Fire fox dead.

[KB3LAZ]

My fire fox died and I could not get it to work. I then installed 3.5 and nothing, it will not even load. So I deleted it and started over, nothing.

I am using Opera, make it go away. :pray:

How do I fix it?

THX

[W4GPL]

Firefox has a safe mode (under Start, Programs..).. does it work using that?

My fire fox died and I could not get it to work. I then installed 3.5 and nothing, it will not even load. So I deleted it and started over, nothing.

I am using Opera, make it go away. :pray:

How do I fix it?

THX
I might recommend trying to restore to a previous restore point, but I am not sure of all the things you have tried and I would hate to think that you would think that I misquoted you about using Opera now.

[KB3LAZ]

Firefox has a safe mode (under Start, Programs..).. does it work using that?

No.

[KB3LAZ]

My fire fox died and I could not get it to work. I then installed 3.5 and nothing, it will not even load. So I deleted it and started over, nothing.

I am using Opera, make it go away. :pray:

How do I fix it?

THX
I might recommend trying to restore to a previous restore point, but I am not sure of all the things you have tried and I would hate to think that you would think that I misquoted you about using Opera now.

Did restore point, three actually and still nothing.

[KG4CGC]

You have to dig down into the registry and remove it that way, as if it never existed in the first place. Something is corrupted in the .dll addy. Got Root?
Not really an easy task unless you're use to that kind of thing.
For whatever reason, mine tried to repair itself several months back and it will only start up in safe mode which gives you options on how you want to run FF. Even with the updates to 3.5 it still defaults to safe mode to start.

[KB3LAZ]

You have to dig down into the registry and remove it that way, as if it never existed in the first place. Something is corrupted in the .dll addy. Got Root?
Not really an easy task unless you're use to that kind of thing.
For whatever reason, mine tried to repair itself several months back and it will only start up in safe mode which gives you options on how you want to run FF. Even with the updates to 3.5 it still defaults to safe mode to start.

Yea, I'm getting to that. I had to do the same thing with paint shop pro one time. Anyway, thanks guys.

[KB3LAZ]

Well, I have had enough. Windows will be no more after today, on my pc that is. Ubuntu is going on my laptop tonight! It is downloading right now and I will install it after it is done. I sure hope it goes well but if it does not then you know why I am MIA. :lol:

I wonder if I will have any driver computability issues? :chin: Even if I do I am sure that someone on here can help me out. :D As long as I can get it on the net. :lol:

Hum...what kind of paint shop type programs can I get for ubuntu? Free is the key. :lol:

Oh boy...I need a Linux tutor.

[KG4CGC]

Hum...what kind of paint shop type programs can I get for ubuntu? Free is the key. :lol:

http://www.gimp.org/

[KB3LAZ]

Hum...what kind of paint shop type programs can I get for ubuntu? Free is the key. :lol:

http://www.gimp.org/


Thanks! :D

Now we will see if I can get ubuntu to work on my pc. :rofl:

[ad4mg]

Well, I have had enough. Windows will be no more after today, on my pc that is. Ubuntu is going on my laptop tonight! It is downloading right now and I will install it after it is done. I sure hope it goes well but if it does not then you know why I am MIA. :lol:

I wonder if I will have any driver computability issues? :chin: Even if I do I am sure that someone on here can help me out. :D As long as I can get it on the net. :lol:

Hum...what kind of paint shop type programs can I get for ubuntu? Free is the key. :lol:

Oh boy...I need a Linux tutor.
Gimp will come with it. Powerful, not extremely user friendly, but there are many sites dedicated to tips and tricks for it.

Run Ubuntu by booting from the CD before you install. Any issues with hardware will show themselves running the live CD.

Ask here for help! It always worked for me!

[KB3LAZ]

Well, I have had enough. Windows will be no more after today, on my pc that is. Ubuntu is going on my laptop tonight! It is downloading right now and I will install it after it is done. I sure hope it goes well but if it does not then you know why I am MIA. :lol:

I wonder if I will have any driver computability issues? :chin: Even if I do I am sure that someone on here can help me out. :D As long as I can get it on the net. :lol:

Hum...what kind of paint shop type programs can I get for ubuntu? Free is the key. :lol:

Oh boy...I need a Linux tutor.
Gimp will come with it. Powerful, not extremely user friendly, but there are many sites dedicated to tips and tricks for it.

Run Ubuntu by booting from the CD before you install. Any issues with hardware will show themselves running the live CD.

Ask here for help! It always worked for me!

Thanks Luke. The thing that worries me is the driver for the DVD-ROM drive and my sound drivers. Everything else seems to be compatible, according to their website that is. Well, it will kill my acer power management tool or so I have been told.

[W2NAP]

which version of ubuntu you downloading 9.04? or the 8.04LTS

[KB3LAZ]

which version of ubuntu you downloading 9.04? or the 8.04LTS

9.04, why?

[W2NAP]

9.04 is better then 8.04LTS IMO

depending on how old your pc is. everything should work ok on 9.04 I know pulseaudio has been a bitch at points tho. (ive had lots of issues with pulseaudio) so tbh i think that may be your only issue if you have it.

