The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

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[grumpy-cook]

I wasn't sure whether to put this here or on the Lighter Note thread, but it's Linux so here it is.

I was just now totally cracked up by Compiz on my Ubuntu system. I recently played with some of the settings and set the windows for random closing effects. I've just closed a window and it was neatly folded into a paper plane and flown off the screen. I nearly fell off my chair. :^O

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[repairexpert]

LOL. :^O

[ej-solutions]

:^O
In the direction of Truff!

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[otherego]

I like Ubuntu very much.

I don't like its brown theme very much at all.

This helped:

http://geekybits.blogspot.com/2007/11/playing-with-themes-in-ubuntu-710.html

Took a bit of fiddling around - copying and pasting the installation instructions for the installation of "blubuntu" necessitated leaving the inital # out (bet you all knew that; I didn't), and the requisite packages flatly refused to install via synaptic package manager - hence the terminal route.

After that, there was no sign of "blubuntu" in the system>preferences>appearance>theme>customise dialogue box - but a quick trip to synaptic NOW allowed the necessary to be installed from there.

So far, quite nice!

(And no, I haven't gone for the upgrade to 9.04 yet - now wish I'd partitioned more scientifically - but will probably back up all my files to a USB stick and do a full install - in due course!)

[ej-solutions]

Well I tried firing up Mandriva 2009.1 from a USB pendrive today to no avail - I might just burn a cheapy CD to try it out though. I still run Mandriva on my now lonely desktop machine, so worth a look.
Mint 6 is still my preferred Ubuntu derivative. :-)

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[otherego]

The upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04 has been on offer for a few days, so decided to give it a go. Very easy, as it turned out, and I seem to have lost no data nor settings (touch wood) It DID take two and a quarter hours, though. Might be quicker to download the iso, burn a CD and reinstall?

I've found no dramatic changes so far - nice to have the up to date version of Open Office, although 2.4 worked fine - but always nice to be up to date.

I think I'll try separate partitions for root and home during my next Linux installation, to see whether this speeds upgrades - presumably they're not likely to change anything in the home partition? Some reading required!

There's also a new version of Mandriva out - putting that off a bit. The joy of dual-booting old computers obviously includes the prospect of hours watching upgrades
happen!

So - Ubuntu upgrade is simple but very slow. Has anyone any links to a real idiot's guide to repartitioning and installing Linux operating systems to separate home and root folders? I'd be particularly interested to know whether existing installations can be modified. This should save time and effort on future upgrades, presumably. Or is it not worth the complication?

[otherego]

By the by, I tend to agree about Mint - very nice. Is it perhaps due an upgrade, too?

[grumpy-cook]

I'd like to upgrade myself otherego. Unfortunately I have an ATi graphics card that isn't supported with a hardware driver in 9.04, so I'm stuck on 8.10 until there's an open source driver available as AMD have ceased releasing them for older cards.

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[otherego]

Always some little complication, isn't there? But that's part of the fun.

I didn't even think about that...

[otherego]

Surely the driver should still be lurking in the repositories - although I still don't know enough to have the first idea how one would look for it. Seem to remember the medibuntu package was useful, but might involve some compromise of open-source principles?

Probably talking complete rubbish, in which case please ignore. I fled here after being outed as a privacy nut on another thread!

Never mind. If in doubt - must be lunch time.

[grumpy-cook]

No, unfortunately there just isn't one supporting my card for X Server 1.6 which 9.04 uses.

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[ej-solutions]

Mint 7 RC1, based on Ubuntu 9.04 was released 5th May.
Running from USB, it actually appears to be just as quick as my hard disk installation - very promising. Bear in mind that this is a Release Candidate, so not recommended for 'production use'.

G_C, try a live-CD of Mint-6-Fluxbox (if so inclined) - might circumvent the driver issue.

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[ej-solutions]

Switching to Mint, to see if I can give a 'hands-on' for re-partitioning... watch this space.

