General Linux Questions

[N1LAF]

People who develop programs for linux, will the programs work on all various flavors of linux, or specific ones?

[W4GPL]

Assuming you don't do something very quirky, it'll work across the board. In many circumstances they'll work in other BSD and *nix variants as well -- Windows too if you plan ahead.

Edit: Look at something like Fldigi as an example. "fldigi - Digital modem program for Linux, Free-BSD, OS X, Windows XP, NT, W2K, Vista and Win7."

[N1LAF]

Besides the the installation stall over disk partitioning, it was a smooth process to multiboot a Windows computer with Linux (at least, the Mint variation). I am still not clear about the LVM/logical sub-sections of partitions, and max number of partitions, etc. Once I got through the partitioning stuff, it was smooth sailing, trouble free.

[W4GPL]

Basic partitioning:

You can have up to 4 primary partitions per drive. One of these partitions (typically the 4th) can be an extended partition. An extended partition can then have up to 11 (this is debatable - but a good rule) logical partitions. In general, you want to make sure that your /boot partition is one of the 4 primary partitions.

Example:

/dev/sda1 - Windows (primary partition - NTFS)
/dev/sda2 - Linux /boot (primary partition - ext4)
/dev/sda3 - Linux / (primary partition - ext4)
/dev/sda4 - Extended Partition

/dev/sda5 - Linux /var (logical partition - ext4)
/dev/sda6 - Linux /home (logical partition - ext4)
/dev/sda[6..15] etc..

A bit more on LVM in a few..

[W4GPL]

LVM has a lot of functionality... but the purpose of this discussion, I'm just going to discuss some of the features for a desktop user.

LVM = Logical Volume Manager -- LVM is primarily supported in Linux. It has limited support in other operating systems.

LVM works much like an extended partition with logical partitions does. The primary advantage is that the partitions can file systems can be extended easier -- and even spread out across multiple drives; if you choose. As far as I know, there's no particular limit to the number of logical volumes you can have.

Using my example above, you might have something like..

/dev/sda1 - Windows (primary partition - NTFS)
/dev/sda2 - Linux /boot (primary partition - ext4)
/dev/sda3 - Linux LVM (primary)
/dev/vg_fedora/lv_home
/dev/vg_fedora/lv_root
/dev/vg_fedora/lv_swap
/dev/vg_mint/lv_boot
/dev/vg_mint/lv_home
/dev/vg_mint/lv_root
/dev/vg_mint/lv_swap (though theoretically you could share swap between different distributions)


There have been many improvements in recent years to allowing /boot to reside in an LVM but that gets trickier, so it's best you have at least one /boot partition as a primary standard partition.

"One can think of LVM as a thin software layer on top of the hard disks and partitions, which creates an illusion of continuity and ease-of-use for managing hard-drive replacement, repartitioning, and backup." -- ​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux)

[N1LAF]

I'll post my partitions in a few...

This may be the 'fix' for Win7 Starter shared networking...
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1712129&postcount=14

Probably why the shared networking was available when Linux Mint was loaded "within windows".

[N1LAF]

Final Partitioning...

8921

[n6hcm]

generally they work across the board. what you run into is random stuff like one linux is packaged with a, b, and c and so you use those to build your software ... but it turns out another linux doesn't ship with b but you can get it easily enough.

the packaging systems (there are only a handful that matter) vary a bit, but for casual programs you can just ship source and tell people to build it on their system.

[W4GPL]

Final Partitioning...

8921If that's all the partitions you're going to have, there was really no reason to make sda3 an extended partition. You could have just made that your swap.. But there's no harm in the way it's setup.

[WX7P]

Isn't Linux Lucy's brother?

Oh, that's Linus. Never mind

[W4GPL]

My car's name is Linus.

The reason for this is.. my co-worker also has a red Ford Focus which she named Lucy.. so she deemed my car Linus and insisted my parking space be next to her's.. ... :roll:

[K7SGJ]

My car's name is Linus.

The reason for this is.. my co-worker also has a red Ford Focus which she named Lucy.. so she deemed my car Linus and insisted my parking space be next to her's.. ... :roll:

And you both work for peanuts?

