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Stop press: Vista slaughtered by Ubuntu
For those who are interested, trying to do a dual-boot install of Ubuntu by following the instructions at
http://apcmag.com/the_definitive_dualbooting_g uide_linux_vista_and_xp_stepbystep.htm
completely trashed my Vista installation, and I ended up having to do an OEM install (of Ubuntu) just to get Ubuntu up and running. If anyone is interested in my other experiences with Ubuntu, let me know...
http://apcmag.com/the_definitive_dualbooting_g uide_linux_vista_and_xp_stepbystep.htm
completely trashed my Vista installation, and I ended up having to do an OEM install (of Ubuntu) just to get Ubuntu up and running. If anyone is interested in my other experiences with Ubuntu, let me know...
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I'm sorry to hear it didn't go too well, as you seem to kow what your talking about I assume and hope you had everything backed up.
What are your views about ubuntu other than the install dual boot problems, that to be fair could have been caused by either os.
I downloaded and installed it myself as it's a distro I haven't tried, other than a problem with a bad ISO on the first download so had to download from another site had no problems with the setup, all hardware worked straight off, any missing parts such as codecs where installed automatically as and when needed so all in all impressed.
However this is the norm that I have found in most recent Linux distros, it's been a few years since I have had any real times in a desktop linux install when any shell based work was needed
What are your views about ubuntu other than the install dual boot problems, that to be fair could have been caused by either os.
I downloaded and installed it myself as it's a distro I haven't tried, other than a problem with a bad ISO on the first download so had to download from another site had no problems with the setup, all hardware worked straight off, any missing parts such as codecs where installed automatically as and when needed so all in all impressed.
However this is the norm that I have found in most recent Linux distros, it's been a few years since I have had any real times in a desktop linux install when any shell based work was needed
Hi markysngc. Don't worry, I have two machines - one running XP on which I do all my work, and the (ex-) Vista one for compatibility testing (I'm a software developer), so trashing the Vista one was not a major worry for me - but it might be for anyone else!
I first tested Ubuntu running from the CD on my Athlon 64 with NVidia GeForce 7300. It was a great experience, and as I mentioned, the first time I made a change to the desktop, it detected my video card and downloaded and installed the correct drive.
I then thought to set up for dual boot, but as soon as I tried it , I could see that it looked kind of dangerous! The partitioning options that are offered don't match the ones in the documentation. So I thouht I would try VirtualBox instead.
Setting up VirtualBox was a breeze, and Ubuntu installed into it with no problems, but with everything virtualised, it was slow, I couldn't use my dua-monitor setup from within Ubuntu (although I could run it on one screen and see my Windows desktop on the other). Then, when I tried to open My Computer in Windows with VB and Ubuntu running,I got a BSOD from XP.
I first tested Ubuntu running from the CD on my Athlon 64 with NVidia GeForce 7300. It was a great experience, and as I mentioned, the first time I made a change to the desktop, it detected my video card and downloaded and installed the correct drive.
I then thought to set up for dual boot, but as soon as I tried it , I could see that it looked kind of dangerous! The partitioning options that are offered don't match the ones in the documentation. So I thouht I would try VirtualBox instead.
Setting up VirtualBox was a breeze, and Ubuntu installed into it with no problems, but with everything virtualised, it was slow, I couldn't use my dua-monitor setup from within Ubuntu (although I could run it on one screen and see my Windows desktop on the other). Then, when I tried to open My Computer in Windows with VB and Ubuntu running,I got a BSOD from XP.
At that point I decided to install it on my Vista Machine, which is a 3GHz Celeron D with NVidia GeForce 6800.
The first thing it did was attempt to partition the disk, flash up an error message, too quick to read, and then it just sat there. I tried shutting it down, removing the CD, and rebooting. At which point I was told I had no operating system. A check with Acronis Disk Director showed that this wasn't a problem with the MBR, but that the system partition had been trashed.
After a number of failed attempts to install, I decided to try the OEM install, which wiped the hard disk, created a single partition and installed fine. Unfortunately it didn't seem to like the 6800 as much as the 7300. It took about an hour of going round and round in circles before suddenly (and I still don't know why) it finally offered to download and install the drivers. At that point, my dual monitor set-up sprang into life, I was able to set the correct resolution on both monitors, and everything was fine.
The first thing it did was attempt to partition the disk, flash up an error message, too quick to read, and then it just sat there. I tried shutting it down, removing the CD, and rebooting. At which point I was told I had no operating system. A check with Acronis Disk Director showed that this wasn't a problem with the MBR, but that the system partition had been trashed.
After a number of failed attempts to install, I decided to try the OEM install, which wiped the hard disk, created a single partition and installed fine. Unfortunately it didn't seem to like the 6800 as much as the 7300. It took about an hour of going round and round in circles before suddenly (and I still don't know why) it finally offered to download and install the drivers. At that point, my dual monitor set-up sprang into life, I was able to set the correct resolution on both monitors, and everything was fine.
In use, Ubuntu is great - though I was expecting it to run a bit faster that it does (subjectively). Amazingly the keyboard support is much better than either version of Windows (I use a bi-lingual Greek/Latin Keyboard). In Windows, whether typing in Greek or English, I could never quite get the keys to match there marked functions, and often had to switch languages just to get a particular key to work - this is a Microsoft keyboard!
Ubuntu's keyboard layouts work perfectly in both languages.
I already use OpenOffice on my XP machine, so no real change there. The e-mail client, Evolution, was so good that I downloaded the Windows version and tried it on my other machine (not so good).
