# Off-Topic Discussion > The Lounge > Tech Talk >  >  Switching to Linux

## Tyler

I've decided to give Linux a try.
The amount of distros was a bit overwhelming, I dont know which distro to use. Any suggestions?
Also, will yahoo messenger work on Linux?

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## Ynot

I'd go with Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Download the CD image, and burn it to a blank CD

You can try it out without changing anything by running it off of the CD
(It'll be a tad slow, but you can have a look around and see what it's all about without actually installing it)

Re: Yahoo messenger
Use Pidgin, it's a multi-protocol IM client
comes pre-installed with Ubuntu

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## ninja9578

Ubuntu is the best, like Ynot said.

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## Tyler

Ok thanks.
How big is the image that i need to burn to a disc? I only have 700MB discs.

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## ninja9578

700mb

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## Ynot

that'll be fine
The images are designed for 700 mb CD's

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## Tyler

Ok sweet. My comp is actually being scanned for Conflicker C right now, but I'll be sure to test this tommorow. Not to sure about installing it myself though, I've never installed an OS.

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## magical mike

UBUNTU  ::D:  I got a few CDs I can mail you ubuntu 8.10.
But I understand if you dont want me to have your address lol.
But yeah ubuntu!
Yes I am sure there are clone programs for yahoo. I think pidgin is able to use yahoo also I am not sure..

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## Mes Tarrant

Let me know how this goes, I might do the same at some point. I've never installed an OS either.  ::shock::

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## Tyler

MagicalMike: lol not neccesary, but thanks for the offer.

Mes Tarrant: Will do  ::D:

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## Ynot

As I said, you don't have to install it right away
you can run it directly off of the CD
you can play around with it for a few days and only install it if you're happy

Here's a tutorial on how to install it
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Insta...10-97417.shtml

As ever, any specific questions, just drop me a PM

also, you may want to have a look at http://ubuntuforums.org
there's loads of info there
but in all honesty, installation is not hard

*edit*

also, search this forum for the word "ubuntu"
there's been tons of threads on it
general stuff and fairly detailed, specific stuff

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## magical mike

Yeah but dont get a ATI driver...

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## ninja9578

installation is very easy, it's a GUI setup like OSX.

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## Tyler

> installation is very easy, it's a GUI setup like OSX.



i dont even know what that means.
Im a newb with computers.

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## Man of Steel

Graphical user interface like Macintosh operating system 10. 



Really, though, it's very easy. As Ynot said, search this forum, you'll find plenty of info on it.  :smiley:

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## Tyler

Well, I'm on Ubuntu now, giving it a shot before I actually install it.
The only thing I've noticed is that when I click the mouse wheel I don't get the arrows that let me move the page up or down quickly. Is there a way to fix that?

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## Ynot

Under Linux, middle clicking is the second copy-paste buffer

There's the ctrl+c / ctrl+v copy-paste as used on Xerox PARC / DOS / Windows

but Unix-like systems under x-windows traditionally used the middle mouse button to paste selected test at the cursor position

So, it's a bit of a conflict with the windows way of auto scrolling

You can enable it under Firefox by typing



```
about:config
```


in the address bar, and setting
general.autoScoll to true

but to be honest, just use the arrow keys

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## Tyler

Thanks Ynot!
I'm done testing it out and I'm gonna install it.
Thanks everyone for your help!

Edit: in the tutorial you directed me to, it shows a picture about installing a boot loader, it shows a drop down menu and one of the options highlighted.
Could you check the picture for me and tell me if that's the option I'm supposed to pick?

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## Ynot

It shouldn't matter where you install the boot loader
just leave everything on the default settings

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## Tyler

okay cool. i'm gonna go install now.

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## Ynot

Just out of interest, how many hard disks do you have in your machine?

If just one, then you'll be resizing the windows partition to make room for Linux
Make sure you give Linux at least 5Gb (more if you can)

again, it'll default to a nice value anyway (depending on the free space available)
but thought I'd just mention it

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## magical mike

> Is there a way to fix that?