[KB3LAZ]

9.04 is better then 8.04LTS IMO

depending on how old your pc is. everything should work ok on 9.04 I know pulseaudio has been a b**** at points tho. (ive had lots of issues with pulseaudio) so tbh i think that may be your only issue if you have it.

I hope all works out well. My Laptop is about 4-5 years old. The one in question anyway.
Should I use 32 or 64 bit ubuntu? I have a Turion 64 FX2 1.6x2, or something to that effect.

[W2NAP]

9.04 is better then 8.04LTS IMO

depending on how old your pc is. everything should work ok on 9.04 I know pulseaudio has been a b**** at points tho. (ive had lots of issues with pulseaudio) so tbh i think that may be your only issue if you have it.

I hope all works out well. My Laptop is about 4-5 years old. The one in question anyway.
Should I use 32 or 64 bit ubuntu? I have a Turion 64 FX2 1.6x2, or something to that effect.

i myself just use 32 on my hp pavilion 2.4Ghz 512MB ram. works fine.

[KB3LAZ]

9.04 is better then 8.04LTS IMO

depending on how old your pc is. everything should work ok on 9.04 I know pulseaudio has been a b**** at points tho. (ive had lots of issues with pulseaudio) so tbh i think that may be your only issue if you have it.

I hope all works out well. My Laptop is about 4-5 years old. The one in question anyway.
Should I use 32 or 64 bit ubuntu? I have a Turion 64 FX2 1.6x2, or something to that effect.

i myself just use 32 on my hp pavilion 2.4Ghz 512MB ram. works fine.

I figured I would use 32 so that is what I downloaded. I have yet to install it because I have my little cousins over and I can't get anything done. Seems like they are going to stay with us for awhile beings there dad is in a heap shit of trouble and he is not getting out of this one....but that is another story.

I guess I will just have to throw some cartoons on to keep them occupied while I reformat. :yes:

[KB3LAZ]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

[KB3LAZ]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.

[KB3LAZ]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.


Well, the sound and video drives work. Should I say for now? Will I have any issues after installing rather than booting from the disk?

[KB3LAZ]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.


Well, the sound and video drives work. Should I say for now? Will I have any issues after installing rather than booting from the disk?

Oh ya..One other thing. My built in web cams green light is always own. Does that mean that it is on all the time?

[KG4CGC]

Yes and it is running in the background. Best just put a piece of electrical tape over the lens.

[ad4mg]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.
Yes, it will run much faster from your hard drive. Booting from the live CD has everything running in available memory, and disk reads from the CD drive are much slower than the hard drive.

[ad4mg]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.


Well, the sound and video drives work. Should I say for now? Will I have any issues after installing rather than booting from the disk?
You shouldn't have any additional issues. Actually, the OS may grab a driver or two from the internet during installation, and the situation should actually improve! You're past the two biggest headaches, sound and video. Wireless working OK?

[KB3LAZ]

Yes and it is running in the background. Best just put a piece of electrical tape over the lens.
Will it slow down my system?

[KG4CGC]

I'm sorry Travis, I wasn't being honest with you. The answer is I don't know.

[KB3LAZ]

Ok so it is a no go. I downloaded the OS and booted it from the disk on my grandpas pc and it worked, it worked on my moms Averatec, and both of my dells but it will not even load from the disk on my Acer 5100.

I have searched and this seems to be unique to me. There are lots of problems with linux on my model of pc but not this specific problem.

I get an error message that says "critical system failure Ubuntu is disconnecting and your pc will shutdown".

WTF?

NVM...I am posting via Ubuntu right now. It seems really slow. Is that because I am booted from the disk?

Oh well, time to play. Expect many many questions. :mrgreen:

Thx for the time and the support.


Well, the sound and video drives work. Should I say for now? Will I have any issues after installing rather than booting from the disk?
You shouldn't have any additional issues. Actually, the OS may grab a driver or two from the internet during installation, and the situation should actually improve! You're past the two biggest headaches, sound and video. Wireless working OK?

The wireless works perfect.

As I said before my webcam seems to be on at all times and linux did not seem to find a program to turn it on and off or use it to take pictures with.

On another note, this desktop image thing is killing me. There is an icon for my c drive and d drive and I cant get them to go away.

[KB3LAZ]

I'm sorry Travis, I wasn't being honest with you. The answer is I don't know.

Lol, I put the tape over it before you said anything about it so at least we think alike. :lol:

[ad4mg]

The wireless works perfect.

As I said before my webcam seems to be on at all times and linux did not seem to find a program to turn it on and off or use it to take pictures with.

On another note, this desktop image thing is killing me. There is an icon for my c drive and d drive and I cant get them to go away.

That's damn strange ... Linux doesn't play with drive letters. Try right-clicking them, and "unmount". Are you dual booting Winders & Ubuntu?

[ad4mg]

Visit here for many nice Ubuntu themed desktop backgrounds:

http://www.desktopnexus.com/tag/ubuntu/

As a bonus, it will detect your screen resolution, and offer the wallpaper you choose in the correct resolution. Save them in "Pictures", then right-click your desktop, and selest "Change Desktop Background". You'll have to "install" them, but just use the dialog box to do so, point it to the "Pictures" folder, and select all the images you've downloaded.

