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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Just skimming the surface

Opinions/guidance expressed are intended to benefit the reader (mostly) but no responsibility should be assumed for the accuracy and no warranty is implied/expressed or given - so eBay may pull this post

[otherego]

Decisions, decisions.

I think this installation will need a coin to assist the decision-making process.

Heads or tails ...

[otherego]

Silly, but I still haven't quite brought myself to euthanase poor old Mint 7 - could be something to do with all the time I spent getting the graphics working (some person who when he dies is going straight to Heaven came up with a 2D driver for the SiS 672/672 - never wittingly going to buy a computer with that piece of **** in it again).

A quick question, if I might. As far as I can see, my Mint 7 installation has the same repositories enabled as Mint 9.

Yet Firefox remains at 3.0. something; I think OpenOffice is also an older version (sorry - should have checked before shutting down and putting that machine away.)

Anyone know why the older version of Mint doesn't update Firefox and OpenOffice, or if there is an easy way of making it do so? apt-get update didn't help, either.

Neither serious nor urgent, but if anyone knows why older versions don't update apps, and how to persuade them to do so as part of the normal update process, I'd be grateful for the answer. Gloria still seems to receive updates, after all.

(I'm out for a while, so please forgive any lack of immediate response!)

[ej-solutions]

Software Manager, Software Sources - upstream packages.
(possibly)

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[otherego]

Thanks, ej - no joy there, either. (Tis empty...)

One always finds odd interesting things during a search. Came across this remark in the Mint forums:

SallyK pointed out that in windows, you're particularly vulnerable to exploits if you're not running the latest version of an app. I'd just like to say that because of the way the support cycles work (at least in Mint/Ubuntu), the security patches are backported to the supported version by Ubuntu. See also, for more info: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=32809

( http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=31954 )

An elderly but interesting article comparing Windows and Linux susceptibility to malware attack:

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/188

(Includes the slightly cruel remark : To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows box, you just need to work on it.

Still haven't solved the original problem, but that installation is due replacement anyway - so largely curiosity on my part rather than any pressing need.

Am now over-googled - that stage where you decide it would be beneficial to step away from the computer and enjoy the sunset.

And find yourself googling, "sunset" ....

[otherego]

I've cloned my Mint9 installation to a larger drive.

Using Clonezilla, I did a simple clone (no resizing) in hopes of avoiding strange partition schemes. So far, so good.

I had a simple partition scheme - a primary (boot) ext4 partition for /, and an extended partition containing the ext4 /home and linux-swap partitions - linux-swap was right at the end, or extreme right-hand side, of the extended partition as seen by GParted.

I deleted the swap partition, extended the /home partition into the new unallocated space apart from a couple of GB at the end, which I used to create a new swap partition.

I'll try to post a screenshot - honestly not sure I can remember the details:



Now linux-swap isn't mounted on system start.

It's easy enough to mount it (start GParted, right click the swap partition and click swapon - don't even have to type anything into a terminal), but this is a bit of a bind. With only a gig of RAM, I use quite a bit of swap when VBox is running.

Anyone know how to get it to mount at boot? This happened before following cloning, and I think that was the result of Clonezilla rearranging partitions and something arcane to do with changed UUIDs - now I can't find the pages I thought I'd bookmarked about this. In any event, it proved easiest to reinstall - which I'd rather not do this time.

I'll keep searching, of course, but any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

[otherego]

I've cloned my Mint9 installation to a larger drive.

Using Clonezilla, I did a simple clone (no resizing) in hopes of avoiding strange partition schemes. So far, so good.

I had a simple partition scheme - a primary (boot) ext4 partition for /, and an extended partition containing the ext4 /home and linux-swap partitions - linux-swap was right at the end, or extreme right-hand side, of the extended partition as seen by GParted.

I deleted the swap partition, extended the /home partition into the new unallocated space apart from a couple of GB at the end, which I used to create a new swap partition.

