Linux Ubuntu going over to the dark side

**dirtydog** · 22-07-2007, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by NickA

There are some useful features like "live" window previews on the taskbar and transparency etc.

I assume you mean that if you hover the mouse over one of the buttons/tabs that you mean you get a preview of the page, this is an opera browser feature not just a linux feature, as for 3d rotating screens,hmmm, I use 2 browsers all the time and have a minimum of 10 windows open, so it may look pretty and all that but not a feature I would use.

Anyway tomorrow is time to see what Ubunta can do with pictures and movies, I shall try there software first to see if it is useable for what I need, also gonna connect up the rest of my hardware and see if it recognises everything.

**dirtydog** · 22-07-2007, 03:44 PM

Hmmm, well the shared hard drive on the other pc all works, also my linux has a jpg viewer, trouble is it has no editing tools apart from being able to rotate the picture, also it still cant view Avi files although I haven't installed 90 percent of programmes I downloaded for it, also still got to sort out burner software for both my burners on this pc, seems to be a lot of cd burning software for linux but I aint noticed any dvd burning software, although I have burners on the windows machine anyway which is the one I download to.

Got to admit though I am quite impressed with Ubunta, it's just as easy to use and install as windows, its quicker than windows which would probably benifit anyone on an older pc, I shall probably keep this pc as linux only and the older pc set up windows and linux with a dual boot option thingy on it.

**Agent_Smith** · 23-07-2007, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Cant you just move the stuff to another hard drive and then reinstall? I got 3 hard drives in ready to be connected and another I am burning everything from in another pc which this one will share.

That's what I did. Put the lot on a thumb drive and installed Ubuntu again. I thought it would write over the old one but it partioned itself instead on the hard drive. Now I've 2 Ubuntus eating memory. Any ideas how to delete the first one?

**Marmite the Dog** · 23-07-2007, 09:15 AM

Frankie says to reformat the drive partition.

**friscofrankie** · 23-07-2007, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Frankie says to reformat the drive partition.

I never!
BUT...
Depends on what else is installed is there a windoze partition? What boot loader do you use? (probably Grub) You need to remove the old distro from the boot loader config. Then, you can delete the partition. Most distros include some sort of GUI interface to edit the GRUB config. if there isn't one (or you can't find it) GNU GRUB Manual - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) This might help.

if you use LiLO LILO mini-HOWTO Might help.

Once the menu choice is gone you can then remove the files, keeping the partitions, or delete the partitions and create new one(s). Use what ever partition manager your distro offers. To delete the files you need to able to mount them to your new file system. the command "rm -rf /mount-point/*" cleans things out very nicely. It is absolutely ruthless and practically unrecoverable; if you're unsure of command line navigation and issuing commands, avoid using it; it can wipe your system out right quick if issued on the wrong directory.

Another choice is to reinstall and PAY attention! During the install it will ask you where to put things and should offer a choice to delete the partitions and start fresh, I think you missed this part last time. If your not experienced (or lack the desire to becomes so) with partitioning and configuring mount points this is probably the simplest & cleanest way to go. If you have Windows on your PC be careful to leave the win partition(s) intact, eh?

There is so much information on the net n running, configuring and installing Linux entering a detailed search in google will get you enough info to get you started on becoming expert, should you desire. If that is your goal, remember, if you don;t break it a few times, you learn nothing.

**NickA** · 23-07-2007, 10:11 AM

DD, have you even looked at that link I gave you? Tells you how to do everything.... there are about 10 movie players.. best ones are VLC, mplayer and kaffeine. KB3 does everything in terms of burning.

You'll need to install all the codecs to view avi's ...again see the link or use automatix.

You shouldn't need to "install" anything.. the package manager should download and install all in one go.

**friscofrankie** · 23-07-2007, 10:23 AM

Essential Codecs:
http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel...061022.tar.bz2
This isn't a "package manager" type package but you extract it to the directory listed in the readme and you should be able to play any of the media formats in MPlayer based applications (almost every one out there).

**mrsquirrel** · 23-07-2007, 11:00 AM

I use the packman repository. Was shown it in a SuSE forum. Gives you access to all the codecs etc.

**dirtydog** · 23-07-2007, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by NickA

DD, have you even looked at that link I gave you?

Ok I admit I didn't, it's probably full of complicated words that you need a degree in computer programming to understand, then again you understood it didn't you

Ok tomorrow I shall have a read of it, been working with my other pc most of the afternoon and evening so a bit windozed out at the moment, although I want to try and get opera to do WYSIWYG copy and pastes first.

**dirtydog** · 24-07-2007, 12:17 AM

Another nice little feature of UNBUNTU is the "Switch between workspaces" thing, the default you get 2 work spaces, ie 2 little tiny buttons on the bottom right, these you just click on if you want to use a different window or workspace or whatever, you can also right click it and add more workspaces, with windows I always just used different browsers so I had half an idea of what I was actually doing, this takes away the need for that.

