How do I install Ubantu?

explodingbee

I downloaded Ubantu 15.10 desktop. It was a zip type file. So I extracted it with 7-Zip. Then that created a bunch of files and folders. But I could not find any setup.exe file nor any readme file that I could open. So I can't proceed any further. There do not seem to be any instructions on the Linux website. How do I install this program?

arochester

Linux is not Windows. Windows is not Linux.

It probably wasn't a zip file, it was more likely an iso.

You don't unpack an iso, You "burn" an iso; that is you do a special procedure that creates a Linux bootable disk.

There wouldn't be a seup.exe. That's Windows. Linux does not have the extension .exe.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

jon wilob

explodingbee wrote:

I downloaded Ubantu 15.10 desktop. It was a zip type file. So I extracted it with 7-Zip. Then that created a bunch of files and folders. But I could not find any setup.exe file nor any readme file that I could open. So I can't proceed any further. There do not seem to be any instructions on the Linux website. How do I install this program?

1. Download the Linux distro you want.
2. Put blank DVD in burner.
3. Open the burner program of your choice and select "burn image".
4. From that burner program go find the ISO file you downloaded and select that file.
5. Now tell the burning program to burn IMAGE of that file.
6. When finished with the burn you should now have a bootable DVD so that when the 'puter is restarted the DVD will load the program up and be a fully operable operating system.
7. During the DVD loading process you will be asked if you want to "install or try" the Linux distro. Make your choice wisely. You can also install Linux alongside your existing OS.
8. Just make sure in your BIOS your DVD is set as "first boot device"

explodingbee

Hi Arochester and Jon Wilob,

Thank you both for your responses. I tried to follow the instructions provided by Arochester but it did not work. I have a burner program, Nero. But I can't use it because when I install it is doesn't run properly, apparently because there is a conflict with the operating system of my computer, Windows Vista. So I used the burn program which is part of Windows Explorer. I selected "burn to disk." I thought that that was probably the same as "burn image," which Jon Wilob advised me to use. I burned the file (Ubantu-15.10-desktop-i386) to a DVD but then when I restarted the computer it got to the DVD and just got stuck there and would not finish booting. Apparently "burn to disk" (in Windows Explorer) is not the same as "burn image" (in a burner program). This is about the third or fourth time I have tried this with several distributions of Linux and it never seems to work.

I saw that in the link that Arochester provided it says to download ISO Recorder. I downloaded that program and installed it and ... (drum roll) ... I can't find the program anywhere so I obviously can't use it. (There is no corresponding shortcut on my desktop and I don't see it anywhere in my list of programs which is associated with the start menu. I do see the program in my "program files" folder but there does not seem to be any file I can click on to run the program.)

So I have still not been able to install Linux. I will try some more on another day.

Regards,

Vincent

jon wilob

When you burnt the ISO to DVD as an "IMAGE" file and then re-booted your machine did the DVD with the image on it start up and give you options such as "Try Ubuntu" or "Install Ubuntu"? Remember, you must have the DVD burner with the Ubuntu ISO in it, set as first boot device in your BIOS. If you don't know how to set that condition post back and we will walk you through it. If you would like to purchase a disc then https://www.osdisc.com/products/linux/ubuntu or Amazon or Ebay will sell you one very reasonably. BUT your BIOS must be set as FIRST BOOT DEVICE in order for Ubuntu to boot!

Also if the machine you are trying to install Ubuntu on has Windows on it already you will/ should have the option of installing Ubuntu "alongside" windows. As per any major modification to a machine backup everything of importance just in case something goes awry.

If you're a noob to Linux Ubuntu is a great OS but for a person coming from Windoze it can be quite intimidating with the Unity desktop and other differences. I would suggest getting a copy of Linux Lite and try it first. For some, myself included, LL was a whole lot easier to get around in and runs really fast on older machines. I did things backwards by starting with Ubuntu 12.04 and struggling for a year or so before trying other distros.

The goal of Linux Lite is to introduce Windows users to an intuitively simple, alternative operating system. Linux Lite is a showcase for just how easy it can be to use linux. From familiar software like Firefox and Thunderbird, to simply named menu items, to one click updates and software installs we hope that you will find Linux Lite an enjoyable computing experience.

