from the menu that popped up in windows (wubi installer) or did you install by booting the installation disk?

If you were doing the wubi installation then the freeze you were speaking of was in fact the system trying to complete the install process, and that would explain why you are having problems now. If the freeze was on a booting installation then it could have frozen due to some problems with the bios or hardware.

The windows issue could be the result of an aborted wubi installation leaving necessary windows file in ram when they were being moved by the filesystem or the result of you attempting to resize the windows partition and aborting the process before it completed.

I recommend getting a windows disk to attempt to repair/replace the bad or missing files then attempting the Ubuntu installation again, but keep in mind that with the wubi installer it completed a lot of setup tasks on the first boot.

Also if you used the newest version of ubuntu then you were on 9.10, because of the instabilities I recommend 9.04, here is a link to the 9.04 images... http://ubuntu.mirrors.tds.net/pub/releases/9.04/

astromech_kuhns

ok, i may not have made this clear, which would be my fault and causing a lot of misunderstanding.

i am using two computers. i have mine, a gateway with XP on it and wubu ubuntu.

then my aunts had a HP computer running XP. it has to have one of those old linksys cards for wifi. but even that doesnt work. and so it isnt of much use. so they let me try to install ubuntu on it.

so i want to install ubuntu from disk onto the old HP. i got the disk from the desktop section where i went to the ubuntu site so i am guessing it is right.

now i was just ranting about how my PC was breaking down in the other post. then asking what i should do. so that computer has wubu and is working fine other than the XP problem.


so i will wait to fix the XP OS on my gate way but on the HP i still have my problem. when i put the disk in and boot from disk, it will start up and give me my options like try ubuntu with no change to OS or like install ubuntu then i didnt pay attention to the rest after that. but if i go to install ubuntu and hit enter it stays on that screen and i cant change my highlighted choice. after a while of being like that if i hit a button it makes a loud beep. i would think this was it installing except that there is not bar showing progress of the install or anything. then again it might not show the progress im not sure.

mfillpot

With installation for the old computer the ubuntu installer should immediately switch windows when a key is pressed, the is a problem with wither the installation disk or the computer hardware that is causing it to beep, which is usually a kernel panic.

Go ahead and try the "run from CD" option from the disk to see it that works, if that does not report back here and I will tell you how to start it in CLI mode so you can see the error message that is causing the crash.

astromech_kuhns

what i have to do is go to the bios and select boot from disk. so that it boots from disk rather than the hard drive and into XP but when its on that screen it wont do anything after hitting enter. that is when the beep happens is when i try to press a key at all. it makes a simple loud beep and is done then anytime a press it, it makes the beep. so it only does it when i push a button.

and if by run from the disk you mean to boot from it in bios i have done that.

so next step?

mfillpot

I am convinced it is a kernel issue, but without being able to get into a command line prompt it is very difficult to figure it out.

Can an ubuntu pro step in and give us some help with this?