Thats what linux is all about! lol

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## Tyler

> Just out of interest, how many hard disks do you have in your machine?
> 
> If just one, then you'll be resizing the windows partition to make room for Linux
> Make sure you give Linux at least 5Gb (more if you can)
> 
> again, it'll default to a nice value anyway (depending on the free space available)
> but thought I'd just mention it



I only have one hard disc.
But in that Tut it says there would be an option that will Resize my Windows partition and use the remaining space for Ubuntu, but the only option it gives me is to resize and use the entire disc for ubuntu, i dont want to delete all my windows stuff  :Sad:

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## Ynot

Ah,
sounds like your windows install is fragmented or got minor errors on it
(If Ubuntu is at all nervous of resizing your Windows partition, it just won't - in case of data loss)

You're going to have to boot to windows and defrag your drive
also, might be an idea to run chkdsk (to check for disk errors)

Try to defrag the drive first
it may just be that your windows partition is fragmented to hell

If the defrag fails, then you have minor errors on the hard disk
in this case, open up a command prompt, and run



```
chkdsk /f
```


this will scan for and fix any errors

Again, because it's a delicate operation, If Ubuntu is at all nervous of resizing your Windows partition, it just won't


*edit*
also, when Ubuntu is resizing your windows partition, there won't be any progress indication
it's not possible for the installer to know how long the resize will take, so it doesn't even try to show it's progress
It can be a little disconcerting for people to have it sit there at 0&#37; for 10 mins, but it will be doing stuff

the important thing, is once started, do not interrupt it

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## Tyler

okay cool thanks, i'm defragging right now

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## TweaK

Defragging? Why would you defrag if you're about to format to install Linux? Unless that's what you meant.

Anyway, does the latest Ubuntu (8.10 I think?) support SiS 966 chipsets yet? When I tried installing several linux distros on my "off-"PC upstairs, my hard drives weren't detected and there were lots of incompatibilities due to my chipset.

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## Ynot

not formatting, resizing

gparted needs a clean NTFS partition before it can resize it

Ie.

|------------------------------NTFS----------------------------|
becomes
|---------NTFS--------|---------EXT3---------|---swap---|



*edit*




> Anyway, does the latest Ubuntu (8.10 I think?) support SiS 966 chipsets yet? When I tried installing several linux distros on my "off-"PC upstairs, my hard drives weren't detected and there were lots of incompatibilities due to my chipset.



Oh jeez, I'd think so

found this - http://www.sis.com/support/support_faqs_16.htm
says the SiS966 LAN chip is fully supported (and this is seriously old - mentions RedHat 9.0, which is 7 years old - and obsolete, RHEL has long superseded RedHat Linux)

These days, you have to look pretty hard to find something not supported in Linux

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## Tyler

Hey Ynot, I defragged and then I did a disc check and when I booted the disc i had the option Guided- use extra space or something like that, i chose it and the partition resizing started. About an hour and a half later it said there was an error and it had to abort. it then took me to do it manually. As I don't have a goddamned idea about how to resize a partition, i just shut down my computer in disdain.

Any ideas?

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## Ynot

Boot up into the LiveCD using the "try without changing anything" option
from here, you can use Firefox, etc.

You'll see on the desktop an icon called "Install"
click this, and it'll start the install process

When you get to the partitioning, take a screenshot of the window
(press the "print screen" button on your keyboard)

Upload that somewhere, and I will have a look

Bearing in mind I don't know how the defrag / chkdsk turned out
I'm just guessing off the top of my head,
I'd say that the windows partition was reported as being bigger than it actually was (hence the installer being nervous about resizing)

After running defrag / chkdsk, the correct partition size is now set
and you have a little bit of extra space after the windows partition

This space is probably far too small for an OS install
so you'll still have to resize windows

But if you could let me have a screenshot of the partition window during install, I'll try to walk you through it

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## Tyler

one other thing. when I ran the defrag, i went to sleep and let it run overnight, but when I checked on my computer it was just back to where i could set it to start defragging again, there was no confirmation that it did anything. is that normal?

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## Ynot

I don't know if that's normal or not,
but if the Ubuntu installer options have changed since you did it, then chances are it did something

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## Tyler

ok.
after it came across an error resizing the partition, i went back and was going to try it again but the option to resize and use remaining space was gone.

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## Ynot

have you run chkdsk in windows?

it really sounds like you have minor errors (bad sectors, etc.) on your disk

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## Tyler

yeah I ran it and it didn't find any problems.

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## Ynot

booted in the Ubuntu LiveCD,
go Applications > Accessories > Terminal

and can you post the output of this command



```
sudo fdisk -l
```


thats, sudo <space> fdisk <space> dash little L

select the output and use the edit menu to copy the text and post it here

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## Tyler

ok. regrettably i wont have time to do it tonight, as i'm supposed to be in bed in a few minutes and the disk whirring in the disc drive is going to make too much noise as my stepmom often sleeps in the living room.

I'll do it first thing tomorrow and get back to you with the info.