The supplied VNC Terminal Services client is better that the MS one, and allows me to control my XP machine from within Ubuntu at full screen, using both monitors - something I couldn't do in Vista!
My XP desktop is half full of icons, becuase I findthat easier than navigating the MS menu system, but with Ubuntu, the ability to set up multiple task bars and menus, and also switch desktops means that I can have a completely empty desktop.
The buitl-in screen capture is also very handy (I use Snagit under XP). And the picture editor can do pretty much everything that I currenly use Paint Shop Pro for.
Ubuntu's keyboard layouts work perfectly in both languages.
I already use OpenOffice on my XP machine, so no real change there. The e-mail client, Evolution, was so good that I downloaded the Windows version and tried it on my other machine (not so good).
The supplied VNC Terminal Services client is better that the MS one, and allows me to control my XP machine from within Ubuntu at full screen, using both monitors - something I couldn't do in Vista!
My XP desktop is half full of icons, becuase I findthat easier than navigating the MS menu system, but with Ubuntu, the ability to set up multiple task bars and menus, and also switch desktops means that I can have a completely empty desktop.
The buitl-in screen capture is also very handy (I use Snagit under XP). And the picture editor can do pretty much everything that I currenly use Paint Shop Pro for.
Ok, it's early days yet, and as a Windows developer, there's no way I could make this my main machine, but it's difficult to imagine a reason that a typical user (by which I mean most of my acquaintances, who use their machines for e-mail, surfing, letter writing, picture editing, etc.) wouldn't be perfectly happy with this set-up.
Regarding those instructions: I thought Ubuntu's installer could resize partitions for you?
It's always been my thought to go down the path of least effort and let the installer do as much as possible, treating you like an idiot. Seems to work, as it's the more tested path.
That being said, dual-booting will always be a bit of a delicate thing. No way around it given the current computer architecture.
It's always been my thought to go down the path of least effort and let the installer do as much as possible, treating you like an idiot. Seems to work, as it's the more tested path.
That being said, dual-booting will always be a bit of a delicate thing. No way around it given the current computer architecture.
Yes. fo3nix, that's what it's supposed to do, but I suspect that it can only do it if your existing disk has only a single partition. On both my machines, it offered me two alternatives: Entire disk, and Manual.
Choosing Manual gave me some options with no real instructions - and as it's at least 20 years since I worked with Unix, I didn't fancy that. As I could afford to lose the Vista, I figured I would act like I would expect most average users to act, and simply went ahead on the assumption that it knew what it was doing.
First it trashed my system partition, then it tried (and failed) to install itself onto a 3 GB partition that it had apparently created out of the trashed partition. What it definitely didn't do, was safely resize my resize my existing partitions!
Choosing Manual gave me some options with no real instructions - and as it's at least 20 years since I worked with Unix, I didn't fancy that. As I could afford to lose the Vista, I figured I would act like I would expect most average users to act, and simply went ahead on the assumption that it knew what it was doing.
First it trashed my system partition, then it tried (and failed) to install itself onto a 3 GB partition that it had apparently created out of the trashed partition. What it definitely didn't do, was safely resize my resize my existing partitions!
No, because all the indications were that Ubuntu would manually resize the partitions, I was working from the documents that had been recommended, and my main reason for installing it was to see what it was like for an average user. I expected it to either do what it said on the tin, or (at the very least) warn me of the danger, or wipe my partition and install. Instead it did none of these, but trashed the existing partitions and failed to install. I was more interested in finding out how safe it is than in acting safely (so to speak).
Hi All,
After reading these postings yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu and run it from CD, and it seems pretty good, but the maximum screen resolution I can get is 800x600. Yesterday I found a menu that enabled me to set the type of monitor to various sizes but I can't seem to find it today! Can anyone help me set it back to 1280x960 or whatever it was.
Interestingly the version of Firefox supplied (v 3.0b4) doesn't crash when scrolling through AB topics whereas the Windows version (2.0.0.13) freezes quite regularly.
Thanks in anticipation
Geoff.
After reading these postings yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu and run it from CD, and it seems pretty good, but the maximum screen resolution I can get is 800x600. Yesterday I found a menu that enabled me to set the type of monitor to various sizes but I can't seem to find it today! Can anyone help me set it back to 1280x960 or whatever it was.
Interestingly the version of Firefox supplied (v 3.0b4) doesn't crash when scrolling through AB topics whereas the Windows version (2.0.0.13) freezes quite regularly.
Thanks in anticipation
Geoff.
What's your video adaptor?
To set the monitor go to System/Administration/Screens and Graphics
From what I can understand, if there is no open source driver for your card, you need to do the following:
Manually select the card from the list - don't test it, don't change the monitor settings or anything else - just change the card.
Next, go to System/Administration/Restricted Drivers
Enable the driver for your card
Restart the machine (although it may claim that you can get away with logging out and in, I had to restart before it would accept the changes).
Once the restricted driver is running, you should then be able to select the monitor, set the resolution etc.
As far as I can recall, this was how I got my NVIDIA 6800 to work - the 7300 just worked - no problem.
To set the monitor go to System/Administration/Screens and Graphics
From what I can understand, if there is no open source driver for your card, you need to do the following:
Manually select the card from the list - don't test it, don't change the monitor settings or anything else - just change the card.
Next, go to System/Administration/Restricted Drivers
Enable the driver for your card
Restart the machine (although it may claim that you can get away with logging out and in, I had to restart before it would accept the changes).
Once the restricted driver is running, you should then be able to select the monitor, set the resolution etc.
As far as I can recall, this was how I got my NVIDIA 6800 to work - the 7300 just worked - no problem.
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