Linux: My Story

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Well,

I've taken the plunge and, after a backup of the laptop, I'm reimaging it to Ubuntu.

First off, I started using v7.04 - using the Live CD iso image.

Story so far:

Burned the ISO and fired it up on the laptop. First problem! Error: "isolinux: Disk Error 28".

Several failed reboots later, I decide to upgrade the BIOS on the laptop. 20 minutes later, upgrade complete.

Success, although the boot up is riddled with errors of various kinds, I manage to get to the Live OS. Hit install, run through the settings and hit go.

20 minutes later, the box is still sitting on 5%. Zero HDD activity to be seen. Wait a bit more, move the mouse around, still nothing.

Force a reboot and back to the error 28 issue. Luckily this resolves itself (sometimes), so its just a case of rebooting several times to get into it.

(Of course, its worth pointing out that, at this point, I've already Hosed the XP image because the partitioning started)

Run the install settings again. This time it still stalls on 5%, although there still appears to be some HDD activity, so im holding out for now.

I've decided that its likely going to fail again, so Im currently downloading the alternate (text installer) iso to burn. This ones V7.10, so maybe that will help too.

Verdict so far:

No it bloody doesnt!

 

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tried a different OS such as Debian?

 

Fergal, because I have so much respect for you, I will not tell you that, that is what you get for not coming back into the light and listening to me.

My other advice would be to privy and Trip and Freddy to make them aware that you are in need of their knowledge in the linux field.

Now another friend I have that is running the same os, said and I quote.

looks like a corrupted disk or download
when he boots he should have an option to check the CD for defects - I bet that it will fail

just try downloading it again

sorry am quoating from IM.

 

No problem.

I checked the disk, and booted to it, both fine, on another machine.

I'm getting the text only install alternate. if that fails ill maybe try another machine.

 

I wonder if it's the disk itself. Sometimes errors are introduced either during the download or the burn. You could try burning another disk from your ISO and if that fails. Blow away your current ISO and download it again.

 

The disc itself actually boots perfectly on my desktop machine, and the defect testing returned ok. It just seems to be with the laptop. Nero (mutter) is having some problems burning the alternative installer, so ill have to wait a bit for that (although the iso verifies ok within VMWare, so thats a good start).

Fedora looks interesting... maybe. Any other suggestions for alternative Distros? 'mon Freddy, never around when you are needed, eh? *sigh*

 

I have been playing with Mepis for a while as my forum sig states. I find it fairly easy to install and use and it's based on debian so thats another plus.

Here's a link to the support forum where you can find out all you need to know and more.

http://www.mepislovers.org/forums/index.php

 

Ok, so I've managed to get Xubuntu installed onto my machine this morning. Still fairly basic setup to be honest. Think I'll need to play around with this a fair bit more.

For a start, the fonts, etc, just look plain ugly! Anyone have any idea how to get it into a more decent looking setup?

 

That may be the consequence of the xfce desktop environment. I don't have experience with xfce so I don't know what needs to be done to tweak the theme/fonts/etc...

 

The best way to improve the fonts? Download truetype fonts from MS - yes, this is the best method..... unless you want to spend about a month farting about installing other stuff and getting it to play nice. Think of it as a 'feature' - personalising your desktop, having the power to 'choose' how it looks rather than having a standard 'look and feel' foisted on you by totalitarian globalisation tyrants!

I'm a linux fan, and have used it for over 10 years, but sometimes even I despair.....

Try here
And here

 

Wow. I've had this up and running for all of 30 minutes, and I'm already considering a return to the XP image.

To be honest, its just a bloody pain in the arse. I dont want to fart around for ages trying to get pissy little things like the resolution/screen working (which im having to do at the moment, it suddently developed an intense interest in displaying at 800x600 - leaving me with massive black borders, and a switch to 1024x768 doesnt change the borders, just makes me have to scroll around the desktop).

And people wonder why Linux doesnt take off. I'm no novice when it comes to computers, but all I want from this thing, is to surf the web, check emails, talk to people, and play my MUD. Tried getting hold of Evolution, its a pain in the bloody arse to try and configure just to install the damn thing.

*Looks for the XP Discs*

 

Yep, install Vista.

With all the distro's that I've tried, I found SuSE to be the nicest looking and was easier to install than the others (meaning that it did install without a problem). It still didn't work, but it was easier to install.

 

awww fergal, I am really sorry that you are having such a hard time.

I found this, maybe it will help you.

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy

 

Dont give up on Linux Fergal.

I`ll be honest here and say that personally, I wouldnt touch *buntu with a 10 foot bargepole; I just cannot get on with it at all.

Have a go with another distro like PCLinuxOS (download mirrors HERE). It`s based on Mandriva, and IMNSHO, it`s a hell of a lot better than *buntu.


Mark

 

There are a number of laptops around that Linux has a really hard time loading onto because of weird hardware. Desktops are usualy less weird, so have far fewer troubles.

And there are laptops that a stock Windows will have trouble with, for the same reasons!

I've also found that the quality of the CD disk, and how it was recorded can make a difference with some drives. When running a 'Live' CD there is a huge amount of accesses to the CD, which can push a marginal drive/disk combo beyond their capability.

Harry.

 

ROFLMAO

 

Latest Update:

Downloaded and burned Debian netinst. It booted and ran more or less without a hitch (it asked me something about the uswp partition not being active during the install, but accepted my answer and proceeded to install without a hitch).

Booted into debian no problems (although a slight disk write error after rebooting following a kernel upgrade, but a forced reboot solved this).

Once in debian, webs working ok, evolution was easy to set up. so thats a good start. I've already encountered a couple of minor problems with it though. Firstly, the touchpad on the laptop is highly insensitive, even with the sliders ramped right up. Secondly, it doesnt actually shut the machine off when restarting or shutting down, but I've had this problem with another distro in the past. Both of these im looking into solutions for.

I've already got the msTT fonts installed, so that should make FF (or Iceweasel as it seems to be on my machine) looks ok.