# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  Diving into Linux finally, need advice...

## Dieseler

I would like to use Linux exclusively for browsing but really would like the ability to boot back into XP from it if possible.
I have two hard drives, one configured as a slave for storage only.
I would like to keep it that way if possible. Is it possible to boot from one Op system to the other on the same hard drive?
I'm researching myself right now but will be checking back periodically tonight for advice.
Thanks

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## constituent

yes you can dual-boot... or just run from a livecd...

since you're starting out, i recommend kubuntu (it'll pretty much do all the work for you, and as a windows user you'll probably find the desktop and what-not relatively "intuitive") and just ditching windows altogether.

get used to linux w/ kubuntu first *particularly the shell commands, and you'll be ready to work outward from there and find the distro that suits you best.

no matter what distro you use, ubuntuforums.org is your best resource... also, download the text editor "gedit" right off the bat (post installation) b/c most walkthroughs you find on the internet will tell you to type "sudo gedit blahblahblah," or just know that you have to replace "gedit" w/ the text editor installed w/ kubuntu, "kate"

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## Dieseler

I think that is what I'm looking for Constituent. Just gotta figure out how to juggle all my data around now to get it done.
Thanks for the links.

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## Alex Libman

The easiest and safest way to get started is to use a LiveCD.  Another easy alternative that doesn't require any knowledge of partitioning (or even a CD burner) is *Wubi*, which can install Ubtuntu / Kubuntu from within Windows.

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## constituent

> I think that is what I'm looking for Constituent. Just gotta figure out how to juggle all my data around now to get it done.
> Thanks for the links.


Do you have more than one machine, a dvd burner, or an external hard drive... anything like that?

You'll find that any files you have right now linux offers a (probably better) way to handle them than what is available to you on windows.

...and free no less. 

have fun!

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## constituent

also, check out this article and follow the steps outlined as soon as possible after your installation, you will be happy that you did.

realize though, that a few of the steps (those involving the ubuntu settings manager gui as opposed to the kubuntu settings manager) will require similar steps, though the ways that you will need to go about them are slightly different (in style only).

if you need help working through it, juz lemme know.

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## FunkBuddha

Or you could use VirtualBox. Install Linux or boot a LiveCD inside a virtual machine to do your browsing.

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## Dieseler

Thanks a bunch for the infos guys.

This is what I think I'm gonna do.
My largest hard drive is 111 GB.
The slave is 14 GB.

I'm going to be sure everything on the smaller HD is copied over to the large HD.
Then I'm going to unplug the large HD that has Windows on it (just to be safe) and make the small drive master.
Then I can format and load a Ubuntu install on the small drive.
Once that is done and working I can safely plug the large drive back in as a slave and I should be able to access all my saved media and drivers from it.

Now I gotta figure out the best way to format the small drive and get a copy of the Ubuntu burnt to disk to get started.
Edit: I got the download started, looks like it will fit on a standard cd.

I will wait for another round of replies and continue researching before I start in case my thoughts are flawed on the process.

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## constituent

> Thanks a bunch for the infos guys.
> 
> This is what I think I'm gonna do.
> My largest hard drive is 111 GB.
> The slave is 14 GB.
> 
> I'm going to be sure everything on the smaller HD is copied over to the large HD.
> Then I'm going to unplug the large HD that has Windows on it (just to be safe) and make the small drive master.
> Then I can format and load a Ubuntu install on the small drive.
> ...


Don't forget to burn the file as a disk image.

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## Dieseler

WUBI
Made it to easy, lol.
Time to call it a night for now but will update my progress tomorrow.
This makes XP look like trash so far.

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## Dr.3D

I've been watching this thread with interest.

So far I have downloaded the Kubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso
I then downloaded the winMd5Sum.exe file so I could check the HASH to make sure it is correct.
Then I downloaded Infra Recorder.

I checked the HASH and it is correct.
I then started Infra Recorder and burned an image on a CD rom.

I rebooted and it went though a lot of steps and then after all of those were done, it stopped and left me with a blue screen with the Kubuntu logo on it and under that it had a bar.  It looked like a progress bar.  At that point, it seemed to be locked up so I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL and it unloaded and rebooted.

Am I doing something wrong?

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## Dieseler

> I've been watching this thread with interest.
> 
> So far I have downloaded the Kubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso
> I then downloaded the winMd5Sum.exe file so I could check the HASH to make sure it is correct.
> Then I downloaded Infra Recorder.
> 
> I checked the HASH and it is correct.
> I then started Infra Recorder and burned an image on a CD rom.
> 
> ...


I'm definitely not qualified to help much being I JUST NOW got got it up and running but I will tell you what I eventually did do after reading a day and a night on it.

I used the Wubi application. EDIT: I WOULD NOT USE WUBI AGAIN, I now use a true 2 hd dual boot setup.
It totally automated the process to the point that I filled in one screen of info, watched the Pc reboot twice and then I was presented with a black screen.

Ubuntu
Windows
use the arrows pad to choose.

Simple as that.
No Iso burning, just use Wubi. It handled all the rest.
I checked my xp install after all was done, and yeah, its just as crappy as it was before I loaded Ubuntu.
CNET has a video of useing Wubi over an xp install. They highly advise backing up.
There are a few videos of the process on Youtube as well.
Oh and i cant remember the color of the screen but I do remember the progress bar and it did take it a little while to move in some places. Probably 30 minutes total for the entire install.
Maybe it was fast because I had Wubi in the same folder as the files for Ubuntu that I had already downloaded.
From what I understand, Wubi does recognize the files and will use them (instead of downloading them) if they are in the same directory.