Linux Lite is based on the Ubuntu LTS series of releases. LTS stands for Long Term Support, this means each release has a support period of 5 years. This is a great basis for stability, but not only that, you only need to install once every 5 years. During that period your system will continue to receive updates. Linux Lite is fully functional out of the box, this means that you won't have to install extra software when you boot your computer for the first time. We believe that a computer should be ready to use straight away on the first boot after a new install. You're going to need this kind of functionality on a daily basis when you are using your computer so we take the hassle out of trying to find the right software from the start. From OSDisc.com

explodingbee

Hi Jon Wilob,

Thank you for your reply. I have now succeeded in installing Ubantu 15.10. (but I have a new problem, as discussed below).

The files I was previously burning to disk were not image files, I don't think. I finally found that program called ISO Recorder (which Arochester's link recommended) (it was embedded right into the Windows Explorer window and so I had previously overlooked it) and I then was able to burn an Ubantu image file to disk and then restart the computer and get the Linux installation going.

(I did not use Linux Lite, which you recommended. Everything seemed to be taking so long and so I just went with what I had. But at this point I have downloaded Linux Lite [actually it is still downloading as I write] and I may install it over the Ubantu 15.10 which I installed.)

But I have a new problem now. I no longer have a boot manager giving me the choice of which hard drive to boot from when I boot up the computer (my computer has two hard drives). I need to have that choice.

One of the programs that I use is Creo Elements / Direct Modeling Express 6.0, a CAD program. It will not work with Linux (I don't think). My computer has a 250 Gigabyte hard drive and a 120 Gigabyte hard drive. Previously they both had Windows Vista and I was given a choice of which hard drive to boot from when I started up the computer. But now I have installed Ubantu 15.10 on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive and when I boot up I am not given any option of booting from the 250 Gigbyte hard drive (which has Windows Vista and my CAD program on it). It just goes straight to the 120 Gigabyte hard drive and boots up Ubantu. (When I installed Ubantu I chose to write over the previous Windows Vista installation on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive, instead of installing beside Windows Vista on that hard drive.) This means that I cannot use my CAD program. (I can access the files on the 250 Gigabyte hard drive from Ubantu after it has booted up from the 120 Gigabyte hard drive - so it does not appear that any files have been harmed - but this does not solve my problem, that I cannot use my CAD program.)

So how do I regain the choice of which hard drive to boot from when I boot up the computer?

Best regards,

Vincent

jon wilob

Do you know how to access your BIOS at boot time? You can go into it and select the drive you want to boot from. Depending on your system and the BIOS it has during the POST screen
you hit the appropriate key- (usually F8, F12, F2, the Delete Key or some other combination) depending on your system. If you have the owners manual for your system it should tell you in there how to get into BIOS. It's very possible stabbing the delete key during POST will bring up the BIOS screen. Once there you are in an area that with one wrong keystroke you can "break" your machine so look before you leap in that program. If possible find out your motherboard's make and model. How old is your machine? What make? Any information about your system you could provide would be extremely helpful at this point. Since you have already installed Linux on one drive as a last ditch effort you could go into your machine and temporarily disconnect the cable going to the HDD that has Linux installed on it. Doing that should then allow Vista to boot. Once Vista is up and running go to http://www.belarc.com/ to download and install their free program called Advisor. Advisor isn't free for Linux but it is for Windows. That program, when installed and run on Vista, will do an inventory of your machine and likely tell you about your MOBO as well as a plethora of other info. You could then Google the MOBO's model and get the owner's manual which would tell you how to access and make changes in BIOS so you would be able to select the boot order. You may want to consider wiping the drive with Ubuntu installed on it and re-installing Vista again on that drive. Then install Lite or Ubuntu or whatever Linux distro you choose after Vista is installed and working properly. If you do this and have Windows on the HDD fist and Linux second you will have your boot manager menu come up at start up. This is the proper way to install Windows and Linux together on a HDD. By the same token the drive you have your CAD program on could be used as a side by side Windows/Linux drive install. However there's some risk, albeit small, of corrupting the existing Windows OS on that drive. Had you done the Windows first Linux second install in the first place you would more than likely not be having the complications you are now experiencing.

ben0000

For those that want to save time. You can buy Ubuntu pre-installed on a HP laptop from ebuyer (UK retailer). http://www.ebuyer.com/ubuntu

--
ben

rgand

I found this thread a while ago in my search for a Linux installation. I registered and here I am. It seems to give direction on getting out from under the iron hand of Windows. At the suggestion given here, I am currently downloading Linux Lite and will follow this thread.

jon wilob

rgand wrote:

I found this thread a while ago in my search for a Linux installation. I registered and here I am. It seems to give direction on getting out from under the iron hand of Windows. At the suggestion given here, I am currently downloading Linux Lite and will follow this thread.

