Ubuntu Linux

[ubuntu] Newbie and want to know how to really use Linux

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:09 +0000

Good morning,
I am a newbie to Linux but not to computers and stuff. I really want to convert all the way but not sure how to make some of the Windows programs that I have work with the Wine I installed. When I see all the cryptic stuff I need to do to just install something I have to admit I’m totally baffled. Now is there anywhere I can go to really learn about using Ubuntu Linux, or mostly the Wine program. It’s on my system but have no idea how to configure it to work properly. Currently I can surf using Firefox which I love and now have Open Office Org and trying to learn it’s database program as I program in Access all the time. You know in a Win computer you can RightClick Start and hit Explore to show all your drives…well is there a way to do similar in Linux? And how to access my network drives? Any help you can offer will be appreciate. Future Linux user.
Thanks
Bud :confused:

Corrupt Partition - Recovery Recommendations?

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:09 +0000

Hey guys,

So I have a 1TB External HDD that I was trying to change from NTFS to FAT32. I split the HDD into 2 partitions and copied all my data from the NTFS partition to the FAT and then I deleted the NTFS partition and "grew" the FAT partition.

I let it run for hours, only to be greeted with an error!
This is when I discovered that all my data had become corrupt!

File names, extensions and even file types are pretty much gone, all names are now random characters and I can’t open any of the folders. I’ve noticed there’s a few random files that are pretty big and I’m hoping they’re holding some of my data.

I’m scanning it with Advanced Partition Recovery at the moment, but I’m not liking my chances. I’ve tried to run a CHKDSK through it but it tells me it can’t run on a RAW partition?
I’d really like to get this data back, as it had most of my music, movies and quiet a bit of work data.

Has anyone encountered this before or know of ANY way to recover this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[ubuntu] task: pdf management help

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:08 +0000

I am trying to get one huge bibliography organized.
To do this, I need to get my pdfs into Referencer.
That’s a simple drag and drop….once you getall the pdfs found.
I am hoping to find a program, shell script, or something to search all media attached to my computer (ie not just /home) and copy every pdf to one location (probalby /home/pdf_backup/). How can this be done?

Thanks in advance,

Miesnerd

[ubuntu] Cannot install any aplication.

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:08 +0000

Hello,

I did a reboot after installing FileZilla and Unrar, and I am getting this error when installing any new application.

Code:

admin@server96:~$ sudo apt-get install proftpd gproftpd

Reading package lists… Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information… Done

proftpd is already the newest version.

gproftpd is already the newest version.

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

1 not fully installed or removed.

After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.

Setting up acpid (1.0.4-5ubuntu9.3) …

* Starting ACPI services… acpid: can’t open /proc/acpi/event: No such file or directory

invoke-rc.d: initscript acpid, action "start" failed.

dpkg: error processing acpid (–configure):

 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1

Errors were encountered while processing:

 acpid

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Could you please tell me how to fix it? I get the same error on command line and Synaptics Manager. Please be a little detailed as I am not a pro with Linux.

Thanks!

[all variants] HOW TO: Get a desktop on your G3 iMac, if you only have command prompt.

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:08 +0000

This is what I did to fix my iMac* after installing Debian Lenny 5.03** on my G3 iMac and it booting to nothing but a command prompt (Scary!) Kind of long, but hope this helps other newbies like me get a desktop on their G3 iMac.

NOTE: Installation instructions I used are for Linux only on your Mac. My iMac is not dual boot.

Step 1

I burned the ISO CD of Debian Lenny, and followed the instructions in this Debian forum post by Oswald Kelso. This tells you how to burn the CD, and make sure it works ok and very thorough instructions on how to install Linux on your iMac.

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=20481

If you have an older tray loading iMac like Oswald’s you might get a desktop with just this information. It has notes on how to edit a file called xorg.conf which has the computer video / monitor information if you do not get a desktop immediately.