For what its worth, I'm digging it. Everything so far has been very intuitive to me. Anything I have needed from the OS that wasn't there, well it told me why and then it offered to go get it for me. Mp3 codecs and such...
Very simple.
Now I got to get my Thunderbird Email settings moved over and decide in the next few days if Windos is worth keeping at all.
I guess gaming will be the deciding factor, but if that is the case I will at least downsize xp to no more than a shell of what it used to be.
Its looking very likely that Windows is history for me.

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## Truth Warrior

Advice:  Try a Linux techie forum.

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## Dieseler

> Advice:  Try a Linux techie forum.


Haha, those Linux forums were scaring the heck out of me. The Ron Paul Guys here got me hooked up. I'm surfing on Firefox and got my Thunderbird set up and everything in no time.
K-Ubuntu Rocks.
I'm trying to figure out why I even need Windows now.
Only reason I can see to keep it is gaming and I really don't have a game going atm.

Thanks again guys, I'm loving this new OS.

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## Dr.3D

Well, I have kubuntu working from the CD rom now.
Is there a firewall I should be using?

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## Dr.3D

Well, I've researched more and found Firestarter.   I guess I'll install it.

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## Dieseler

I'm one for three on Ubuntu installs so far.
At least I got it on this one.

The other two are coming back with an unidentified error when using Wubi.

The community seems mixed on the use of firewalls Doc.
I'm gonna try to get one myself and whatever Linux uses for a virus checker to.
Maybe I can scan my windows install from Ubuntu.

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## Dr.3D

> I'm one for three on Ubuntu installs so far.
> At least I got it on this one.
> 
> The other two are coming back with an unidentified error when using Wubi.
> 
> The community seems mixed on the use of firewalls Doc.
> I'm gonna try to get one myself and whatever Linux uses for a virus checker to.
> Maybe I can scan my windows install from Ubuntu.


Firestarter is easy to install. Just follow the instructions here.
I got mine going in just about 10 minutes.
Don't have a virus scanner yet though.  I didn't look for one yet either.
Let me know what you find out about that if you would please.

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## Dieseler

> Firestarter is easy to install. Just follow the instructions here.
> I got mine going in just about 10 minutes.
> Don't have a virus scanner yet though.  I didn't look for one yet either.
> Let me know what you find out about that if you would please.


Thanks.
Thats the kind of easy I like.
I had not even clicked on Add/Remove yet lol.
I found this for a Virus Scanner. I haven't tried it yet though but it is available in Add/Remove.

Go to Add/Remove.
_Change Show_
Show: All available options.
Search: _Type in_ Virus Scanner
Result
Virus Scanner
graphical front-end for ClamAV 
ClamTk is a GUI front-end for ClamAV using perl-Gtk2.

This application is provided by the Ubuntu community.
Homepage: http://clamtk.sourceforge.net

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## constituent

> I've been watching this thread with interest.
> 
> So far I have downloaded the Kubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso
> I then downloaded the winMd5Sum.exe file so I could check the HASH to make sure it is correct.
> Then I downloaded Infra Recorder.
> 
> I checked the HASH and it is correct.
> I then started Infra Recorder and burned an image on a CD rom.
> 
> ...


Ok... just to make sure.  

1)  My KUbuntu is version 8, i believe "Hardy Heron."

Is that the version you're using?

2)  KUbuntu, depending on your hardware (particularly your network cards) is notoriously slow on your first few startups (like 3-4 minutes slow).  There are several reasons for this, one is that it is (in the background) attempting to make a network connection and it will take something like 1 minute + for that to time out.  Nevermind a few other small things that are causing it to slow down.

These are all easy fixes, but you have to get the first install done to make the changes permanent.

Lemme know when you get your machine booted up and i'll point you in the right direction to speed up the boot.

I have mine right now starting up from cold at right around 30 seconds (almost as fast as my mac which is like instant).

You've done everything right though for the process it's just that (like me) you're having a little difficulty staying patient through the startup.

no biggie.

have fun!

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## constituent

> Well, I have kubuntu working from the CD rom now.
> Is there a firewall I should be using?


depends on what you want to use the firewall for.

are you looking to block certain content?

are you looking to keep people out?

Also, are you accessing the internet through a router or is your comp. directly connected?

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## constituent

> Thanks.
> Thats the kind of easy I like.
> I had not even clicked on Add/Remove yet lol.
> I found this for a Virus Scanner. I haven't tried it yet though but it is available in Add/Remove.
> 
> Go to Add/Remove.
> _Change Show_
> Show: All available options.
> Search: _Type in_ Virus Scanner
> ...


ClamXAV is great, but you'll find you don't really need it w/ linux.

I feel pretty much the same way about firewalls.  

Pretty much unless you open your system up on purpose, you don't really have anything to worry about.

Best place to find new software/drivers/etc. is by clicking the K "start button," scrolling down to system and choosing "Adept Manager."

There you can search for anything you'd like in the repositories.  

For web browsing you will definetly need to download the flashplugin-nonfree, and all the java 6 runtime environment associated files.

You'll see what i mean when you try to go to the RPF chatroom.