You'll never be sorry starting with LL. I've tried at least 10 different distros of Linux and am currently using Zorin 9.0 32bit LTS. It's said Zorin could be a "Windows Killer" but I never made it as far as Win. 7, which Zorin is supposed to resemble, so I can't say if it would or wouldn't. LL is still my favorite for ease of use and speed of operation on my old P4 machine. I said bye to Windows when XP was no longer supported. I Turned to Ubuntu and struggled through the learning process of Ubuntu 12.04 with the Unity desktop. I almost gave up out of sheer frustration. Unity was really a GIANT step away from Windows. Not saying it was a bad giant step, just a giant step, with the Bash command line and all. Many folks I'm sure just plain gave up on Ubuntu when Ubuntu went with the Unity desktop. If you're not an avid "Windows specific" game player Linux will serve you very nicely and without all the overhead such as anti-virus software slowing your machine down. Be patient and if you spend as much time and patience learning Linux as you spent learning Windows, you'll never regret making the change....guaranteed! Hope this little diatribe shed some light on what to expect on a person's journey through Linux land. Gotta go now 'cause I think a distro called Linux Peppermint is going to need a little closer examination...see what I mean? The possibilities are endless.....

rgand

Thanks for the encouragement, Jon. I've been using Windows since Win 3.1. About 10 years ago I bought a full copy of Red Hat Linux. Configuring it was a nightmare and I never got it working. I finally formatted that drive and re-installed Windows. Red Hat went into a closet and a few years ago I found it and tossed it, figuring it would be terribly out of date. My Windows 7 works great (as much so as Windows can) and I've been using it through the Win 8 release and now Win 10 force-feed going on. I figure it's only a matter of time until my Win 7 installations get corrupted and I'm forced into a solution. I've always wanted to get going with Linux and keep a Windows installation just for the programs that will only run in that environment. I'm planning a dual boot for my extra laptop and will do all my learning there. When I know what I'm doing, I'll set up my main machine the same. Today I'm downloading and installing Express Burn to burn the image to a CD.

explodingbee

Hi Jon Wilob,

Thank you for your post. I regret not responding sooner. One of the problems is that this installation process seems to take a lot of time and I have very little time available because I am very busy. I will try to work on this project later on, tonight, and post a response/update.

Best regards,

Vincent

jon wilob

rgand wrote:

Thanks for the encouragement, Jon. I've been using Windows since Win 3.1. About 10 years ago I bought a full copy of Red Hat Linux. Configuring it was a nightmare and I never got it working. I finally formatted that drive and re-installed Windows. Red Hat went into a closet and a few years ago I found it and tossed it, figuring it would be terribly out of date. My Windows 7 works great (as much so as Windows can) and I've been using it through the Win 8 release and now Win 10 force-feed going on. I figure it's only a matter of time until my Win 7 installations get corrupted and I'm forced into a solution. I've always wanted to get going with Linux and keep a Windows installation just for the programs that will only run in that environment. I'm planning a dual boot for my extra laptop and will do all my learning there. When I know what I'm doing, I'll set up my main machine the same. Today I'm downloading and installing Express Burn to burn the image to a CD.