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 05:15 PM

I have just installed Ubuntu Gnome on to an old laptop.
I can't get anywhere with it.
Screen resolution gives me the max choice of 600 x 800 but my screen is 1024 x 768.

I am sure it was connected to the net during installation but now I have no connection.

**dirtydog** · 25-07-2007, 05:23 PM

system, preferences, screen resolution, maybe you got to do the updates first, although thats probably a bit hard without the internet connection.

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 05:29 PM

^ Yep I found that.
Gives me a choice of 640x480 or 800x600

The Lan connection is OK because I can see my other computers but I cannot access the net.
How do I set up the connection ?
I am going through an ADSL router

**dirtydog** · 25-07-2007, 05:44 PM

I really have no idea, mine just connected all by itself I think, I probably went into network and network tools and made it look for stuff connected to it, but that was as much as I did, don't even understand how it got the password etc as the hdd was last used on a dial up connection and since has been formatted etc, I assume my other pc keeps the connection open.

**mrsquirrel** · 25-07-2007, 05:58 PM

have you set all the bits and pieces?

**El Gibbon** · 25-07-2007, 06:03 PM

TT what is the modem you are using, is it external? If not it is most likely a problem as laptops 'generally' use some kind of 'WINmodem' which is just a software modem. It will cause all sorts of problems with Linux.

Same for network cards (NICs).

to save space and weight they are not "standardized" bits and pieces.

This is from Linux for Dummies.... and I are one..

E. G.

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by El Gibbon

TT what is the modem you are using, is it external?

Yes. It's a ADSL wifi router AX200W
The LAn connection is OK and the internet is working for the other computers. If I try the Ubuntu updater it says I am up to date.

So why can't I access anything through FireFox ?

**mrsquirrel** · 25-07-2007, 06:16 PM

I had a **** of a time with Ubuntu and my wireless.

Ihaven't tried it yet but the madwifi drivers are meant to fix a lot of problems.

search in the package managerfor madwifi should be in there.

**friscofrankie** · 25-07-2007, 06:16 PM

you've got to set your screen refresh rate and resolution in the X config file. There may be a guis managment console to allow this or you can run xorgconfig to set it up get on the net and find the information from your LT manufacturer before you set this some newer monitors have safety valves in place to disallow invlid settings but those that don;t can get toasted by wrong settings you need horizontal and vertical refresh rates.
Make sure you've got your video card set right. when the screen refresh rates are properly configured you will have more choices under screen resolution.

https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/interne...asic-procedure
This might help you with your network issues do you have a netowrk card/dsl router-modem setup or is it usb/dsl modem-router? at teh command prompt enter the command "/sbin/ifconfig" this should show your current network card config.
you should see something like this:

Code:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 06:D1:2A:66:19:00
          inet addr:192.168.1.54  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3044290 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3112608 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1398120779 (1333.3 Mb)  TX bytes:1512033763 (1441.9 Mb)
          Interrupt:225

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:2826 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2826 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

lo is my internal local network
eth0 is my ethernet card and it shows I have a proper ip address
if you don;t have this or somethng like it you may not have a card setup, the only sure way I know to set this up I won;t go into here. The Ubuntu site should have some documentation on adding a card. If not you can do it manually (once you fidn the driver

)
Configuring Linux to talk to your network card
this page might be help if you really have to manually add your card

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 06:32 PM

It's a network card/dsl router-modem setup

"/sbin/ifconfig" doesn't display anything

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 06:35 PM

eth0 is enabled and configured

**dirtydog** · 25-07-2007, 06:37 PM

Enough of your problems lets talk about my pc

ok I just connected another hard drive, web cam, speakers, mike, all works, the sound didn't but it just come up with a screen with a choice of 3 downloads, 1 had 5 stars next to it and the other 2 had 1 star each, 5 star works ok and I now got music playing from the newly connected hard drive, may stick another one on later to see how it likes windows on a hard drive

**friscofrankie** · 25-07-2007, 07:14 PM

the link on ubuntus site has soe information on wireless connections but you can see your network just fine any rule set on the router? does the gateway ip address match the actual address of the router?

**Thetyim** · 25-07-2007, 08:04 PM

^ It is a wifi router but I have it connected via a Lan card to make life simpler. The address and MAC match on the card and on the router and it is communicating because on the network I can veiw the other computers

**mrsquirrel** · 25-07-2007, 08:09 PM

Thetyim you are having the same problems I had.

I could connect to the router but not to the net.

Drove me around the bend. I just couldn't find out what the problems was. As I said in the other post i was recommended to try the madwifi drivers/repositiory.

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