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## Ynot

ok, no problem

You could try the Wubi install
on the Live CD, there is a Windows program called Wubi
this will install Ubuntu "inside" windows

I've not mentioned this before, as I have no first hand experience with Wubi
I know what it is, what it does, and even how it does it
but I am not confident I can field technical questions / troubleshoot problems with it

You may want to give this a go, though
as it means you don't have to worry about setting up proper disk partitions

The downside to Wubi, is decreased performance (due to using a virtual hard disk)
but the decrease is minimal

This may be the best way to go, but as I said, I'm not confident I can help with any issues


Just FYI
I'm thinking 3 possible culprits for the failed resize are:

1) The defrag is failing
You cannot resize the windows partition if it's severely fragmented
The defrag can fail for a number of reasons

1a) You have set a static swap file under windows
For some reason, this causes the windows defragger to puke
Set it back to dynamic, and defragging should work

1b) the fragmented files are system files in use while windows is booted
You'll have to boot to safe mode (or worst case scenario, the Windows CD recovery console) to defrag your disk


2) You have some sort of hidden "restore" partition on your machine
Some OEM's create 1 or more hidden partitions to ease recovery of machines if you send it back under warranty

see this thread where someone else had hidden restore partitions
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=71887

Specifically, posts #11 - #24


3) There is some sort of protection active on your windows partition
There are a few things out there that "protect" a windows machine from 3rd party changes
I doubt this is the case, but it could be



After all that,
the other option is to get a second hard disk,
and install on that
1 disk for windows
1 for Linux

But if you're still willing, I'd give Wubi a try first

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## Tyler

> 1a) You have set a static swap file under windows
> For some reason, this causes the windows defragger to puke
> Set it back to dynamic, and defragging should work



how do i set it to dynamic?
sorry, i know next to nothing about computers.

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## Ynot

Assuming XP,

Right Click on My Computer
Properties > Advanced
Under the "Performance section, click "Settings" 
Performance Options window opens
Select Advanced
Under "Virtual Memory" section, click "Change"
and choose "System Managed Size"

but I'd actually try Wubi first
as it's probably going to be easier

(the fact I, personally don't have any experience with it shouldn't stop you from trying it - It's my failing  :tongue2: )

Wubi is designed to minimize the pain of getting Windows to play ball
I'm pretty sure others on this forum have experience with Wubi
(or goto the Ubuntu forums, you'll definitely get the help you need there)

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## Tyler

I have Vista, but all my settings are already on "system managed size"
the only problem I have with Wubi is it wouldn't perform as well and I'd like to have it at maximum performance.

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## Ynot

Performance loss is minimal (especially if you have SATA drives)
just for the least amount of pain
(it's increasingly obvious that Windows isn't going to play nicely, for whatever reason)

Try Wubi
It's designed for easy installing & uninstalling under Windows
(it even adds an Ubuntu entry in the Windows add/remove apps list)

after a few weeks / months, or whatever, then you can do a proper independent install

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## Tyler

Ok. I suppose i dont really have a choice at the moment.
I'll download Wubi tommorow and burn it. Hope it works like it should.

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## Ynot

Wubi should already be on the disk you burnt

Under Windows, put the LiveCD in, and open it up in WIndows explorer
there'll be an .exe file called Wubi

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## [SomeGuy]

Or you could format your HD and try to install there. Wait, is he trying to dual boot? I didn't read the previous posts.

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## Tyler

yeah i wanna dual boot

Edit: I have Daemon's tools installed, do u think i could mount the ISO to Daemon's tools and install Wubi that way instead of putting the actual disc in the real disk drive?

Edit again: I tried to install Wubi. It seemed like it was going to work fine. I rebooted and it gave me the option to boot my computer in Ubuntu just like it should've, it installed, but then I booted in Vista since I was told that it runs inside of Vista. There was no icon to run it, I rechecked the Tut I was using and it said I'm supposed to boot it like normal Ubuntu, by restarting and choosing from the boot options. So I restarted and chose Ubuntu, this is where things fucked up. Instead of booting like it should, I got the error that some directories couldn't be found or didn't exist. So what do I do now? I can't get my windows partition to resize with the Ubuntu installer, I don't know how to resize it myself, and Wubi, my last option, didn't work.

As a side note, after I installed and rebooted into Vista, I was told that there was an inconsistency in my C Disk and Windows needed a disc check. I let it check, and it found and deleted some bad files. Did it possibly delete those Ubuntu directories? Forgive me if that sounds retarded, I really have no idea what I'm talking about...

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## TweaK

Don't want to sort of "overwrite" (for lack of a better word) your problem by posting my own, but I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 on a PC of my own and internet isn't working :c It's on wired ethernet which obviously works on other PCs, uses DHCP (it gets a proper IP address, when I ifconfig everything looks fine, mad address, obtained IP, gateway, etc), and I can ping everything and get a proper response. 

