Linux on a PC

[DeaconDan]

Discipulusnatura, are you trying to scare Steve?

[Steveg]

Discipulusnatura, are you trying to scare Steve?

Doesn't scare me.

OK, I ran Ubuntu from live CD & ... it just worked. I had expected it to fail at the start because I have a wireless mouse that requires a special driver in Windows. But Ubuntu just took it in its stride. Found printer OK too. Intenet connection just happened.

So I've installed Ubuntu in a separate partition and I'm writing this from Firefox running in there. I have one problem though & that is how to backup & edit GRUB as I want to make Windows the default OS.

When I try the command line sudo cp etc it fails saying No such file or directory. Is that because GRUB is in a different partition? If so how do I get to it? And I would like to back it up onto a memory stick (yes, Ubuntu recognises them as well). How do I address that in a command line?

Added
Found /boot/grub via file browser and there is no menu.lst file.

I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala). Does it have a different naming sustem?

[gibby]

Steve,

Try this program:
EasyBCD 1.7

I used it and it allows you to easily restore your Windows MBR or assign boot priorities. Let me know how it goes.

[Steveg]

Steve,

Try this program:
EasyBCD 1.7

I used it and it allows you to easily restore your Windows MBR or assign boot priorities. Let me know how it goes.

Hi gibby,

The link you gave just seemed to be screen shots. However I hunted around and found that that Grub has changed in release 9.10 to Grub2. The main configuration file has a different name and shouldn't be edited. There is a supplemental file /etc/default/grub (file) which can be edited. But I then discovered there is a new program startmanager through which some elements of Grub can be changed.

https: //help.ubuntu.com/communit/Grub2 explains.

[gibby]

Whoops! My bad... Try this:

Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

Either way, I hope you get it figured out.

[Steveg]

Ubuntu started off fine. It just installed & ran However it's going down hill fast.

I've been trying to find programs to replace some of my windows utilities and the first one I wanted to replace is allway sync. I found a couple that sounded very good but they come in zip or tar.gz files with no installation routines. It seems I have to start compiling them and running command line stuff like in the old days of DOS. Apparently this is very common in the Linux world

Windows programs come with an install file and they just install.

What's with Ubuntu? Why is it so mickey mouse in this area?

[gibby]

Linux is for geeks...maybe it's a feeling of control over what you are doing I suppose. It was too much for me. Linux would be good for the average user if all they were going to do is email and internet. Beyond that, you have to be a total geek to get it to do what you want it to. I gave up after I could not get secured WPA wireless to work. Open networks worked, but I could not, for the life of me, get it to connect to secured networks.

[Steveg]

Linux is for geeks...maybe it's a feeling of control over what you are doing I suppose. It was too much for me. Linux would be good for the average user if all they were going to do is email and internet. Beyond that, you have to be a total geek to get it to do what you want it to. I gave up after I could not get secured WPA wireless to work. Open networks worked, but I could not, for the life of me, get it to connect to secured networks.

I didn't get much symnpathy on the Ubuntu forum when I said that there should be an install program that just worked. I told them that if they wanted it to be more than a playground for geeks then they needed to realise that command line processing went out with DOS 14/15 years ago, and that programs should just install with a click of the mouse.

Having said that though programs that are in the repositaries install just fine. Ubuntu 9.10 which I have loaded up would seem to be a bit of a leap forward in usability and works well and with a good graphical interface. I have a wired connection though so I don't have your wireless problems.

I'll continue to play around with it but I think I will devote more of my spare time to Joomla than Ubuntu. I think that will be more productive.

[gibby]

Steve,

A co-worker of mine gave me her Dell laptop to work on it for her. She had been running XP for the last 4 years and never renewed her anti-virus software. Anyway, surprise surprise, it crashed. She was on the verge of tossing it when I asked her to let me take a look at it.

The CD drive was trashed and she had no recovery media. I just installed Linux mint using a usb flash drive and it is now up and running.

[Galaen]

You guys are so wiz with these things. I wish I knew half as much about computers