Sounds like you're on your way to becoming a Linux newbie...welcome aboard. As long as you first have a working copy of Windows on the machine you want to dual boot Linux with and a "clean live" Linux disc you won't believe how easy the side by side install of Linux will go. Haven't heard 3.1 mentioned in quite a while. That OS was my initial exposure to Windows also. I avoided Red Hat for some reason..I think life got in the way, and just a couple years ago got into Linux. I've heard Linux referred to a hobbyists O.S. I prefer to view it as a "thinking person's O.S. Once you get it dialed in sure, you can turn it on and sit back and vegetate and use it. Most distros are rock solid and unlike Windows Linux hardly ever crashes. But the fun begins when you look under the hood and begin to appreciate just how intrinsically bullet proof Linux really is. A lot of people are surprised when they find out just how many corporations and industries are relying on Linux daily in order to get things done.

rgand

jon wilob wrote:

Sounds like you're on your way to becoming a Linux newbie...welcome aboard. As long as you first have a working copy of Windows on the machine you want to dual boot Linux with and a "clean live" Linux disc you won't believe how easy the side by side install of Linux will go. Haven't heard 3.1 mentioned in quite a while. That OS was my initial exposure to Windows also. I avoided Red Hat for some reason..I think life got in the way, and just a couple years ago got into Linux. I've heard Linux referred to a hobbyists O.S. I prefer to view it as a "thinking person's O.S. Once you get it dialed in sure, you can turn it on and sit back and vegetate and use it. Most distros are rock solid and unlike Windows Linux hardly ever crashes. But the fun begins when you look under the hood and begin to appreciate just how intrinsically bullet proof Linux really is. A lot of people are surprised when they find out just how many corporations and industries are relying on Linux daily in order to get things done.

Thanks for the welcome. This is something I've wanted to do for years so it's about time. I even tried a Mac but found that using one was just too much fiddle and I like clean and quick. I do have a good working copy of Win 7 to start with so this will be the starting place. I've done dual boots in the past with good results. I figure that for 10 years, many people have worked to make the installation process a whole lot smoother. I look forward to this.

explodingbee

jon wilob wrote:

Do you know how to access your BIOS at boot time? You can go into it and select the drive you want to boot from. Depending on your system and the BIOS it has during the POST screen
you hit the appropriate key- (usually F8, F12, F2, the Delete Key or some other combination) depending on your system. If you have the owners manual for your system it should tell you in there how to get into BIOS. It's very possible stabbing the delete key during POST will bring up the BIOS screen. Once there you are in an area that with one wrong keystroke you can "break" your machine so look before you leap in that program. If possible find out your motherboard's make and model. How old is your machine? What make? Any information about your system you could provide would be extremely helpful at this point. Since you have already installed Linux on one drive as a last ditch effort you could go into your machine and temporarily disconnect the cable going to the HDD that has Linux installed on it. Doing that should then allow Vista to boot. Once Vista is up and running go to http://www.belarc.com/ to download and install their free program called Advisor. Advisor isn't free for Linux but it is for Windows. That program, when installed and run on Vista, will do an inventory of your machine and likely tell you about your MOBO as well as a plethora of other info. You could then Google the MOBO's model and get the owner's manual which would tell you how to access and make changes in BIOS so you would be able to select the boot order. You may want to consider wiping the drive with Ubuntu installed on it and re-installing Vista again on that drive. Then install Lite or Ubuntu or whatever Linux distro you choose after Vista is installed and working properly. If you do this and have Windows on the HDD fist and Linux second you will have your boot manager menu come up at start up. This is the proper way to install Windows and Linux together on a HDD. By the same token the drive you have your CAD program on could be used as a side by side Windows/Linux drive install. However there's some risk, albeit small, of corrupting the existing Windows OS on that drive. Had you done the Windows first Linux second install in the first place you would more than likely not be having the complications you are now experiencing.

Hi Jon Wilob,

I have more problems. I tried to install Linux Lite repeatedly on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive but it would not install correctly. I think I tried to do it side by side with a fresh install of Windows Vista on that hard drive and by having the whole 120 Gigabyte hard drive be for Windows Lite. I could not get it to install correctly.

Some of the error messages I got are as follows:

"No root file system. No root file system is defined. Please correct this from the partition menu."

"Installer crashed."

"Installation failed. Installer encountered an error copying files to the hard disk."

"Error - Linux Lite Updates have failed."

At times I did get a choice of hard drives. But the 120 Gigabyte hard drive on which I had just tried to install Linux Lite was titled Windows Vista (not Linux Lite) and when I chose that option I just got an error message which read as follows:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1) Insert your windows installation disk and restart your computer.
2) Choose your language settings, and then click "Next"
3) Click "repair your computer."
If you do not have this disk, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance."