BUT! Anything else doesn't work. I can't visit -any- websites but Google services. I can visit any Google site (Gmail, Google search, etc) just fine, but anything else fails to load. It manages to retrieve the IP, but when it has to actually download the page it just keeps loading for ages and obviously eventually times out. I have also tried downloading Ubuntu updates etc to see if it was Firefox, but no internet service but ping works. All the Ubuntu updates time out too. I have tried Googling my issue and I mostly came up with stuff to either fix the /etc/resolv.conf or something similar, but my DNS is fine since I can look IP addresses up just fine, or solutions to disable IPv6 which I tried but didn't work.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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## [SomeGuy]

> Don't want to sort of "overwrite"



Piss on his parade  :wink2: 



> your problem by posting my own, but I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 on a PC of my own and internet isn't working :c It's on wired ethernet which obviously works on other PCs, uses DHCP (it gets a proper IP address, when I ifconfig everything looks fine, mad address, obtained IP, gateway, etc), and I can ping everything and get a proper response. 
> 
> BUT! Anything else doesn't work. I can't visit -any- websites but Google services. I can visit any Google site (Gmail, Google search, etc) just fine, but anything else fails to load. It manages to retrieve the IP, but when it has to actually download the page it just keeps loading for ages and obviously eventually times out. I have also tried downloading Ubuntu updates etc to see if it was Firefox, but no internet service but ping works. All the Ubuntu updates time out too. I have tried Googling my issue and I mostly came up with stuff to either fix the /etc/resolv.conf or something similar, but my DNS is fine since I can look IP addresses up just fine, or solutions to disable IPv6 which I tried but didn't work.
> 
> Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



Sounds...interesting. Try reinstalling. Otherwise, maybe it's your ISP's problem. What ISP do you have?

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## TweaK

It's not my ISP's problem because all my other PCs and devices work obviously.

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## [SomeGuy]

Hmm...Try reinstalling. Is it a fresh install?

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## TweaK

Yes. Entirely fresh, nothing installed on it yet.

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## [SomeGuy]

Good. LiveCD insert, test it on the LiveCD, post results.

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## [SomeGuy]

Sorry for double post:

Wubi:

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## Ynot

@ FableFlame
It really looks like you have disk issues
I don't know what to suggest, apart from previously mentioned chkdsk or installing a second drive

@ Tweak,
Sounds like your router isn't delegating DNS requests properly

This may be fixed by switching it off for a couple of minutes
(there may be routing issues with the router caching an old config mapped to your MAC address)

If not, you will need to configure your DNS nameservers manually

Login to your router's web interface, and find out the 2 (primary & secondary) DNS IP addresses
They're usually shown in the router web interface, but if not, on your ISP's website (or give them a ring)

Right click network icon,
select "Edit Connections"
Edit your wired connection
IPv4 settings
"Automatic (DHCP) Addresses only"
enter DNS IP's (comma seperated)

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## TweaK

Hmm okay, will try tomorrow, cheers.

Edit: Yeah, no. didn't work.

Edit again: Works. I'm not sure what happened exactly. I changed the UTP cable (turned out to be a cross-over cable), restarted eth0 but still didn't work. Restarted the LAN switch and all (was putting it all on a different power supply, don't ask, weird set-up), rebooted Ubuntu, still didn't work. Manually entered the DNS -and- search and it worked. Oh well.

Edit again again: So I did get it to work, but connections are _extremely_ slow. When I ssh into the server over LAN, after entering the user and before entering the pass, it takes AGES, and when FTP'ing just changing dirs takes ages as well. When I actually do any uploading, I reach like 11,5 MB/s (over 100 Mbit LAN so that looks fine). :/ Any ideas?

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## Tyler

Hell yeah, I finally got Ubuntu working on my computer using Wubi!!
I wanna say thanks to everybody who helped me get it working!

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## TweaK

Awesome story: 

I had a PC lying around (budget PC so yeah) which I installed Ubuntu on. It uses DDR2 RAM. I had some old extra DDR2 RAM (which was compatible) lying around, so I put it in. Turned PC on. Started smoking. Dead PC. Yay.

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## Tyler

> Awesome story: 
> 
> I had a PC lying around (budget PC so yeah) which I installed Ubuntu on. It uses DDR2 RAM. I had some old extra DDR2 RAM (which was compatible) lying around, so I put it in. Turned PC on. Started smoking. Dead PC. Yay.



That blows.

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## TweaK

It smokes. Badum, pa-tish.

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## [SomeGuy]

Lol TweaK.

And Fableflame, how did you get it to work? Did that video help?

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## Tyler

Yeah it did SomeGuy. I'm actually back on Vista right now though, so I can burn some dvds

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## [SomeGuy]

Use Brasero Disc Burning for that  :wink2: 

Applications -> Sound and Video

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