[KB3LAZ]

The wireless works perfect.

As I said before my webcam seems to be on at all times and linux did not seem to find a program to turn it on and off or use it to take pictures with.

On another note, this desktop image thing is killing me. There is an icon for my c drive and d drive and I cant get them to go away.

That's damn strange ... Linux doesn't play with drive letters. Try right-clicking them, and "unmount". Are you dual booting Winders & Ubuntu?

Well, they are not labeled that way but that is what I know them as. It says Acer data management and Acer. But I am still running it off of the disk. I have yet to install so in a way yes I am dual booting. I will however change that later when I get rid of windows and install ubuntu.

BTW...there is an icon for install, can I install ubuntu right from the desktop?

[ad4mg]

The wireless works perfect.

As I said before my webcam seems to be on at all times and linux did not seem to find a program to turn it on and off or use it to take pictures with.

On another note, this desktop image thing is killing me. There is an icon for my c drive and d drive and I cant get them to go away.

That's damn strange ... Linux doesn't play with drive letters. Try right-clicking them, and "unmount". Are you dual booting Winders & Ubuntu?

Well, they are not labeled that way but that is what I know them as. It says Acer data management and Acer. But I am still running it off of the disk. I have yet to install so in a way yes I am dual booting. I will however change that later when I get rid of windows and install ubuntu.

BTW...there is an icon for install, can I install ubuntu right from the desktop?
There is usually an icon to install Ubuntu on the desktop. if not, reboot, and choose "install ubuntu". when it pauses to ask you about the language and stuff.

If you have an IDE hard drive (which you probably do), you can tell the partitioner to create a new partition in the free space on drive D: ... which will probably be called something like "hda2" or something similar. On the Acer, hda0 is probably a rescue partition, hda1 is probably your C drive, and hda2 is likely your D drive.

If you have a SATA drive, things may get complicated ... and will require some research. If so, Google "Ubuntu - problems partitioning SATA hard drive". I had a fit getting the partitioner bundled with Ubuntu to resize partitions on those drives.

20 GB should be plenty of space for a Linux partition. Don't worry about the primary & swap partitions, the partitioner will create both.

[KB3LAZ]

The wireless works perfect.

As I said before my webcam seems to be on at all times and linux did not seem to find a program to turn it on and off or use it to take pictures with.

On another note, this desktop image thing is killing me. There is an icon for my c drive and d drive and I cant get them to go away.

That's damn strange ... Linux doesn't play with drive letters. Try right-clicking them, and "unmount". Are you dual booting Winders & Ubuntu?

Well, they are not labeled that way but that is what I know them as. It says Acer data management and Acer. But I am still running it off of the disk. I have yet to install so in a way yes I am dual booting. I will however change that later when I get rid of windows and install ubuntu.

BTW...there is an icon for install, can I install ubuntu right from the desktop?
There is usually an icon to install Ubuntu on the desktop. if not, reboot, and choose "install ubuntu". when it pauses to ask you about the language and stuff.

If you have an IDE hard drive (which you probably do), you can tell the partitioner to create a new partition in the free space on drive D: ... which will probably be called something like "hda2" or something similar. On the Acer, hda0 is probably a rescue partition, hda1 is probably your C drive, and hda2 is likely your D drive.

If you have a SATA drive, things may get complicated ... and will require some research. If so, Google "Ubuntu - problems partitioning SATA hard drive". I had a fit getting the partitioner bundled with Ubuntu to resize partitions on those drives.

20 GB should be plenty of space for a Linux partition. Don't worry about the primary & swap partitions, the partitioner will create both.

Im not going to partition. I am going to install over windows, I want it gone. Which will be on the C drive.

[ad4mg]

Im not going to partition. I am going to install over windows, I want it gone. Which will be on the C drive.

On the Acers, D drive is for storage of the disk image for recovery purposes, and for file storage. I rarely see anybody ever use D drive in those 2 partition setups. You should consider using all of D drive for Ubuntu, and keep Windows on C drive, just in case. I suspect your D drive is probably 30 or 40 GB, which is an insane amount of room for a run of the mill installation.

I find having the ability to choose operating systems quite handy at times.

[KB3LAZ]

Im not going to partition. I am going to install over windows, I want it gone. Which will be on the C drive.

On the Acers, D drive is for storage of the disk image for recovery purposes, and for file storage. I rarely see anybody ever use D drive in those 2 partition setups. You should consider using all of D drive for Ubuntu, and keep Windows on C drive, just in case. I suspect your D drive is probably 30 or 40 GB, which is an insane amount of room for a run of the mill installation.

I find having the ability to choose operating systems quite handy at times.

Actually it is 60 GB. I may just do that though.

[W2NAP]

when i install i allways manually tell it what to do how i would set it up is (if its a 60gb drive)

58GB EXT4
2GB swap.