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[ej-solutions]

For Otherego:
This is not a trivial task - probably ranks a medium-level sysadmin (Systems Administrator). Initially, I tried a tutorial mostly within a windowed environment but it got so long-winded that I nearly fell asleep (easily done).
I know you like to 'play', so enjoy the description below. :-)

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[ej-solutions]

Adding a home partition
Just one of a few methods

Boot a Linux from CD/USB drive.
---------------------------------------------
STAGE 1
Start Partition Editor (GParted).
Highlight the partition on your hard disc with Linux on it (eg. /dev/sda5 - take note, you'll need this later).
Right-click,Resize/Move and shrink to leave, say, 500Mb free space.
Click Apply (time to put the kettle on :-)).
Once complete, a new unallocated space will appear.
Right-click, New, Logical partition, (suggested) File System: ext3 or ext4, Label: Home, Add, then Apply.
The new Home partition will be allocated a device handle (eg. /dev/sda13 - I have a few partitions ;-)) - take note of this.
Exit from Partition Editor
----------------------------------------------
STAGE 2
Double-click MyComputer - you should now see a new Home partition.
Highlight File System (left pane)
File, Open in Terminal. Type in the following (Enter after each line) and replace the device names as you noted above...(ignore comments in brackets).

sudo mkdir /mnt/temp1 /mnt/temp2
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/temp1 (original Linux)
sudo mount /dev/sda13 /mnt/temp2 (new Home)
sudo cp -R /mnt/temp1/home/* /mnt/temp2

-----------------------------------------------
STAGE 3
Still in the Terminal....

sudo gedit /mnt/temp1/etc/fstab

Use down arrow to go to the bottom of the file. On a new line at the bottom, type in the following, making changes to /dev/sda13 and ext3, to match the device name and type of your own new partition.... (using the tab key to space out elements) and finishing with Enter/Newline.

/dev/sda13 /home ext3 relatime 0 2

File, Quit, saving the document.
Close the Terminal by entering exit.
Close the file browser.

Reboot.
------------------------------------------------
STAGE 4
Boot Linux in Failsafe (Terminal) mode and login
Enter the following, replacing 'user' with your normal login name, in both places - repeat for any additional accounts.

mount (you should see the new home as a seperate entry)
sudo chown -R user /home/user

------------------------------------------------
STAGE 5
Check your home files are there...

Deleting the old files... (not checked - you've been warned)
Boot Linux in Failsafe (Terminal) mode and login
sudo umount /home
mount (check there is NO seperate home entry!)
sudo rm -R /home
exit

(copyright EJ :-p)

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[otherego]

Many thanks for that effort - greatly appreciated! May need a little liquid courage before starting - but will definitely set an evening aside to give it a go.

[ej-solutions]

Oil the cogs ;-)

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[otherego]

The cogs are grinding a touch!

At risk of sounding really dumb - on exiting from Partition Editor (I'll probably use the GParted live CD), do I also remove the live CD, and revert to the usual Ubuntu menu?

Or do I continue with the live CD (in which case, NOT the GParted CD - Puppy would probably be a good one) until Stage 4?

Doing a bit of rehearsing, I didn't get the option, on highlighting the existing file system, to Open in Terminal (from the File part of the menu.) But that's not using a live CD.

I'm reasonably happy about using GParted to resize partitions (famous last words!)

[repairexpert]

Just a question about Linux in general.

If you ran it (say Puppy) from a CD would you be able to access all the other programs on the hard drive and run them?
Assuming that you had a Windows replicator? installed as well on the CD?

[ej-solutions]

Otherego:
Stay with the Live-CD/USB all the way until a reboot.
It's not required to open a terminal within the file browser - just convenient. Can be done from the main programs menu but will vary in its' location. 😉
(I was working within Mint 7RC1 but any *nix should suffice, that has gparted).

R_E:
As standard, most Linuxes/Linuses(?:|) will happily access NTFS/FAT data.

As programs are binaries (in the main) tailored to an Operating System, then you need to find an alternative way to run them or a Linux equivalent (often included in bigger distros - OpenOffice, for example).

For Windoze programs ,you require Wine/Winedoors to run an emulation (with programs installed again within the emulation). Puppy, though a lightweight distro can run Wine.

Virtualbox (or similar) allows you to run a full Windoze within Linux - once again requiring Windoze progs. to be (re-)installed.

AndLinux does things the other way around; run Linux alongside Windoze - chop & change, cut & paste to suit. Pretty clever, though you loose the inherent security of Linux. Also when/if your Windoze dies, so does AndLinux.

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