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## Dieseler

I give it the up all night test last night
And woke up to a frozen screen saver and a broke Ubuntu.
_That was with Ubuntu installed inside Windows._
Keep in mind I hate MS with a passion but I can honestly say that this machine has not frozen in I can't remember how long and I never turn it off except for the monitor.

So I go to reboot it, np, I boot back to Xp like nothing ever happened. Then restart to reload Ubuntu... Error, cant read either Hard drive(s), I assume, gives me the option to reboot Cntrl, Alt, Delete.
Try again.
Same thing.
I'm not going to blame this on Ubuntu because as I understand it, it is completely dependent on Win Xp to operate the way I have it installed right now.
A real test of the system would be with a pure install which I will try today on two other Pcs in the house here. That is IF I can get Wubi to work for them today, which I could not yesterday.
I guess this thread will become a proving ground for Linux newbies.

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## constituent

> I give it the up all night test last night
> And woke up to a frozen screen saver.
> Keep in mind I hate MS with a passion but I can honestly say that this machine has not frozen in I can't remember how long and I never turn it off except for the monitor.
> 
> So I go to reboot it, np, I boot back to Xp like nothing ever happened. Then restart to reload Ubuntu... Error, cant read either Hard drive(s), I assume, gives me the option to reboot Cntrl, Alt, Delete.
> Try again.
> Same thing.
> I'm not going to blame this on Ubuntu because as I understand it, it is completely dependent on Win Xp to operate the way I have it installed right now.
> A real test of the system would be with a pure install which I will try today on two other Pcs in the house here. That is IF I can get Wubi to work for them today, which I could not yesterday.
> I guess this thread will become a proving ground for Linux newbies.



Try a full wipe/install with Kubuntu on one of your comps.  Remember the slow boot will happen this go round (which WUBI skipped over), so stay patient.  Once you get it installed, lemme know and i'll help you getting your boot time up to speed.  Nothing is more frustrating than waiting 3 and a half minutes everytime you have to restart the comp. for settings to take hold.

a side note:
ctrl+alt+delete doesn't work w/ Kubuntu so something is telling me windows is still hanging on in there somewhere if it recognizes to restart on that command.


Also, depending on your hardware, there might be some problems w/ power management, "sleep, hibernate, log-off, etc." though i don't know for sure if that's what it is b/c i've never used WUBI.  I know my wife had that problem with OpenSUSE on her laptop.  I'll ask her how she worked it out.

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## Dr.3D

> depends on what you want to use the firewall for.
> 
> are you looking to block certain content?
> 
> are you looking to keep people out?
> 
> Also, are you accessing the internet through a router or is your comp. directly connected?


I want to keep people out so they can't screw around in my computer.
I use a router but it doesn't have any kind of firewall.

Presently I have Ubuntu 8.04.1 on a CD rom and have yet to install it.
I am worried that if I do install it as a dual boot, I may never be able to uninstall it at a later date if I feel the need, without screwing up the Win XP installation I have had in this machine for the past five years.

I also wonder if I do install Ubuntu, should I divide my primary drive 50%, 50% between windows and Ubuntu?   I have two 500 gig hard drives and 1 gig of memory.  I am running an old 2 gig hz pentium 4 system.

I think the first time I downloaded Kubuntu I got too old of a version and it did not recognize the 500 gig hard drives, thus it didn't work correctly and would not start.  I later downloaded the latest version Kubuntu and it ran just fine.  I then decided perhaps I would like to use Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu so I downloaded it and have it on a CD.  It works just fine except I believe it would probably work better if it was installed on a hard drive.

Is there an easy way to uninstall it if and when I may find it necessary?  I don't want to mess up my original installation of Win XP because I have so much time and effort into all of the things associated with it.

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## constituent

> I want to keep people out so they can't screw around in my computer.
> I use a router but it doesn't have any kind of firewall.
> 
> Presently I have Ubuntu 8.04.1 on a CD rom and have yet to install it.
> I am worried that if I do install it as a dual boot, I may never be able to uninstall it at a later date if I feel the need, without screwing up the Win XP installation I have had in this machine for the past five years.
> 
> I also wonder if I do install Ubuntu, should I divide my primary drive 50%, 50% between windows and Ubuntu?   I have two 500 gig hard drives and 1 gig of memory.  I am running an old 2 gig hz pentium 4 system.
> 
> I think the first time I downloaded Kubuntu I got too old of a version and it did not recognize the 500 gig hard drives, thus it didn't work correctly and would not start.  I later downloaded the latest version Kubuntu and it ran just fine.  I then decided perhaps I would like to use Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu so I downloaded it and have it on a CD.  It works just fine except I believe it would probably work better if it was installed on a hard drive.
> ...


that's a good question.  i know how to wipe out the other partitions on a mac, but i can't help w/ xp. 

the laptop i'm using atm came w/ windows, but i parted from it w/out hesitation.

i will try to find some answers to your q. and get back to you.

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## Dieseler

Ok, heres the update.
_Maybe this will help you to Doc, since I guinea pigged my Sons machine today._
I'm now 2 for 3 on Ubuntu installs and much happier with the second go round.
This was my Sons Xp machine, two hard drives.
I was concerned about doing the install because it doesn't really tell you what its going to do until you dive on into it.
I was afraid it would wipe the Xp install.
This is what happened.
I couldn't get the disk to boot, but I was able to start the install from within Windows through the Cd drive.
I chose the straight install (although worried it would wipe Xp) with option for help to boot the cd. It rebooted for me (booted from the cd) and as the install went along, first Date time, then keyboard finally it asked me where I wanted Ubunto installed.