EXT4 is not enabled by defult so to use it you have to manually tell it to use ext4 and with ext4 i have seen greater boot times ect w/ ext4 then with ext3

since everything is working from cd, then everything should work when installed to hdd

also once you get it installed there will prob be alot of updates for it. so when you get it installed open up the CLI and type in

sudo -i
<it will ask for your pass>
once pass it enterd ect.
hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get update

and then next

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get upgrade

which will update the system. you might get 4 packages held back and if that happens (allways happens to me when a newer kernel is out) ill just hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

[KB3LAZ]

when i install i allways manually tell it what to do how i would set it up is (if its a 60gb drive)

58GB EXT4
2GB swap.

EXT4 is not enabled by defult so to use it you have to manually tell it to use ext4 and with ext4 i have seen greater boot times ect w/ ext4 then with ext3

since everything is working from cd, then everything should work when installed to hdd

also once you get it installed there will prob be alot of updates for it. so when you get it installed open up the CLI and type in

sudo -i
<it will ask for your pass>
once pass it enterd ect.
hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get update

and then next

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get upgrade

which will update the system. you might get 4 packages held back and if that happens (allways happens to me when a newer kernel is out) ill just hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

Well, actually there are two 60g hard drives. As for the other stuff, you are speaking Japanese. :mrgreen: I just what it to install on the c drive over the old windows OS. Other than that I don't really care. :lol:

I have a lot of reading to do. :shock:

[KB3LAZ]

when i install i allways manually tell it what to do how i would set it up is (if its a 60gb drive)

58GB EXT4
2GB swap.

EXT4 is not enabled by defult so to use it you have to manually tell it to use ext4 and with ext4 i have seen greater boot times ect w/ ext4 then with ext3

since everything is working from cd, then everything should work when installed to hdd

also once you get it installed there will prob be alot of updates for it. so when you get it installed open up the CLI and type in

sudo -i
<it will ask for your pass>
once pass it enterd ect.
hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get update

and then next

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get upgrade

which will update the system. you might get 4 packages held back and if that happens (allways happens to me when a newer kernel is out) ill just hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

Well, actually there are two 60g hard drives. As for the other stuff, you are speaking Japanese. :mrgreen: I just what it to install on the c drive over the old windows OS. Other than that I don't really care. :lol:

I have a lot of reading to do. :shock:

Well, actually after speaking with Luke I may keep windows as a fall back for comfort purposes. But everybody tells me to put a partition on the D drive, why? If I want to choose my OS from the boot menu don't I have to have the partitions on the same drive?

[W2NAP]

Well, actually there are two 60g hard drives. As for the other stuff, you are speaking Japanese. :mrgreen: I just what it to install on the c drive over the old windows OS. Other than that I don't really care. :lol:

I have a lot of reading to do. :shock:

Well, actually after speaking with Luke I may keep windows as a fall back for comfort purposes. But everybody tells me to put a partition on the D drive, why? If I want to choose my OS from the boot menu don't I have to have the partitions on the same drive?


no you can put it on D. i had a old server i used to test distros on had 6 drives. and each drive contained its own O.S. worked fine. i have on this box 2 hard drives 1 20gb and another 160gb i have winshit on the 20 just to test things. and primary 160GB has ubuntu.

[ad4mg]

when i install i allways manually tell it what to do how i would set it up is (if its a 60gb drive)

58GB EXT4
2GB swap.

EXT4 is not enabled by defult so to use it you have to manually tell it to use ext4 and with ext4 i have seen greater boot times ect w/ ext4 then with ext3

since everything is working from cd, then everything should work when installed to hdd

also once you get it installed there will prob be alot of updates for it. so when you get it installed open up the CLI and type in

sudo -i
<it will ask for your pass>
once pass it enterd ect.
hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get update

and then next

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get upgrade

which will update the system. you might get 4 packages held back and if that happens (allways happens to me when a newer kernel is out) ill just hit

root@NSA-430968742:~# apt-get dist-upgrade

Well, actually there are two 60g hard drives. As for the other stuff, you are speaking Japanese. :mrgreen: I just what it to install on the c drive over the old windows OS. Other than that I don't really care. :lol:

I have a lot of reading to do. :shock:

Well, actually after speaking with Luke I may keep windows as a fall back for comfort purposes. But everybody tells me to put a partition on the D drive, why? If I want to choose my OS from the boot menu don't I have to have the partitions on the same drive?

I believe you will find that C and D are 2 different partitions on the same physical hard drive, Travis. As to the updates, Tony's suggested method will make it update immediately, but if you're plugged in to the internet, the update manager will kick in and take care of it for you. Just give it the password and let it update when it asks you to.

[KB3LAZ]

I believe you will find that C and D are 2 different partitions on the same physical hard drive, Travis. As to the updates, Tony's suggested method will make it update immediately, but if you're plugged in to the internet, the update manager will kick in and take care of it for you. Just give it the password and let it update when it asks you to.

I'm not sure if they are partitions or on drive as it came this way from the factory. But a friend of my is coming over today and he knows more about this than I do so we will see what happens. Question though..If I make a new partition will it read as yet another drive?

[ad4mg]

I believe you will find that C and D are 2 different partitions on the same physical hard drive, Travis. As to the updates, Tony's suggested method will make it update immediately, but if you're plugged in to the internet, the update manager will kick in and take care of it for you. Just give it the password and let it update when it asks you to.