Step 2

On my first boot, all I got was the command prompt. I then went back to Oswald’s post (step 1) to look at the steps to edit the xorg.conf information. I saw how he edited the file for his G4 eMac to get it to work properly. I also then searched and found two other threads with different xorg.conf files to test: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p…t=imac#p210546

Step 3

After reading and copying some of the information in the above thread, I tried booting again but only got as far as the log-in screen and it was very slow. The iMac would then take almost two minutes just for me to enter my username alone! So I found this thread and posted questions regarding not being able to get past the log-in screen: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1242108

Step 4

I also started my own thread with the information about the iMac freezing at log-in. Oswald Kelso posted two xorg.conf for me to test. With this information, I was able to get past the log-in screen (still slow) and get a corrupted version of the desktop. I was almost there! See photo in thread.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1273159

Step 5

Since I was now going past the log-in screen and getting a corrupted desktop, I knew my xorg.conf was almost fixed. I then got a post from B_Free in the thread in the previous step (step 3) about trying Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger Live CD. He had good success with this version. He also mentioned that though it was an older edition, it had more prompts to specify what hardware you had.
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/breezy/

http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/5.10/

Step 6

I wanted to try the Breezy Badger CD, thinking that if it worked, I would just needed to update to the newest version of Ubuntu and have a working computer. So I wrote down the information in my current xorg.conf file from Lenny, which was producing a corrupted desktop. In case I went back to Lenny, I at least wanted to go back to where I had progressed.

Last step

I loaded the Breezy Badger CD on my iMac, installation worked without problems. Desktop was perfect, all the apps worked. BUT it never asked me to establish a root password during instillation. So I had no way to set my internet connection and update. I installed a second time in case I ignored it or messed up the install somehow. No luck.

So I decided to make use of the working xorg.conf in Breezy Badger and go back to Lenny with the corrupted desktop. After re-installing Lenny, and getting back to the corrupted desktop, I then proceeded to make use of the information I got from the working xorg.conf from Breezy Badger. I used the information to identify my exact video card model, in the format that allowed the OS to see it. Previously, it was listed as generic ATI video card. This is my working xorg.conf file in my iMac:

Code:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)

#

# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using

# values from the debconf database.

#

# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.

# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)

#

# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*

# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg

# package.

#

# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated

# again, run the following command:

#* *sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "Files"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/cyrillic"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/CID"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"

           FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"

           # paths to defoma fonts

           FontPath        "/var/lib//defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TruType"

           FontPath        "/var/lib//defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"

Section "Module"

   Load   "GLcore"

* *Load* *"i2c"

* *Load* *"bitmap"

* *Load* *"ddc"

* *Load* *"dri"

* *Load* *"extmod"

* *Load* *"freetype"

* *Load* *"glx"

* *Load* *"int10"

   Load   "type1"

* *Load* *"vbe"

EndSection
Section "InputDevice"

* *Identifier* *"Generic Keyboard"

* *Driver* ** *"kbd"

* *Option* ** *"XkbRules"* *"xorg"

* *Option* ** *"XkbModel"* *"pc104"

* *Option* ** *"XkbLayout"* "us"

EndSection
Section "InputDevice"

* *Identifier* *"Configured Mouse"

* *Driver* ** *"mouse"

EndSection
Section "Device"

* *Identifier* *"ATI Technologies, Inc. Rage 128 PR/PRO (AGP TMDS)"

* *Driver* ** *"ati"

   Option                "UseFBDev"                "true"

   Option                "AGPMode" "2"

   Option                "AGPFastWrite" "true"

EndSection
Section "Monitor"

* *Identifier* *"Generic Monitor"

* *Option* ** *"DPMS"

#                HorizSync                28-51

#                VertRefresh        43-60

* *HorizSync          60-60

* *VertRefresh* *75-117

EndSection
Section "Screen"

* *Identifier* *"Default Screen"

* *Device* ** *"ATI Technologies, Inc. Rage 128 PR/PRO (AGP TMDS)"

* *Monitor* ** *"Generic Monitor"

* *DefaultDepth* *24

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *1

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *4

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *8

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *15

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *16

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

* *SubSection "Display"

* ** *Depth* ** *24

* ** *Modes* ** *"800×600" "640×480"

* *EndSubSection

EndSection
Section "serverLayout"

* *Identifier* *"Default Layout"

* *Screen* ** *"Default Screen"

* *InputDevice* *"Generic Keyboard"

* *InputDevice* *"Configured Mouse"

EndSection

Section "DRI" * *Mode* *0666 EndSection

Note: I cut & paste and I get those asterisk. Those are NOT part of the code. The Debian Forum let me cut & paste without the extra asterisks. :confused: Everything is spaced correctly, just don’t enter the asterisk. Sorry.

