Author Topic: Ubuntu question(s) (Read 5809 times)

Perd Hapley · « **on:** July 17, 2010, 01:05:47 AM »

I've been meaning to have another go at the Linux thing, and since I now have a mostly-empty 250 GB hard drive on my system, I figure I may as well install Ubuntu on it. My main question is whether I should use the 9.04 disk I already have, or is it worth it to download 10.04?

As background information, I will be using this Linux installation for my own educational experimentation. The hardware is an hp dx2300, with a P4 531 (3 GHz) and 4 GB DDR2. I have two Windows operating systems on the first physical hard drive, and I plan to put Ubuntu on the secondary, larger physical drive.

Thanks for your advice,
fistful

Nitrogen · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2010, 01:30:45 AM »

Get 10.04. It's worth it.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2010, 01:56:23 AM »

Quote from: Nitrogen on July 17, 2010, 01:30:45 AM

Get 10.04. It's worth it.

This.

I'm using Xubuntu FWIW.

lee n. field · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2010, 09:41:02 AM »

Quote

My main question is whether I should use the 9.04 disk I already have, or is it worth it to download 10.04?

Go with 10.04. No particular reason to go with 9.04.

Ben · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2010, 09:45:32 AM »

Try sticking VirtualBox on your machine, then just try any old flavor(s) of Linux you want. With 4gig of physical RAM, you can dedicate 1gig to the Linux guest and not affect Windows performance at all, while running both simultaneously.

zahc · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2010, 02:10:08 PM »

You can also try Wubi. Very painless. 4 clicks and you have a dual boot; don't even need to burn a CD. Easy to completely erase the Linux too. I've done it a couple times; the downside is your linux is running on NTFS which 1)sucks and 2)can't be fsck'd by linux.

tyme · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2010, 03:47:05 PM »

I don't see the niche for wubi. Virtualization allows the same thing, without any rebooting, and with more flexibility - no messing with the windows bootloader, and you can install whatever guest OS you want directly from any install CD you have.

+1 on virtualbox, and if you want linux as your primary OS in the future, VMware has a converter and ovf exporter (to get it into an image virtualbox can read)

Jim147 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2010, 04:38:59 PM »

Fistful, are you using HDMI on that system?

If you are and it works out for you let me know.

jim

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2010, 04:49:47 PM »

VGA.

I downloaded Lucid Lynx and installed to that second drive. I know I could have gone with a virtual machine, but for whatever reason I'm just happier with dual booting.

The odd thing is, when I boot Windows, it keeps setting my clock five hours ahead, even though the time zone stays the same.

Ben · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2010, 04:58:50 PM »

Quote from: Fistful on July 17, 2010, 04:49:47 PM

The odd thing is, when I boot Windows, it keeps setting my clock five hours ahead, even though the time zone stays the same.

Switch to Linux.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2010, 05:24:32 PM »

I hurt you now.

lee n. field · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2010, 05:25:31 PM »

Quote

The odd thing is, when I boot Windows, it keeps setting my clock five hours ahead, even though the time zone stays the same. Huh?

Somewhere there was a question about whether BIOS time was set to GMT. You answered wrong, or the question was hidden and the answer assumed.

"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuTime " -- See the section "Multiple Boot Systems Time Conflicts"

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2010, 06:46:10 PM »

Thanks. That page must have been for an earlier version, but I found the answer on Ubuntu Forums.

I have kept the Windows 7 boot loader (choice of 7 or XP) on the first hard drive, and put Ubuntu and grub on the second hard drive. That way, if I want to load Ubuntu, I press F9 for the hp boot menu and select the second hard drive. From there, I would like this to boot straight into Ubuntu. How do I keep the grub boot menu from appearing? Should I just edit grub.cfg, so it has a timeout value of 0?

tyme · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2010, 08:36:52 PM »

On the subject of linux distributions, if you want something more similar to windows, I highly recommend DVL over Ubuntu. (link courtesy of slashdot)

Marnoot · « **Reply #14 on:** July 17, 2010, 09:00:03 PM »

Quote from: tyme on July 17, 2010, 08:36:52 PM

On the subject of linux distributions, if you want something more similar to windows, I highly recommend DVL over Ubuntu. (link courtesy of slashdot)

lee n. field · « **Reply #15 on:** July 17, 2010, 09:41:01 PM »

Quote from: tyme on July 17, 2010, 08:36:52 PM

DVL over Ubuntu. (link courtesy of slashdot)

Ohh. Me wants.