I'm not sure if they are partitions or on drive as it came this way from the factory. But a friend of my is coming over today and he knows more about this than I do so we will see what happens. Question though..If I make a new partition will it read as yet another drive?
Not from Windows, which will see it as a partition of unknown type, but yet will declare it "healthy".

In Linux, there are no "drives", only a file system. Everything is a file ... all your devices, drives, even the computer itself. It's a new concept for you that you need to get your head wrapped around.

If it's an Acer machine, they're all set up the same. They divide the one hard drive neatly down the middle into 2 separate partitions, and in all likelihood, both are FAT32 partitions. This is a good thing, as the Ubuntu partitioner likes FAT32 partitions, and things will proceed very smoothly as a result!

The issues I ran into involved SATA hard drives with NTFS partitions. Things get complicated quickly with that combination.

[KB3LAZ]

I believe you will find that C and D are 2 different partitions on the same physical hard drive, Travis. As to the updates, Tony's suggested method will make it update immediately, but if you're plugged in to the internet, the update manager will kick in and take care of it for you. Just give it the password and let it update when it asks you to.

I'm not sure if they are partitions or on drive as it came this way from the factory. But a friend of my is coming over today and he knows more about this than I do so we will see what happens. Question though..If I make a new partition will it read as yet another drive?
Not from Windows, which will see it as a partition of unknown type, but yet will declare it "healthy".

In Linux, there are no "drives", only a file system. Everything is a file ... all your devices, drives, even the computer itself. It's a new concept for you that you need to get your head wrapped around.

If it's an Acer machine, they're all set up the same. They divide the one hard drive neatly down the middle into 2 separate partitions, and in all likelihood, both are FAT32 partitions. This is a good thing, as the Ubuntu partitioner likes FAT32 partitions, and things will proceed very smoothly as a result!

The issues I ran into involved SATA hard drives with NTFS partitions. Things get complicated quickly with that combination.

Actually I know that they are fat32. When I reformatted it gave me the option for NTFS or fat32, I always choose fat32.

As for the file system, I get that it is just hard to refer to it that way. Hard to unlearn what you have know your entire life. :mrgreen:

One more question. If I choose the install from desktop method will it give me the option to partition or do I have to install from start up to do that?

I feel so helpless, I hate this. :oops:

Oh..btw, I can tell it needs updated as I don't recall ever using the version of firefox that came on the disk. It has almost zero options. Actually it reminds me of IE 6. :rofl:

I think I need to pick up an ubuntu for dummies book. :snicker:

[ad4mg]

I believe you will find that C and D are 2 different partitions on the same physical hard drive, Travis. As to the updates, Tony's suggested method will make it update immediately, but if you're plugged in to the internet, the update manager will kick in and take care of it for you. Just give it the password and let it update when it asks you to.

I'm not sure if they are partitions or on drive as it came this way from the factory. But a friend of my is coming over today and he knows more about this than I do so we will see what happens. Question though..If I make a new partition will it read as yet another drive?
Not from Windows, which will see it as a partition of unknown type, but yet will declare it "healthy".

In Linux, there are no "drives", only a file system. Everything is a file ... all your devices, drives, even the computer itself. It's a new concept for you that you need to get your head wrapped around.

If it's an Acer machine, they're all set up the same. They divide the one hard drive neatly down the middle into 2 separate partitions, and in all likelihood, both are FAT32 partitions. This is a good thing, as the Ubuntu partitioner likes FAT32 partitions, and things will proceed very smoothly as a result!

The issues I ran into involved SATA hard drives with NTFS partitions. Things get complicated quickly with that combination.

Actually I know that they are fat32. When I reformatted it gave me the option for NTFS or fat32, I always choose fat32.

As for the file system, I get that it is just hard to refer to it that way. Hard to unlearn what you have know your entire life. :mrgreen:

One more question. If I choose the install from desktop method will it give me the option to partition or do I have to install from start up to do that?

I feel so helpless, I hate this. :oops:

Oh..btw, I can tell it needs updated as I don't recall ever using the version of firefox that came on the disk. It has almost zero options. Actually it reminds me of IE 6. :rofl:

I think I need to pick up an ubuntu for dummies book. :snicker:
Actually, the same sequence is followed either from the desktop "Install" icon, or by going directly to installation during bootup.

You'll have all the available Firefox options after installation, but it only comes with the basics. Things you will most certainly want to add are:

1. The Shockwave Flash Player plugin
2. The Java plubin
3. The Adobe reader plugin

All can (and preferably) can be added by the Synaptic Package Manager, found in your drop down menu under "System", "Administration", "Synaptic Package Manager". The search feature is very useful to help you find these plugins. Applications (programs), I've found, are best added using the drop down menu item "Applications", "Add/remove", at least until you become familiar with the command line interface. Later, as you become more familiar with Linux, you will, like most, want to perform these tasks with the command line interface using a terminal window. Learn to use the "man" command to see the manuals for individual commands available in a terminal. An excellent source for commands reference can be found at:

Linux Command Directory (http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/)

I found the Ubuntu Community Documentation an excellent source for help with basic problems and issue, and for just learning your way around the operating system. A link to this, and other Ubuntu documentation sources will be installed in your Firefox browser by Ubuntu.