I chose D: drive, which was already pre cleaned just for that. The installer did its thing for about 20 minutes Then asked to be rebooted.
I rebooted to a choice of Windows or Ubuntu.
I chose Windows first, just to be sure my stuff was still working.
All was good so I rebooted and chose Ubuntu this time.
Ubuntu loaded perfectly and its been running screensaver for about 2 hours now waiting for my Son to get home and try it out.

Now I have to uninstall Ubuntu that I wubi'ed (_I wouldn't suggest Wubi anymore other than just checking out the OS because Windows got jealous and broke Ubuntu. Gotta keepem separated._) On this machine (mine) and redo the install with the disk like I did on the other machine (Sons) then Ubuntu will be indepedent of my Windows install and vice a versa.

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## werdd

Just get VMWARE and run linux as a virtual machine.

That means you can just run LINUX os inside of windows

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## Dr.3D

> Ok, heres the update.


Thanks, but now I'm really interested in how one removes Ubuntu should the need arises.  If Ubuntu is removed, will Windoze still boot, or do you have to repair Windoze with the Windoze install disk?

I don't like to do anything I can't undo.

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## constituent

> Just get VMWARE and run linux as a virtual machine.
> 
> That means you can just run LINUX os inside of windows


not sure why you'd want to run anything inside of windows....

but since you're an MS guy, werdd, any idea how to erase a partition w/out hurting the windows install?

i'm sure it's possible, at least there is no reason why it shouldn't be, but i'm not familiar w/ the process on XP (or Vista for that matter)

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## Dieseler

> Thanks, but now I'm really interested in how one removes Ubuntu should the need arises.  If Ubuntu is removed, will Windoze still boot, or do you have to repair Windoze with the Windoze install disk?
> 
> I don't like to do anything I can't undo.


I hear that. That didn't cross my mind at all.

I tried the same deal I did with my Sons pc on mine. Using the Full install with cd boot help option.
I hate to say it and I mean Really hate to say it but after I rebooted I have not been able to get back into Windows period or the Ubuntu install disk.
I can't tell if my Hard drive is toast or if Ubunto mucked up my boot record.
That is where I am at present.
Be advised.
Will update if I have any luck.
I may have lost myself a lot of unbacked data.

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## constituent

> I hear that. That didn't cross my mind at all.
> 
> I tried the same deal I did with my Sons pc on mine. Using the Full install with cd boot help option.
> I hate to say it and I mean Really hate to say it but after I rebooted I have not been able to get back into Windows period or the Ubuntu install disk.
> I can't tell if my Hard drive is toast or if Ubunto mucked up my boot record.
> That is where I am at present.
> Be advised.
> Will update if I have any luck.
> I may have lost myself a lot of unbacked data.


what happens when you boot?

what are you seeing?

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## Dieseler

Black screen, choose between win or ubuntu, but its like I didn't un install the inside Windows Wubi Ubuntu.
If I choose Ubuntu it says missing something Ldr.
If I choose windows,
I get to the windows loading screen, then black screen then it just reboots.

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## constituent

> Black screen, choose between win or ubuntu, but its like I didn't un install the inside Windows Wubi Ubuntu.
> If I choose Ubuntu it says missing something Ldr.
> If I choose windows,
> I get to the windows loading screen, then black screen then it just reboots.


hmmmm.... what are your system recovery tools like that came w/ your comp.?

do you have a way to just restore the system files, or does it require a full-wipe?

i'm sure there is a really easy solution (there always is), and i'm looking for it now, but that would probably be your simplest solution (if it's available to you).



edit:  what's the name of Microsoft's bootloader?

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## Dieseler

I'm not sure.
If I remember the Xp disk will just try to wipe everything.
That happened on Wife's pc a while back.
I'm gonna do a search on that myself.
Maybe there is a way without a full wipe and install.
Its still possible that the drive crashed on me without anything to do with Ubuntu.
Seems a bit unlikely though.
Just dunno yet.

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## constituent

> I'm not sure.
> If I remember the Xp disk will just try to wipe everything.
> That happened on Wife's pc a while back.
> I'm gonna do a search on that myself.
> Maybe there is a way without a full wipe and install.
> Its still possible that the drive crashed on me without anything to do with Ubuntu.
> Seems a bit unlikely though.
> Just dunno yet.


i don't think that's it.  have you tried to boot in safe mode?

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## Dr.3D

As I recall, the windows install disk does have a Repair option.  I can't remember for sure though as it has been a long time since I used it.

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## Dieseler

Yeah C,I tried safe mode every way possible.

Yeah Doc, I been looking at the repair with cd option on a few sites.
I'm getting conflicting info and I have lost data trying it before.

I'm reburning the Iso ubuntu now (this time with bootable option).
If I can get it installed on D; (Windows is on C I will be able to tell if my data is accessible.
If its a crashed hard drive i will chalk it up to bad luck.
Either way, I like this Ubuntu OS and I full intend to get my pc in the same order as my Sons is here now.