Subsequently I tried to reinstall Ubuntu 15.10 on that hard drive and I got an error message with that as well. Then I downloaded a fresh copy of Linux Lite and burned it to a disk and tried again. On several occasions the installation seemed to be done. Then it said to restart and so I clicked "restart." The computer took forever to shut down and then it seemed to get stuck without completely shutting down. After maybe 30 minutes or so I manually shut off the computer by pressing and holding the power button. Then when I then went to Linux Lite I couldn't get in there and it didn't work. This happened several times.

I tried also installing Windows Vista agan on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive. (I mentioned that above.) I succeeded in doing that and that brought back my access to the 250 Gigabyte hard drive (with the CAD program on it) so that much was good (for a short while; see below).

Subsequently, I again tried reinstalling Ubuntu 15.10. My intention was to install it on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive side by side with Windows Vista (which was working on both drives again). I finally got it installed. But it installed on the 250 Gigabyte hard drive and now whenever I boot up it again gives me no choice to go to anything but Ubuntu. (I did not intend to do that. I thought I was installing it on the 120 Gigabyte hard drive. But this would be ok if I could access both operating systems.)

(I don't think it overwrote my data and I had previously backed it up anyway so data loss is not an issue here).

So I am stuck with a variation of the same problem that I previously wrote to you about. I can get to Ubuntu (but I was not able to install Linux Lite successfully) but I can't open Windows Vista. The only difference with my current installation vs. the one I previously wrote to you about is that now Ubuntu is installed on the 250 Gigabyte hard drive, not the 120 Gigabyte hard drive (to the best of my knowledge).

I tried going into the bios. I pushed F12 (for “boot menu”) and F2 (for “setup”) while booting. I got into a mode where it seemed that I could change the order in which the drives are accessed but that did not seem to make a difference in what happened. (I am not certain that I was actually in the bios.)

You asked about my computer. It is a Dell Vostro 420. I have only 1 gigabyte of RAM (I need to upgrade that). The processor is an: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz × 4. It is a 32 bit system. I tried to use the program you recommended, Advisor, but it would not install correctly. (I only have access to Ubuntu right now. You said it is not free for Linux so maybe that is why it won't install.) I don't know how old the machine is. I took a look at the mother board and found the following numbers/letters on it: G45A01, E93839, and SCL0215.

So that is where things stand right now. I am stuck again. I can use Ubuntu (which seems nice enough) but I cannot use Windows Vista, which apparently means I cannot use my CAD program. (I was thinking of trying to download Virtual Box, which I noticed comes with Linux Lite, and just maybe I can get my CAD program to work with that. If that is the case then maybe I could just use Ubuntu and forget about Windows Vista.)

UPDATE: I was just about to publish this post but I decided to double check several things first. I found that if while booting up I push F12 then I go to the boot menu and I can manually select where the computer boots to. I found that if I select the 120 Gigabyte hard drive the computer goes to Linux Lite. So that is working after all! If I do the same thing and select the 250 gigabyte hard drive it goes to Ubuntu. So I actually do have a choice between those two at this point. But I cannot get to Windows Vista (even though I thought I installed both of these operating systems as “side by side” instead of by taking over the entire hard drive; not sure why the installations left me unable to get to either copy of Windows Vista).

FURTHER UPDATE (UPDATE MADE ON 11-4-15): The situation is better than what I had thought. It turns out that when I boot up the computer goes to a screen which I had previously not been reading because the text was small and I just assumed it was part of the automatic Ubuntu startup process. But looking more closely I saw that it was actually a Linux version of the boot manager, and it gives me various options on how to boot, and if I choose nothing then after a number of seconds it boots to Ubuntu. I can choose Ubuntu or I can also choose one option which takes me to the Windows boot manager, which allows me to boot into either Windows Vista partition/hard drive that I choose to. There is also an option to go to Linux Lite but that one doesn't work right. I get error messages. But I can still go to Linux Lite by pushing F12 at startup and then choosing Linux Lite. There is a more advanced option for Linux Lite (titled: "Advanced options for Linux Lite 2.6 (14.04) (on /dev/sdb6)") which gives a number of alternatives to choose from. The beginning of that set of alternatives reads like this:

"*Description (on /dev/sdb6)
"/boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic (on /dev/sdb6)"

Then it goes on with additional, similar text. I can select any line and then click enter but in each case I get an error message which says:

"Error: filename expected. Press any key to continue..."