I'll try to post a screenshot - honestly not sure I can remember the details:



Now linux-swap isn't mounted on system start.

It's easy enough to mount it (start GParted, right click the swap partition and click swapon - don't even have to type anything into a terminal), but this is a bit of a bind. With only a gig of RAM, I use quite a bit of swap when VBox is running.

Anyone know how to get it to mount at boot? This happened before following cloning, and I think that was the result of Clonezilla rearranging partitions and something arcane to do with changed UUIDs - now I can't find the pages I thought I'd bookmarked about this. In any event, it proved easiest to reinstall - which I'd rather not do this time.

I'll keep searching, of course, but any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

[otherego]

Oops - sorry!

[grumpy-cook]

Does this help -

http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/8208-all-about-linux-swap-space

"To mount the swap space automatically at boot time, you must add an entry to the /etc/fstab file"

By the way, if you read it through there is a wonderful new word in there - "Swappiness".

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[otherego]

Swappiness - I like it!

Thanks, g-c - I'll have a read through that.

[otherego]

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
#
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=0a57e640-00f9-4039-b166-b06037f4bf64 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=b00b6d43-591f-4416-a5df-bfbaf76a034d /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=1ffc3843-6bb4-48f3-9015-befbf4c90216 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

Lots of commented-out entries about what happened on installation - not much else in /etc/fstab.

There's some sort of clue in that UUID, I think - need to figure out what the current UUID is and see whether I can change it to the original.

This might necessitate some beer thought...

[otherego]

Yep, that last one seems to have vanished and been replaced by something else.

Now to figure out what to actually do with that gen.

[ej-solutions]

What d'ya get with?:
blkid -o /dev/sdb6 -s UUID
If different, then replace the line in fstab and reboot.

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[ej-solutions]

sorry, try:
sudo blkid
and check the UUID with that of fstab

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[otherego]

Talk about can't see for looking...

Thanks, ej - that seems to have done the trick. I was trying to figure out why it was commented out - which it wasn't!

Running sudo blkid obtained /dev/sdb6's UUID; sudo gedit /etc/fstab allowed the necessary editing (simply deleted the old UUID and copied and pasted from the output of sudo blkid), and after a reboot, swap seems to be working happily.

[otherego]

Yikes - one of the most useful threads on the internet, and it's already slid down to page three.

Perhaps it's not the Linux users who have the most problems...

Yesterday, Mint politely mentioned that there were updates available. These included a Flash player update. A minute or so later, with no fuss, it was all done.

I've been wrestling with a Vista machine, trying to install Flash Player, for about five days - and still haven't succeeded.

At least turning off system restore while I scanned for nasties temporarily freed 27.9GB of hard drive space. I'd like to reduce the space allowed system restore, and must dig out the vssadmin command needed to do so on Vista.

You know - Windows Vista. That operating system with all the complicated command line stuff.

[grumpy-cook]

Don't talk to me about Vista at the moment OE, I'm likely to get censored. I've currently got two crocked Vista boxes in. One steadfastly refuses to install SP1 no matter what I do (and I've done plenty - yes involving lots of command line stuff), and the other is just grrrrghhhhh.

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[otherego]

Ouch.

I know Vista has a bit of a reputation - but I'm not 100% convinced that any Windows version (I've not tried W7) is significantly easier than modern "mainstream" Linux distros.

Might be mistaken, there - but I just find that the Linux boxes don't seem to go wrong nearly as often. Nice, stable and forgiving software, on the whole.

[ej-solutions]

My latest laptop acquisition (Dual Core 1.66GHz) with 1Gb RAM (plenty) has Vista pre-installed. It runs Windows like it's in treacle!
How/why do people put up with such bloat - take off the blinkers! Nearly 8Gb consumed, with no programs of any significance and a reliance on considerably more space, just so that it'll install a Service Pack.
Of course, Mint runs along quite happily, with it's multi-virtual-desktops and some pretty hefty development stuff going on. All with enough 'oomph' to run a stripped down XP, for remote control duties and browser comparison tests.