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## constituent

> Thanks, but now I'm really interested in how one removes Ubuntu should the need arises.  If Ubuntu is removed, will Windoze still boot, or do you have to repair Windoze with the Windoze install disk?
> 
> I don't like to do anything I can't undo.


unless you erased your win. partition while installing ubuntu you should be able to get rid of it w/out a problem.

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## Dieseler

Update 
I'm back on my machine with a clean Ubuntu install.
I used the alternate Iso.
This is no joke.
I made twelve coasters using Six different cd burners before I had myself a working bootable Iso disk. It was an all day job.
For what its worth, Imgburn was the only burner (the last one I tried) that got the job done and it did it on the first go round. I got Imgburn off of Cnet Downloads if anyone is interested in trying it. It is freeby the way. I hope it works on Ubuntu. I was amazed at the speed that Imgburn made the Iso and verified its integrity. I realize this job should be done at the slowest speed possible but imgburn knew what was up and put the rest to shame.
I will be reinstalling my other hard drive next (the one that may have crashed) and hope I can see my data. If I can I will be one happy guy.

My Sons dual boot Windows/Ubunto machine has worked flawlessly so far. I left it on all night and no hiccups.

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## bander87

Not sure, but I think you can make separate partitions as well

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## Dieseler

I can see the drive but Ubuntu will not allow me to mount it on the desk top because Windows (NTFS) was not shut down (crashed).
I have a command to force mount the drive but I have not figured out how to make myself  Root user to write to or change the file.

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## nayjevin

> I made twelve coasters using Six different cd burners before I had myself a working bootable Iso disk. It was an all day job.
> For what its worth, Imgburn was the only burner (the last one I tried) that got the job done and it did it on the first go round. I got Imgburn off of Cnet Downloads if anyone is interested in trying it. It is freeby the way. I hope it works on Ubuntu. I was amazed at the speed that Imgburn made the Iso and verified its integrity. I realize this job should be done at the slowest speed possible but imgburn knew what was up and put the rest to shame.
> I will be reinstalling my other hard drive next (the one that may have crashed) and hope I can see my data. If I can I will be one happy guy.
> 
> My Sons dual boot Windows/Ubunto machine has worked flawlessly so far. I left it on all night and no hiccups.


I suggest using a windows machine to recover the data from the broke hard drive - just because you're more familiar with it if more problems arise.

Plug it in as a secondary drive to a working windows installation and grab all the files you need, put it all in 1 folder on the working hard drive, a usb stick, or external, then format the 'bad' drive and replace the files.  Make sense?

If Ubuntu can't see the drive at all, try a windows machine.  If windows can't see the drive at all, there may be a problem with the partition tables -- but that wouldn't mean the data's not there -- there are tools to recover it.

I wouldn't try to repair the windows installation -- if you have the disk, then just get all the non-windows specific / personal data off of there and re-install or just wipe it for ubuntu.  (You do keep that all in a folder - C:\NonWindowsData - don't you?  )

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## nayjevin

Hey - once you have everything going you've GOT to try beryl window manager http://www.beryl-project.org/ -- kicks ass.

Oh ya, and TuxRacer.  love the tuxracer.

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## constituent

> I can see the drive but Ubuntu will not allow me to mount it on the desk top because Windows (NTFS) was not shut down (crashed).
> I have a command to force mount the drive but I have not figured out how to make myself  Root user to write to or change the file.


type "sudo" (w/out the quotes) before you enter the command in the terminal (konsole)

sudo = perform as root

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## constituent

Here are some notes i made while learning to work with the shell, hopefully you'll find them of use.

WORKING WITH THE TERMINAL 

Working with Directories

* cd - changes directories

* pwd - print working directory

* mkdir - create a new directory
- if the directory does not currently 
exist and requires more than one directory
to be created (xxx/xxxx), insert -p as follows:

mkdir -p /xxx/xxxx

* rmdir - will remove empty directories, use 

rm -r /xxx/xxxx

to remove directories containing files



Working with Files

* ls - lists files, to see files along with their properties
use ls -lR

* grep - searches for files containing defined content in defined
directories.  ex. 

grep linda /etc/*  

grep is case sensitive,
but sensitivity can be removed with option -i

* touch - will create an empty file ex. 

touch somefile 

will create "somefile"

* rm - removes files, sometime the remove command has to be
"pushed" to convince the system to carry out the action,
 in the instances the command -f is added, for instance,

rm -rf /xxx/xxxx 

will remove the contents of the directory
and the directory itself.

* cp - copies files, to copy a file and all                
subdirectories/contents use the option -r, for example 

cp -r /xxx/xxxx /newdirectory

* mv - moves files, mv /xxx/xxxx /newdirectory



Viewing Content, Text Files

* cat - displays entire content of a textfile

* tac - displays entire (inverted) content of a textfile

* tail - display just the last lines of a text file, option -# will 
allow user to define the number of lines displayed

* head - display just the first few lines

* find - find files based on any property it has, including name, user created,
date modified, etc. ex. 

find / -name "hosts*" 
or 
find / -user "ryan" -exec cp {} group/home  \

where -exec combines search factors and \ defines the end of search terms





Piping and Redirection (this is extraordinarily useful, and i believe that w/ mastery of this process, dieseler, you'll be able to fix your problem)

Piping refers to the use of the | puncutation mark while issuing a command.  The purpose of "piping" is to execute one command and send its output to a second command that will do something w/ said output.  One example of this would be using the "less" command to view a large file on multiple screens, ls -lR | less

A useful example of Piping in server administration is "grep" which can be used as a process search filter.