Everything concerning Ubuntu that you can imagine is pretty much available online. The learning curve is initially a little steep, but with a little time and determination, you can become quite good with the operating system. I've received a little help here from others, but the vast majority of what I've learned about Ubuntu has been from the endless online sources. Also, Ubuntu isolates you from the root account (disabled by default), and instead insists that system tasks be handled with the "sudo" command (super user do, if I remember correctly). It prevents you from totally laying your new operating system to waste without considerable effort. You still have to be careful!

I hosed my Slackware installations several times before I switched to Ubuntu, mainly because I ran as root. I've only managed to hose one Ubuntu installation so far ...

I'll be in and out, and will help as needed, and as I'm capable to!

[ad4mg]

Additional Firefox options, such as themes and add-ons (AdBlockPlus, etc) are added in the usual manner.

Forgot that ...

[KB3LAZ]

I think I will be fine. I am not at home right now. May not be until much later.

[KB3LAZ]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

[KB3LAZ]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

Another issue. Now that it is installed to the PC I can not download Flash player but I could when I was booting from the disk.

My error message...

Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libnspr4-dev

[ad4mg]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

Another issue. Now that it is installed to the PC I can not download Flash player but I could when I was booting from the disk.

My error message...

Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libnspr4-dev

Open a terminal window (Applications, Accessories, Terminal) ... type in the following commands:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Supply your password when asked.

This will update your repository, and upgrade any existing packages that require it. Next, go to:

System ... Administration ... Synaptic Package Manager

Under Settings ... Repositories, "Ubuntu Software" tab, check all the boxes except the last one ... you're not going to need the source codes.

Close that window, and in the package manager, on the left, click "Custom Filters" and then choose "Broken Packages" first, hit the refresh icon at the top of that window, and fix any issues indicated by reinstalling, or adding missing dependencies. Next go down to "Missing Recommends" and repeat the same actions.

Return to the terminal window, and repeat the commands I gave above. Hopefully, the issues of missing recommends will be resolved. Before you leave the terminal window, type:

sudo apt-get autoremove

to clean things up a bit.

Let me know how that goes, and I'll walk you though the MP3 issue (it's just a missing codec), and the Flash Player installation.

[n2ize]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

You're going to have to install some plugins / codecs to get mp3 support and dvd support. I'm not exactly sure how Ubuntu handles upgrading and installation of add-on's. In Fedora we use "yum". In addition to the standard repositories I reccomend the livna repository, DAG (if available) and, rpmfusion. Again, I am unsure if Ubuntu uses yum / rpms.

In any event to get DVD's to play you are going to need to istall...

"libdvdcss" - to decode css encryption on commercial dvd's (Note: check your countries laws to make sure it is legal to install this). You are also going to want
"libdvdnav"
"libdvdread"

Once you have the above installed you might want to install the vlc media player. it comes bundled with plugins & codecs to play most media files and often works right out of the box. You can get vlc from

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

To get your general multimedia apps to play most formats you probably should install "xine" along with all the extra's, i.e plugins, codecs. etc..

While you're at it you might want to get "mplayer" and "mencoder" along with the binary codecs. You can get them here.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

At the very least you should grab the appropriate binary codecs for your platform that are listen on the above page and unpack them in the appropriate directory for your distro, usually /usr/lib/codecs or /usr/lib/win32 or /usr/local/lib/win32. If you're not sure you can probably just install them in /usr/lib/codecs and then just make symlinks to the other directories.

Once this is all done you should be able to play ALMOST any popular media format that one might throw your way. At least I can in Fedora so should Ubuntu.

Sorry I can't be more Ubuntu specific but I've never run it.

[ad4mg]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

You're going to have to install some plugins / codecs to get mp3 support and dvd support. I'm not exactly sure how Ubuntu handles upgrading and installation of add-on's. In Fedora we use "yum". In addition to the standard repositories I reccomend the livna repository, DAG (if available) and, rpmfusion. Again, I am unsure if Ubuntu uses yum / rpms.

In any event to get DVD's to play you are going to need to istall...

"libdvdcss" - to decode css encryption on commercial dvd's (Note: check your countries laws to make sure it is legal to install this). You are also going to want
"libdvdnav"
"libdvdread"

Once you have the above installed you might want to install the vlc media player. it comes bundled with plugins & codecs to play most media files and often works right out of the box. You can get vlc from

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

To get your general multimedia apps to play most formats you probably should install "xine" along with all the extra's, i.e plugins, codecs. etc..

While you're at it you might want to get "mplayer" and "mencoder" along with the binary codecs. You can get them here.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

At the very least you should grab the appropriate binary codecs for your platform that are listen on the above page and unpack them in the appropriate directory for your distro, usually /usr/lib/codecs or /usr/lib/win32 or /usr/local/lib/win32. If you're not sure you can probably just install them in /usr/lib/codecs and then just make symlinks to the other directories.

Once this is all done you should be able to play ALMOST any popular media format that one might throw your way. At least I can in Fedora so should Ubuntu.