On the subject of Flash (which should be outlawed, IMO), beware that the non-free version can corrupt PulseAudio. Better to remove that piece of yuk, if experiencing sound issues.

On the occasion that Firefox crashes (usually due to a Flash/flash site), I have found the need to drop to a Terminal to kill the process. FYI:
ps -eaf | grep firefox
Look for PID (process ID) - usually second column ...
sudo kill -9 PID - replacing PID with the actual number

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[otherego]

Useful gen - thanks.

A crude but often effective method seems to be to kill it via the Gnome System Monitor > Processes > End Process - not sure whether this is as safe, though.

Interestingly, my most common Firefox problems arise on this very site, when posting. (Especially one of my more long-winded efforts. Stop pointing fingers and mocking!)

The whole screen darkens and the little rotating circle indicating activity grinds to a halt. CPU activity sits at 100%. Nothing else happens.

System monitor (slow to launch, presumably due to the high CPU use) allows Firefox to be killed. Most of the time, when I launch it, my post is still there, intact - and usually works on the second attempt. Most odd

Is there a viable alternative to Flash, though? I know nothing of Gnash( http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/ ) - is that still being developed? If it's still in the process of maturing, I reckon I could really crunch my system with it - experts only, perhaps.

[otherego]

I've done it again. The trusty desktop was working fine, with Windows 2000 (goodness knows when that was last used) on an 80GB drive and Mint9 on a 320GB drive. All quite serviceable.

So I decided to fix it. (Do you think eBay will give me a job?)

Poor old W2K has been orphaned by Mummy Microsoft, so I decided to try XP. Never say OE isn't right up with the latest technology. They've only come up with two OSs since. (But I didn't happen to have an OEM licence for either of those lying around.)

Out with the 80GB drive, in with a 160GB drive (£15 on eBay. Money no object.)

(The installation of XP will shortly lead to another Windows-is-threatening-my-sanity thread. Sorry, modern Linuxes really are easier. But the problem - as I'm sure you've guessed - is that I've lost the ability to boot Mint.

This was totally expected, of course. I realise that the GRUB configuration files live on the Mint partition and that they are no use unless the chunk of GRUB resident on the MBR of the first hard drive points to them. Dear old Windows would have overwritten this on reinstallation, even if I'd kept the old drive.

Starting the computer now results in "Windows is starting..." rather than the GRUB screen.

I naively hoped that the magic of GRUB2 meant that I'd have to nothing more than get into Mint and run sudo update-grub.
Wrong. This rewrites the new-style config file which has replaced the old menu.lst. It adds XP.

But it doesn't reinstall GRUB to the MBR.

I'm looking for a simple solution. This didn't work:

sudo grub-install /dev/hda and sudo update-grub - tried this both from the live CD and from within Mint (booted by Super Grub Disk2.)


At least it got rid of the "Windows is starting..." business. All that happened on start-up was one of those minimal-BASH affairs that I don't pretend to understand.

If I'd simply wanted to get rid of XP's insufferable smugness, I wouldn't have installed it in the first place. There has to be a solution. Most of the google responses to this run to pages. If necessary, I'll try them - even where it's unclear which partition they say particular files should be written to.

If worst comes to worst, I've even laboriously copied down the UUIDs of the various partitions in case of need - but would really rather avoid any solution involving those if at all possible. Harder to copy accurately than a MS product key.

The situation at the moment, then:

Start up the computer, and Windows fires up (I ran fixmbr. Twice so far.)

I can start Mint thanks to Super Grub Disk2 - (it finds the grub.confg - or something like that - sorry, didn't write it down - and brings up the normal start screen - which annoyingly now incorporates XP.)

Has anyone a link to a simple way to reinstall GRUB to the MBR of the Windows drive of a two-drive dual boot XP/Linux system?