There is also an option to edit those strings (enter "e") but I have no idea what to enter to correct them. If Jon Wilob or anyone else knows how to fix those text strings let me know, please. (The objective would be to get it to open Linux Lite properly.)

Anyway, the bottom line is that the situation is much better than what I had previously thought. I can use the system as it presently is.

Best regards,

Vincent

jon wilob

Honestly Vincent if I were you and had progressed as far as you have in the time you have been working with this situation I would give myself a big 'ol pat on the back. You're so close to having exactly what you want in a dual boot system it's amazing. Linux is not an undertaking for just a couple evening's and then everything works great.

There is a real possibility that after having installed and re-inatalled OS's so many times either or both of your drives may have become cluttered with various amounts of data that could be interfering with proper installation and functioning of any of the three OS's you are workinig with i.e. Vista, Ubuntu, and Linux Lite. To simplify everything I think at this time it would behove you to do the following.

1. "Disable" or unplug your 120gb drive in BIOS or at the back of the drive.

2. Format your 250gb HDD with a program called Gparted. A program you can download for free. http://gparted.org/download.php Choose the i586 version. Burn it to a CD as an "Image File" Have it "wipe" your entire drive down and let it make the drive one big NTFS partition. Now is the time to reinstall Windows again.

3. When that's done take out the Gparted CD, shut down and restart to see if Windows is booting and working properly.

4. If it is put in the Linux CD of your choice, I recommend Linux Lite, and shut down the machine.

5. Start the machine and Linux will find the copy of Windows and ask what you want to do.

6. Choose "install Linux alongside Windows."

7. The partiton manager will ask you what you would like to do as far as partitions and partition format. Select format as EXT4 for the copy of Linux.

8. Gparted will now partition and format that partition automatically for you. At the same time it will set up the swap file and size.

9. You now should have a clean copy of Vista and a clean partition to install Linux on. Go ahead and Install Linux now. Somewhere along the way in all the steps above you may be asked the size of a partition you would like to create. You've got plenty of space for both OS's so if you choose 125gb. for each partition you won't go too wrong. And besides, after both OS's are on the drive, you can always go back and resize the partitions later if you wish.

During the installs of the OS's the swap file area will be taken care of by the specific OS's.

What you should end up with is a 250gb. HDD with Windows and Linux both on one drive and either selectable during boot.

The other 120 GB drive can be used as storage. It should be formatted Fat 32 for the time being.

If you don't get this exactly right on your first try don't despair. Linux is not hard to learn but it does require thought and after you get this undertaking right you'll be way ahead of the game for any future Linux endeavors.

explodingbee

Hi Jon Wilob,

Thank you for your suggestion. I would guess that you are right that with all the installation attempts (and also the several times I had to force the computer to shut down by cutting the power) something might have gotten corrupted. I may take your advice and reinstall things as you suggested, although the system is usable as is. (But it will probably take an entire evening and I may wait until I feel I can afford to spend more time on this.)

You said it was good that I had progressed as far as I had in the time I was working on it. Well that is nice to hear and I, likewise, feel good about having gotten Linux finally installed while also maintaining access to my Windows OS. (I actually tried to get Linux installed quite a few times before my first post without success.)

Best regards,

Vincent

jon wilob

explodingbee wrote:

Hi Jon Wilob,

Thank you for your suggestion. I would guess that you are right that with all the installation attempts (and also the several times I had to force the computer to shut down by cutting the power) something might have gotten corrupted. I may take your advice and reinstall things as you suggested, although the system is usable as is. (But it will probably take an entire evening and I may wait until I feel I can afford to spend more time on this.)

You said it was good that I had progressed as far as I had in the time I was working on it. Well that is nice to hear and I, likewise, feel good about having gotten Linux finally installed while also maintaining access to my Windows OS. (I actually tried to get Linux installed quite a few times before my first post without success.)

Best regards,

Vincent

Sounds good. Hope you get your system just like you want it. After playing with one distro after another you'll get a feel for the Linux distro that "floats your boat" the highest in the water. Youtube is an excellent source of info. on the various flavours of Linux as well as Google. Post back once in a while with an update on your progress. Anything you glean from your efforts may just help another struggling newbie. It's been good working with you.

Regards,

Jon...