Battle Monkey of Zardoz · « **Reply #16 on:** July 17, 2010, 09:42:00 PM »

what about just running ubuntu on a flash drive, or cant you install it and run it inside windows 7?

GigaBuist · « **Reply #17 on:** July 17, 2010, 10:00:50 PM »

Quote from: Fistful on July 17, 2010, 06:46:10 PM

How do I keep the grub boot menu from appearing? Should I just edit grub.cfg, so it has a timeout value of 0?

I just tried that on my Eeebuntu 9.something install and setting tiimeout = 0 in the grub config did the trick.

Now I need to figure out how to interrupt it so I can actually chose what OS I boot again! :)

zahc · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2010, 12:16:24 AM »

Quote

Virtualization allows the same thing

It's not the same thing. Virtualization uses more resources...two operating systems running instead of one. Also, twice the boot time. Also, possibly not the same access to low-level system resources (serial ports etc). Also, virtualization sucks for graphics.

Wubi is the same thing as dual boot, just easier to set up, and easier to get rid of. No partitioning, and no disk-burning. I used Wubi on windows computers at my old job when I needed linux for a certain task. They didn't have CD burners and were old, so I just ran Wubi, went to lunch, and when I came back I rebooted. If they ever want to get rid of linux it's about two clicks and it's like it was never there.

Ben · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2010, 10:53:48 AM »

Quote

Also, twice the boot time.

I run computers with both native and guest Linux. Guest Linux takes half the time to load compared to native Linux.

zahc · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2010, 12:00:19 PM »

Typically you have to boot the host OS before you can even start booting the host OS. That's the 'twice the boot time' I was talking about.

GigaBuist · « **Reply #21 on:** July 18, 2010, 12:48:14 PM »

Quote from: GigaBuist on July 17, 2010, 10:00:50 PM

I just tried that on my Eeebuntu 9.something install and setting tiimeout = 0 in the grub config did the trick.

Now I need to figure out how to interrupt it so I can actually chose what OS I boot again! :)

Uh, you might want to set that timeout to 1 instead of 0. Just in case you ever need to actually modify any of your boot parameters for whatever reason. With a timeout of 0 I can't do anything with the menu anymore. It just boots into my default OS. Nothing I do (left shift, smashing escape, holding any key whatever) is helping me get to the grub menu.

Food for thought.

zahc · « **Reply #22 on:** July 18, 2010, 01:12:40 PM »

I've often set the grub timeout to 0, and never had a problem. You just have to hold down the right key to get it to show. I think it used to be escape, but now with grub 2 it's shift. When I installed the latest ubuntu, the grub timeout was automatically set to 0 (they don't want noobs to get scared by the boot screen I guess), and since the install was setting a video mode that turned my monitor off, the system booted straight to a black screen. It took me a lot of googling before I found out that the grub menu secret key changed to SHIFT.

GigaBuist · « **Reply #23 on:** July 18, 2010, 01:16:39 PM »

Huh. I know I tried left shift. Maybe it's only the right shift key that works. I think LILO was specific about which one worked.

Oh well, no matter. I went and grabbed Ubuntu 10.4 netbook remix and tossed that overtop the old Eeebuntu install thanks to this thread. I'm liking it so far. Glad to see Chromium in the package list.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #24 on:** July 18, 2010, 02:24:47 PM »

Thanks for the advice on grub. My new, and actually serious, problem is that I installed lm sensors and was trying to bring fan speed under control. This box has had over-heating issues before, so I depend on Speedfan to monitor temps. But since Speedfan isn't Linux-friendly, I was doing things manually, and now the system fan just shuts down when I boot Ubuntu. Why do I try?

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Author Topic: Ubuntu question(s) (Read 5809 times)