This should work for several models of G3 iMac that have the 8MB ATI Rage Pro 2x AGP video card. These other iMac / iBooks may also be able to use this xorg.conf file successfully. I think the hardware (motherboard & video card) is almost identical to my iMac. CPU / RAM are all different.

iMac G3/400DV - fruit, G3/400/DV SE, G3 /350 - Summer 2000, G3/450DV+ and maybe iBook G3/466SE - clamshell, G3/500 - dual USB, G3/500 - late 2001, G3/600 - late 2001 Go here http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple to look for your Mac.

* NOTE: My iMac is a 400MHz, Indigo w/ Firewire and a 8MB ATI Rage Pro 2x AGP video card.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl…00_indigo.html

** NOTE: I used Debian Lenny (Ubuntu’s parent Linux) because it seems to work better with my older G3 hardware. I have since tried Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Live Disc on my G5 Power Mac and it worked perfect : )

[other] Help with grub and Windows 7

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

Hi… recently I upgrade my windows vista to windows 7, but I lost the grub, now my computer only start with windows.

I found in the forum many options to restore the grub but doesn’t work. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong. for example, I follow the steps in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p…l+grub+windows

this is the information of my disk

Disco /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 cabezas, 63 sectores/pista, 38913 cilindros
Unidades = cilindros de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Identificador de disco: 0×517182bf

Disposit. Inicio Comienzo Fin Bloques Id Sistema
/dev/sda1 * 1 10444 83886080 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 10444 38914 228681728 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disco /dev/sdb: 60.0 GB, 60022480896 bytes
255 cabezas, 63 sectores/pista, 7297 cilindros
Unidades = cilindros de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Identificador de disco: 0×02830282

Disposit. Inicio Comienzo Fin Bloques Id Sistema
/dev/sdb1 1 7298 58612736 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disco /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 cabezas, 63 sectores/pista, 9729 cilindros
Unidades = cilindros de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Identificador de disco: 0×4b4b4b4b

Disposit. Inicio Comienzo Fin Bloques Id Sistema
/dev/sdc1 * 1 9327 74919096 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 9328 9729 3229065 5 Extendida
/dev/sdc5 9328 9729 3229033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I have
1 SATA disk (320Gb) with 2 partiotion (one windows 7 system and other for programs)
1 IDE Disk with 60gb for documents
1 IDE Disk with 81Gb for Linux..

Could somebody help me to reinstall grub? Thanks

[ubuntu] lapton external antenna

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

hi,
i got intel 4965agn mini PCI antenna in the laptop. I purchased the pigtail U.FL to SMA, now looking to buy a omni dir antenna to hook the laptop to it. i’ve read that quite few ppl managed.
what i’m lookin at is:
Dlink ant24-0501 5 dBi gain, omni directional which is quite expensive,
or
TP-Link 2.4GHZ 8DBI Indoor Omni Directional Antenna, SMA Connector TL-ANT2408C
my question is: can i hook up one of those to the laptop via pigtail etc? will it manage?

thank you

[all variants] ipod mounts as read only

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

i have an i pod video has been working fine then i plunged it in today and it is read only? any help?

Update Manager Issue

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

Just had an update manager issue which required a trip into recovery mode to resolve.

Came back to my desktop machine this morning and found Update Manager displaying a set of updates ….. without any real thought I clicked on update and was asked the usual password questions (twice). The Update Manager then stated that it was waiting for another manager to complete …… and more or less locked the machine …… CTRL-ALT-F2 resulted in a messy screen.

This situation continued, even through a reboot. Although now I was being told that my packages were inconsistent. A trip to recovery mode to resolve broken packages worked, I am going to try update manager again now.

zipit - a HIY $50 mini-smartbook?

ubuntu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:40:07 +0000

If you don’t know what a zipit is look at this linuxjournal vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed4nytcirk4

by itself is very cool, has ARM and cheap!: $50

now by flashing it (even easier than installing a distro on an eeepc), you can get it doing some cooler stuff

am picking mine up ASAP
:guitar:

thanks to Hunterdavis for doing all the fun work and sharing it