Redirection refers to the use of the (>) redirector sign to send the result of a command to a text file or the contents of a file to a command.  This could be a text file or a special file like a device file.  An example of Redirection is the command ls -l > list_of_files to send a directory's file list into a new file.  If the file doesn't exist, redirect will create in the current directory. 

The single redirector will overwrite the content of existing files, if it is your desire to merely append the command's results to the file, simply use a double redirector (>>).

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## Dieseler

Update
I was finally able to mount my Windows drive from inside Ubuntu. All data safe and sound.
The Wubi jacked my MBR in Windows. I found the INI. that it left behind modified at the same time I tried to do the full install. I doubt I can fix the windows install but I'm just glad to have my data back, over 100 gig I thought I lost.
As far as getting the disk mounted,
I had to go back through this thread again and Ubuntuforums.org to get myself on the right track(Sudo getit) + the commands.
Google search of the errors I was receiving helped alot to. I am not the first to have been through this deal.
 It was actually quite easy to fix once I understood the concept of creating a launchpoint with a command to make Root user authority my edits in my /etc/fstab file.Then I was able to use the console to make dir, then to execute the command line and there was my drive on the desktop. It sounds real complicated when someone that doesn't know what they are talking about explains it but it really was simple for me to understand once I got it.
I know how to do it now and I bet I could do it on anyone else's computer if I had to.
This has definitely been a learning experience.

Thanks for the tips Constituent.

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## constituent

> Update
> I was finally able to mount my Windows drive from inside Ubuntu. All data safe and sound.
> The Wubi jacked my MBR in Windows. I found the INI. that it left behind modified at the same time I tried to do the full install. I doubt I can fix the windows install but I'm just glad to have my data back, over 100 gig I thought I lost.
> As far as getting the disk mounted,
> I had to go back through this thread again and Ubuntuforums.org to get myself on the right track(Sudo getit) + the commands.
> Google search of the errors I was receiving helped alot to. I am not the first to have been through this deal.
>  It was actually quite easy to fix once I understood the concept of creating a launchpoint with a command to make Root user authority my edits in my /etc/fstab file.Then I was able to use the console to make dir, then to execute the command line and there was my drive on the desktop. It sounds real complicated when someone that doesn't know what they are talking about explains it but it really was simple for me to understand once I got it.
> I know how to do it now and I bet I could do it on anyone else's computer if I had to.
> This has definitely been a learning experience.
> ...


the pleasure is all mine, it's been a blast!

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## constituent

> Hey - once you have everything going you've GOT to try beryl window manager http://www.beryl-project.org/ -- kicks ass.
> 
> Oh ya, and TuxRacer.  love the tuxracer.


dieseler, dr. 3d,

you can get the software he is talking about by clicking the "K" menu (in Kubuntu), opening Adept Manager and searching for the term "compiz"

if you are using kde, you will need compiz-kde and both the gui and settings manager packages.

you can also download the icon, but i find that compiz slows my machine down and (as you will notice when downloading it) is technically considered unstable (i have not infrequent crashes while compiz is running, so i use it minimally for the productivity tools it adds).

once compiz is installed, you turn it on by hitting "Alt+F2" to bring up the "run command" window, and typing in 

compiz --replace

check the restricted drivers icon in the K menu, and make sure that if your vid. car has restricted drivers that they are installed and enabled otherwise compiz won't work.
that'll turn compiz on, which is neat but mostly style (except the awesome window transparency settings)

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## constituent

Any luck with Compiz?

it gave me huge troubles in PCLOS, but was pretty automatic w/ kubuntu.

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## TheEvilDetector

I've got ubuntu running by using Wubi on windows, very simple.

In fact I am writing this using firefox in ubuntu on gnome desktop.

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## constituent

> I've got ubuntu running by using Wubi on windows, very simple.
> 
> In fact I am writing this using firefox in ubuntu on gnome desktop.


rock on!  how's the speed?

have you had a chance to check out some of the avail. linux software?

what are you computing needs?

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## TheEvilDetector

> rock on!  how's the speed?


Its fine.  Quite adequate. Just to keep it near its best, you should set up defrag for your windows host drive in your windows task scheduler at least monthly.
Although, it is a good idea to do that for all drives (I've been doing that for ages).




> have you had a chance to check out some of the avail. linux software?


Yeah I was mucking around for a while:

I added/removed some packages, also compiled a couple of things from source code.

I put in pidgin for internet chatting, 

I was playing around with etc/fstab to make sure all my windows disk partitions are seen inside ubuntu. 

Dolphin is a very nice looking file manager by the way.

You should also put in a firewall, guarddog is pretty good.

By the way ubuntu comes with at least 3 different window managers:

Gnome
KDE
xfce

KDE is the most Windows like, but Gnome is cool too.

I made KDE my default one.

Gnome is installed by itself by default, so if you want the other ones you have to open up synaptic package manager and get kubuntu and xubuntu for kde and xfce respectively, then log out (control alt backspace) and choose a different session (ie. different window manager).




> what are you computing needs?


I installed it for fun, because it was mentioned in this thread.
I was surprised how straightforward it was.