Sorry I can't be more Ubuntu specific but I've never run it.
You hit on it, John, Ubuntu does it a little differently. Deb packages are the easiest to deal with in Ubuntu, and "apt-get" is the most used method of installing packages, but the GUI will do the job for you in nearly all cases.

If Travis were to open an MP3 with the Rhythmbox Music Player, it should automatically open a window asking him if he wishes to download and install the missing codecs. Ditto for the Movie Player and FLV files. Although the FLV player is excellent, the Movie Player provided with Ubuntu does the job nicely.

To get around the use of proprietary codecs, a checkbox is offered that says you're only going to use the codecs for "experimental" purposes, and that Ubuntu and Conical absolve themselves of any responsibility for your doing so.

Travis, if the distribution installed correctly, you should notice a red icon in your upper task bar informing you that updates are ready to be installed. You can always force the issue by going to:

System ... Administration ... Update Manager, and telling it to update now.

[KB3LAZ]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

You're going to have to install some plugins / codecs to get mp3 support and dvd support. I'm not exactly sure how Ubuntu handles upgrading and installation of add-on's. In Fedora we use "yum". In addition to the standard repositories I reccomend the livna repository, DAG (if available) and, rpmfusion. Again, I am unsure if Ubuntu uses yum / rpms.

In any event to get DVD's to play you are going to need to istall...

"libdvdcss" - to decode css encryption on commercial dvd's (Note: check your countries laws to make sure it is legal to install this). You are also going to want
"libdvdnav"
"libdvdread"

Once you have the above installed you might want to install the vlc media player. it comes bundled with plugins & codecs to play most media files and often works right out of the box. You can get vlc from

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

To get your general multimedia apps to play most formats you probably should install "xine" along with all the extra's, i.e plugins, codecs. etc..

While you're at it you might want to get "mplayer" and "mencoder" along with the binary codecs. You can get them here.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

At the very least you should grab the appropriate binary codecs for your platform that are listen on the above page and unpack them in the appropriate directory for your distro, usually /usr/lib/codecs or /usr/lib/win32 or /usr/local/lib/win32. If you're not sure you can probably just install them in /usr/lib/codecs and then just make symlinks to the other directories.

Once this is all done you should be able to play ALMOST any popular media format that one might throw your way. At least I can in Fedora so should Ubuntu.

Sorry I can't be more Ubuntu specific but I've never run it.
You hit on it, John, Ubuntu does it a little differently. Deb packages are the easiest to deal with in Ubuntu, and "apt-get" is the most used method of installing packages, but the GUI will do the job for you in nearly all cases.

If Travis were to open an MP3 with the Rhythmbox Music Player, it should automatically open a window asking him if he wishes to download and install the missing codecs. Ditto for the Movie Player and FLV files. Although the FLV player is excellent, the Movie Player provided with Ubuntu does the job nicely.

To get around the use of proprietary codecs, a checkbox is offered that says you're only going to use the codecs for "experimental" purposes, and that Ubuntu and Conical absolve themselves of any responsibility for your doing so.

Travis, if the distribution installed correctly, you should notice a red icon in your upper task bar informing you that updates are ready to be installed. You can always force the issue by going to:

System ... Administration ... Update Manager, and telling it to update now.

Ah..no it does not ask me to update the codecs. Hell, things seemed to turn into a mess after installation.

The packages downloaded just fine when I was running off the disk but now all I get is an error message. Why cant one of you live closer? :lol:

[ad4mg]

If you don't have significant time invested in the installation, wipe it out and start over! I can do a clean install in about 20 minutes!

Something went afoul if it ran well off the CD, but not on the hard drive. I'd give it a do-over!

God knows I have several times!

[KB3LAZ]

If you don't have significant time invested in the installation, wipe it out and start over! I can do a clean install in about 20 minutes!

Something went afoul if it ran well off the CD, but not on the hard drive. I'd give it a do-over!

God knows I have several times!

My bad...it is updating 284 updates to go. :whistle: I will give that a try first. :D

[KB3LAZ]

Thank you John and Luke! Seriously thank all of you for your help! It is all good now.

What I had to do was force it to update. After that things fell into place. :D

[n2ize]

Okay so my lazy ass finally installed Ubuntu rather than just loading from the disk. I am having a few issues but these just may be computability issues that I am unfamiliar with.

From program packages: About a third of the optional packages installed themselves but I can not seem to install the others. That is not a big deal as most of them are simply alternatives to what did install.

Media: I can not get my mp3's to play in the music player but the sample music will play. I can not get dvd's or music cd's to play but again the sample videos and music play just fine. Also my DVD drive will read data and program cd's.

As for the the mp3's; I once read something about ubuntu not reading files in MP3 format factory. Should I just download another music player?

Other than that it when off without a hitch. The partitioner did a damn good job and it made the process simple.

One other thing, how the hell do I update? :rofl:

You're going to have to install some plugins / codecs to get mp3 support and dvd support. I'm not exactly sure how Ubuntu handles upgrading and installation of add-on's. In Fedora we use "yum". In addition to the standard repositories I reccomend the livna repository, DAG (if available) and, rpmfusion. Again, I am unsure if Ubuntu uses yum / rpms.

In any event to get DVD's to play you are going to need to istall...