[W4GPL]

She's does.. I'm a bit smarter than that. :-P

[N1LAF]

If that's all the partitions you're going to have, there was really no reason to make sda3 an extended partition. You could have just made that your swap.. But there's no harm in the way it's setup.

I selected the volume as swap, did not set any partition or format, The Linux Mint did it's thing, and this is how it is reported. Maybe because I set it as a volume in windows, and change in Linux Mint. Maybe what I should have done is left it alone as unallocated. This is the process of gaining experience.

[W4GPL]

I don't know anything about Mint's installer, but typically there's a customize partition layout option.. which probably would have let you do it any way you wanted..

[NM5TF]

I have been using Ubuntu since late 2008 & love it....especially after struggling with
WIN Vista for months....

I downloaded Linux Mint 13 64bit.iso the other day & have been playing with it in
live session via grml....I like it and want to install alongside Ubu 12.04.2 LTS in
a dual boot....

the installer gets all the way up to resizing the partitions....it gives an error saying
there are "uncorrected errors" on the partition & will not proceed with the install....

I booted a live cd & opened gparted to "scan & repair" files in the partition...it seemed
to do something & generated a report....I then ran fsck on the partition in question; there
were not any errors generated...

I then retried the installer, but had the exact same results...complains of "uncorrected
errors"....

is there not an error log I can look at to see where the errors might be??

[WN9HJW]

Deleted

[W4GPL]

What wireless chipset do you have?

[ad4mg]

I have an older Dell laptop (Inspiron 1420) that has Windows Vista on it. Sheesh. What was I thinking ?

Anyway I wanted to try Linux on it figuring that a less cumbersome operating system would improve the functionility and speed.

I made up "live" CDs of several types of Linux and after trying them decided I liked Linux Mint Mate. So I installed it on the hard drive.

Have not been able to get the wireless working. Searching google brings up a number of sites that explain several ways of making it work - mostly involving using a terminal and typing in a bunch of cryptic command lines - and not all the sites give the same instructions - but after spending most of a weekend was not able to make it work.

So I thought either the Mint is buggy or something and installed Ubuntu instead. Works well, the wireless internet works perfectly and it installed itself after one click, with no need for typing a bunch of command line gibberish.

The only problem is that I think the Ubuntu desktop/UI SUCKS. I'd really much rather the Mint was working.

Maybe I'd better have my 13 year old grand-kid look at it. He's smarter than me anyway. And he knows it.

Many people do not like the Unity desktop in the newer versions of Ubuntu. You can return quite easily to the classic Gnome desktop with one not-so-cryptic command run from your terminal. You can bring up a terminal windows with the key combination "Ctrl-Alt-T". Simply type in this command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

Enter your password, and in about 3 minutes, you'll be done.

Detailed instructions on how to install the Gnome desktop and select which desktop you wish to use can be found here:

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2012/03/return-to-gnome-classic-in-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/

[WN9HJW]

Deleted

[N1LAF]

I loaded my Dell Netbook with Linux Mint 14, the wireless works fine.

Linux is telling me that I have a Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter

[W4GPL]

0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/796

Looks like it's just one command and hardly cryptic, did you try this?

[WN9HJW]

Deleted

[W4GPL]

No one is asking you to be a Linux guru, but you can't completely shun the command line -- from time to time, you will still need to run some commands 'manually'.. for now; anyway. :)

[WN9HJW]

Deleted

[W4GPL]

Great!

PS - one other option is making an old WRT54G into a bridge and plugging that into your ethernet port, I've done that a few times.

No driver required.

[N1LAF]

And by the way, I did eventually figure out how to make the wireless work with Mint on this Dell laptop . . . I had to be plugged into a hard-wire Ethernet connection so it could find and download the driver. Duh.

Just yesterday, I booted my 1999 computer, without the keyboard plugged in. Has an ASUS CULS2 motherboard in it... the BIOS stopped with the message

Keyboard is not present....

Press F1 to continue, or blah blah blah


I kid you not!