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## constituent

> Its fine.  Quite adequate. Just to keep it near its best, you should set up defrag for your windows host drive in your windows task scheduler at least monthly.
> Although, it is a good idea to do that for all drives (I've been doing that for ages).
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah I was mucking around for a while:
> 
> I added/removed some packages, also compiled a couple of things from source code.
> 
> ...


that's awesome.  i'm glad you've enjoyed it.  

my big thing about linux is that it allows people to actually have professional level creativity (and other) software that they absolutely could not afford otherwise.

it always sucks to be the artist who can't afford the brush.

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## TheEvilDetector

> that's awesome.  i'm glad you've enjoyed it.  
> 
> my big thing about linux is that it allows people to actually have professional level creativity (and other) software that they absolutely could not afford otherwise.
> 
> it always sucks to be the artist who can't afford the brush.


Yep, there is heaps of stuff for it.

Check out www.getdeb.net, plenty of software there, all in deb format, easy installation.

Of course ubuntu itself has a repository, check out Add/Remove Programs (Adept Installer on KDE) there is tons of stuff there (and of course in addition to all of that there are two main package managers synaptics or adept package manager, which allow you to install various building blocks of the OS as well as utilities of various kinds )

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## Dieseler

Update:
Back-up
Back-up
Learn how to back-up I will.
Never , ever decide to reboot at the encryption log in on a LVM Ubuntu install 
( it damaged the part that loads the GUI, I think) 
unless you know what the heck you are doing 
( Linux Master Zen Machine) 
and have Everything backed up.
I didn't know how to fix it and I'm still not sure what part of Ubuntu was damaged and I lost about a weeks worth of work. 
Not life changing but annoying as hell to say the least.
This time I was prepared for misadventures and had all of my other data on another disk outside of the box.

Heres where I'm at now and some of what I have learned.
I know what this is /
I know where my stuff is, /Home /Dieseler /
Linux sees files much differently than Windows does. /
**I like the way it works, just took a bit of time to understand the differences between the two.
Well, thats only a small bit of what I have learned so far.

After the crash I decided the only way I could feel safe with a Ubuntu system 
(Until I becam a Linux Zen Master) 
and my Data,
would be with a dual boot set-up with a 3rd drive for data.

Here is the setup I use now and is working very well for me.
Installed Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 on 120 Gig drive internal, gave it the whole partition. Cable select master.
Installed Win Xp service pack 2 on a 20 Gig drive internal. Cable select slave.
Added a 160 Gig drive reserved for my data and back-ups. IDE slave behind a Sony Dvd burner.
Bios boot order, Dvd, Hard drive, Hard drive, etc...
If there is no bootable media in the Dvd you will boot into Ubuntu and never know Windows was there.
So I had to edit Grub and this was the simplest guide I could find.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...umper+settings
Have no fear. 
Just read carefully and it will be a breeze to do this.

Now at boot up I get
Ubuntu
Ubuntu blah blah
Ubuntu blah blah blah
Windows
With 10 seconds to choose or default to ubuntu.

Works like a charm and Data is safely mounted and accessed through Ubuntu or Windows on that 3rd 160 Gig drive.

Dive in

Now I have to figure out one of the many ways available to back up my Linux install.
Pain in the ass having to re install then download all the apps and updates.
You can bet I will be finding out the easiest way it can be done and I will update when I do,

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## IPSecure

Check this out: LinuxMCE

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## constituent

> Update:
> Back-up
> Back-up
> Learn how to back-up I will.
> Never , ever decide to reboot at the encryption log in on a LVM Ubuntu install 
> ( it damaged the part that loads the GUI, I think) 
> unless you know what the heck you are doing 
> ( Linux Master Zen Machine) 
> and have Everything backed up.
> I didn't know how to fix it and I'm still not sure what part of Ubuntu was damaged and I lost about a weeks worth of work.


sounds like a "black screen of death" which isn't as bad as it sounds.

might just hit the google for those terms, and a few others.  have you hit ctrl+alt+F1 to bring up the command prompt?

if you can get that your problem will be easy to solve.  assuming you haven't repartitioned or anything like that, none of your data has been touched.

----------


## Dieseler

> sounds like a "black screen of death" which isn't as bad as it sounds.
> 
> might just hit the google for those terms, and a few others.  have you hit ctrl+alt+F1 to bring up the command prompt?
> 
> if you can get that your problem will be easy to solve.  assuming you haven't repartitioned or anything like that, none of your data has been touched.


Yeah, it was strange.
I was able to enter the encryption code and then log in but only to the black screen.
I spent a few hours researching the error, I think it was,
failed to load lvm device.
I got a lot of hits through Google on that but none seemed to fit my problem exclusively.
I think the few things I tried eventually caused my demise and due to my lack of knowledge in linux commands I figured my time would be better spent hatching a new plan rather than trying to recover the bit I had lost.
I think I have found the method I will use to backup my system now.
I lost the link to this thread on Ubuntu forums.org but here is a bit I copied from it,
I'm hunting the link now and will edit to include it.

Edit, heres the link to this great thread.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=35087

Copy paste:

How to: Backup and restore your system! 

Hi, and welcome to the Heliode guide to successful backing-up and restoring of a Linux system! 

Most of you have probably used Windows before you started using Ubuntu. During that time you might have needed to backup and restore your system. For Windows you would need proprietary software for which you would have to reboot your machine and boot into a special environment in which you could perform the backing-up/restoring (programs like Norton Ghost). 
During that time you might have wondered why it wasn't possible to just add the whole c:\ to a big zip-file. This is impossible because in Windows, there are lots of files you can't copy or overwrite while they are being used, and therefore you needed specialized software to handle this. 