"libdvdcss" - to decode css encryption on commercial dvd's (Note: check your countries laws to make sure it is legal to install this). You are also going to want
"libdvdnav"
"libdvdread"

Once you have the above installed you might want to install the vlc media player. it comes bundled with plugins & codecs to play most media files and often works right out of the box. You can get vlc from

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

To get your general multimedia apps to play most formats you probably should install "xine" along with all the extra's, i.e plugins, codecs. etc..

While you're at it you might want to get "mplayer" and "mencoder" along with the binary codecs. You can get them here.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

At the very least you should grab the appropriate binary codecs for your platform that are listen on the above page and unpack them in the appropriate directory for your distro, usually /usr/lib/codecs or /usr/lib/win32 or /usr/local/lib/win32. If you're not sure you can probably just install them in /usr/lib/codecs and then just make symlinks to the other directories.

Once this is all done you should be able to play ALMOST any popular media format that one might throw your way. At least I can in Fedora so should Ubuntu.

Sorry I can't be more Ubuntu specific but I've never run it.
You hit on it, John, Ubuntu does it a little differently. Deb packages are the easiest to deal with in Ubuntu, and "apt-get" is the most used method of installing packages, but the GUI will do the job for you in nearly all cases.

If Travis were to open an MP3 with the Rhythmbox Music Player, it should automatically open a window asking him if he wishes to download and install the missing codecs. Ditto for the Movie Player and FLV files. Although the FLV player is excellent, the Movie Player provided with Ubuntu does the job nicely.

To get around the use of proprietary codecs, a checkbox is offered that says you're only going to use the codecs for "experimental" purposes, and that Ubuntu and Conical absolve themselves of any responsibility for your doing so.

Travis, if the distribution installed correctly, you should notice a red icon in your upper task bar informing you that updates are ready to be installed. You can always force the issue by going to:

System ... Administration ... Update Manager, and telling it to update now.

Ah..no it does not ask me to update the codecs. Hell, things seemed to turn into a mess after installation.

The packages downloaded just fine when I was running off the disk but now all I get is an error message. Why cant one of you live closer? :lol:

Such is often the case. :)

If you know what the default engine is that the various apps use to play audio/video (i.e. xine, gstreamer, etc.) then you can usually just force an install of all the plugins/codecs for that engine.

For example if it's gstreamer you might be able to do a

$ apt-get install gstreamer*

adding the wildcard at the end to select the various plug-in/add-on packages that go with "gstreamer"....This is of course assuming that sound functionality and package installation bears similarity to fedora which I am pretty sure it does.

In any event I strongly suggest you look install the vlc media player. If you install "libdvdcss" (for experimental purposes) and then do a full install of vlc you should be able to play DVD's and most any audio/video format right out of the box. From my experiences when all else fails vlc usually works. In addition it plays streaming content, it serves streaming audio/video over a network and, it can be used as a converter as well.

[n2ize]

Thank you John and Luke! Seriously thank all of you for your help! It is all good now.

What I had to do was force it to update. After that things fell into place. :D

Ah... yes... often the default install fails to load everything and you have to force additional packages and updates as I described previously.

[KB3LAZ]

Such is often the case. :)

If you know what the default engine is that the various apps use to play audio/video (i.e. xine, gstreamer, etc.) then you can usually just force an install of all the plugins/codecs for that engine.

For example if it's gstreamer you might be able to do a

$ apt-get install gstreamer*

adding the wildcard at the end to select the various plug-in/add-on packages that go with "gstreamer"....This is of course assuming that sound functionality and package installation bears similarity to fedora which I am pretty sure it does.

In any event I strongly suggest you look install the vlc media player. If you install "libdvdcss" (for experimental purposes) and then do a full install of vlc you should be able to play DVD's and most any audio/video format right out of the box. From my experiences when all else fails vlc usually works. In addition it plays streaming content, it serves streaming audio/video over a network and, it can be used as a converter as well.

Yea, I got it all working. Well, most everything. I am going to follow your suggestion after I get back from the drug store ( I have to pick up my meds).

Thanks again. :monkeydance:

[ad4mg]

It's all good! :D

[n2ize]

Such is often the case. :)

If you know what the default engine is that the various apps use to play audio/video (i.e. xine, gstreamer, etc.) then you can usually just force an install of all the plugins/codecs for that engine.

For example if it's gstreamer you might be able to do a

$ apt-get install gstreamer*

adding the wildcard at the end to select the various plug-in/add-on packages that go with "gstreamer"....This is of course assuming that sound functionality and package installation bears similarity to fedora which I am pretty sure it does.

In any event I strongly suggest you look install the vlc media player. If you install "libdvdcss" (for experimental purposes) and then do a full install of vlc you should be able to play DVD's and most any audio/video format right out of the box. From my experiences when all else fails vlc usually works. In addition it plays streaming content, it serves streaming audio/video over a network and, it can be used as a converter as well.

Yea, I got it all working. Well, most everything. I am going to follow your suggestion after I get back from the drug store ( I have to pick up my meds).

Thanks again. :monkeydance:

Sounds good. Oh, and while your there please pick me up some good drugs. A bottle or two of Laudanum should get me through the rest of the week. Hi Hi.