Well, I'm here to tell you that those things, just like rebooting, are Windows Crazy Things (tm). There's no need to use programs like Ghost to create backups of your Ubuntu system (or any Linux system, for that matter). In fact; using Ghost might be a very bad idea if you are using anything but ext2. Ext3, the default Ubuntu partition, is seen by Ghost as a damaged ext2 partition and does a very good job at screwing up your data. 

1: Backing-up 

"What should I use to backup my system then?" might you ask. Easy; the same thing you use to backup/compress everything else; TAR. Unlike Windows, Linux doesn't restrict root access to anything, so you can just throw every single file on a partition in a TAR file! 

To do this, become root with 
Code: 

sudo su 

and go to the root of your filesystem (we use this in our example, but you can go anywhere you want your backup to end up, including remote or removable drives.) 
Code: 

cd / 

Now, below is the full command I would use to make a backup of my system: 

Code: 
tar cvpzf backup.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys / 

Now, lets explain this a little bit. 
The 'tar' part is, obviously, the program we're going to use. 

'cvpfz' are the options we give to tar, like 'create archive' (obviously), 
'preserve permissions'(to keep the same permissions on everything the same), and 'gzip' to keep the size down. 

Next, the name the archive is going to get. backup.tgz in our example. 

Next comes the root of the directory we want to backup. Since we want to backup everything; / 

Now come the directories we want to exclude. We don't want to backup everything since some dirs aren't very useful to include. Also make sure you don't include the file itself, or else you'll get weird results. 
You might also not want to include the /mnt folder if you have other partitions mounted there or you'll end up backing those up too. Also make sure you don't have anything mounted in /media (i.e. don't have any cd's or removable media mounted). Either that or exclude /media. 

EDIT : kvidell suggests below we also exclude the /dev directory. I have other evidence that says it is very unwise to do so though. 

Well, if the command agrees with you, hit enter (or return, whatever) and sit back&relax. This might take a while. 

Afterwards you'll have a file called backup.tgz in the root of your filessytem, which is probably pretty large. Now you can burn it to DVD or move it to another machine, whatever you like! 

EDIT2: 
At the end of the process you might get a message along the lines of 'tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors' or something, but in most cases you can just ignore that. 

Alternatively, you can use Bzip2 to compress your backup. This means higher compression but lower speed. If compression is important to you, just substitute 
the 'z' in the command with 'j', and give the backup the right extension. 

That would make the command look like this: 

tar cvpjf backup.tar.bz2 --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tar.bz2 --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys / 

2: Restoring 

Warning: Please, for goodness sake, be careful here. If you don't understand what you are doing here you might end up overwriting stuff that is important to you, so please take care! 

Well, we'll just continue with our example from the previous chapter; the file backup.tgz in the root of the partition. 

Once again, make sure you are root and that you and the backup file are in the root of the filesystem. 

One of the beautiful things of Linux is that This'll work even on a running system; no need to screw around with boot-cd's or anything. Of course, if you've rendered your system unbootable you might have no choice but to use a live-cd, but the results are the same. You can even remove every single file of a Linux system while it is running with one command. I'm not giving you that command though! 

Well, back on-topic. 
This is the command that I would use: 

Code: 

 tar xvpfz backup.tgz -C / 

Or if you used bz2; 

Code: 

 tar xvpfj backup.tar.bz2 -C / 

WARNING: this will overwrite every single file on your partition with the one in the archive! 

Just hit enter/return/your brother/whatever and watch the fireworks. Again, this might take a while. When it is done, you have a fully restored Ubuntu system! Just make sure that, before you do anything else, you re-create the directories you excluded: 
Code: 

mkdir proc 
mkdir lost+found 
mkdir mnt 
mkdir sys 
etc... 

And when you reboot, everything should be the way it was when you made the backup! 

2.1: GRUB restore 
Now, if you want to move your system to a new harddisk or if you did something nasty to your GRUB (like, say, install Windows), You'll also need to reinstall GRUB. 
There are several very good howto's on how to do that here on this forum, so i'm not going to reinvent the wheel. Instead, take a look here: 

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthre...t=grub+restore 

There are a couple of methods proposed. I personally recommend the second one, posted by remmelt, since that has always worked for me. 


Well that's it! I hope it was helpful! 
As always, any feedback is appreciated!

----------


## Dieseler

Any opinions on the afore mentioned method of backing up? Seems simple enough.
I also run across this article concerning Open SSH. Should I be concerned with these steps behind a NAT firewall in my router? I'm thinking yes.
http://www.watchingthenet.com/linux-...t-account.html

----------


## Dieseler

I just found Amarok.

Total Pwnage...

----------


## TheEvilDetector

> Update:
> Back-up
> Back-up
> Learn how to back-up I will.
> Never , ever decide to reboot at the encryption log in on a LVM Ubuntu install 
> ( it damaged the part that loads the GUI, I think) 
> unless you know what the heck you are doing 
> ( Linux Master Zen Machine) 
> and have Everything backed up.
> ...


An alternative to dual booting is to use VirtualBox, it runs WindowsXP (among others) quite well. 
Its a free alternative to VMware.

----------

