Ubuntu questions...

Well I've been an XP user for pretty much as long as I can remember and I think it's great and all but it's becoming a little more bland as I've found other options...
One option I've been taking into HUGE account is Ubuntu (Possibly Kubuntu)
I like Ubuntu a lot, I love the feel of it, the look of it, the large community. I pretty much love everything about Ubuntu and Linux... but I have some concerns.
So as I said I've been considering using Ubuntu on my Netbook (Netbook remix)
I'll have no trouble partitioning and installing it I just have a few questions about it
1. Can you switch between GNOME and KDE at any time?
2. I've heard a lot of problems about connecting to routers wirelessly what are these problems and how are they solved?
3. I heard there is A LOT of command line things you have to deal with... If your a regular user please tell me how much you use it?
4. If I partition my hard drive with 1 half XP and other half Ubuntu... and say I want to stop using Ubuntu can I just delete it and have my whole hard drive dedicated to XP?
5. Lastly, tell me any problems you may face when using Ubuntu.

When answering, remember I'm not an idiot so please don't talk to me like a little kid..
(I know people tend to talk that way when talking about computers.)

Thanks.

1. Yep. You simply install the package kubuntu-desktop. Then, when logging in, under the sessions menu at the bottom, select KDE.
2.The wireless issues are mainly the Wi-Fi card not being detected. Usually just installing the drivers will fix it. If there are Linux drivers, which is likely.
3. You generally won't use it all that much. Personally, I like the command line. A thing about Linux is that it like takes over your mind, and you you love it.
4. This is simple to fix. Backup your data to a FAT formatted disk, then with the live CD, fire up GParted, delete the Ubuntu Partition, and resize the Windows one to take up the whole drive. But surely it won't come to this!!
5.<insert propietary windows app here> doesn't have a Linux version. Wine ( which is not an emulator) can fix this sometimes. But since your dual-booting you don't need to worry about this.

Wow. Well thank you VERY much.
That was a huge help.

Ubuntu doesn't support NTFS does it?

Ubuntu DOES support NTFS. Built right into the kernel I believe. So, if Windows got a bad virus and couldn't boot at all, just boot into ubuntu and delete it. There are actually Virus Scanners for Linux that scan for windows viruses.

Uh oh somewhere along the line I messed something up when setting it up....
I downloaded the .iso file for the netbook remix from the ubuntu site, next I downloaded a program from pendrivelinux to make my flash drive into a bootable copy of Ubuntu. So I do that then reboot my netbook... it gives me the option between Xp and Ubuntu. I pick Ubuntu then an installation screen appears for a while but I never partitioned anything off. So it's all set up then I take out my flash drive and turn of my netbook, later I turn it back on No flash drive and it still gives me the option between XP and Ubuntu... I never wanted to actually install it until I finally decided, I just wanted to run the live CD...
So now I have it sort of dual-booted (incorrectly though) My XP partition has 144 GB for it and my Ubuntu partition has almost 5 GB of storage...
Mind you I NEVER tried to partition it, it did it on it's own...
Do you know a fix? And ask me if you want any more information.

UPDATE: Every time I try to boot into Ubuntu it goes though the installation process

What do you mean when it asks you if you want XP or Ubuntu? The netbook should either boot to XP, the LiveUSB, or possibly say "press <insert button here> to boot USB".

What I would do is this.
1: Burn the .iso to a CD( yes, a CD, not USB)
2:Boot from the CD on some computer with a CD drive.
3: On the menu that appears, hit Try Ubuntu.
4:Once it's all loaded, go to System > Administration > USB Startup Disk Creator.
5: This program will make a proper live USB. PenDriveLinux's stuff has never worked all that great for me. Just make sure the Flash Drive is in. Under "Disk to use" make sure you selected the flash drive. Possible /dev/sdb. That's what it is for me.
6: Once that's all done, shut that sucker down and rm your flash drive. (rm stands for "remove" or "delete" in Linux Command Line.)
7: Insert the USB in the netbook.
8: Boot netbook.
9: Go in BIOS, and under boot priority or boot order (or something along those lines), set USB to be first.
10: Reboot netbook.
11: It should boot from the USB and bring to the same menu the LiveCD (CD) did.
12: Hit try Ubuntu.
13: On the desktop, hit Install.

I don't really know what you did before, but this should work! When you get to partitioning, there may be an Ubuntu partition from your last attempt. Blow the partition to smithereens, it's not needed. (As long as it's not the Ubuntu partition being made during the install!!)

Please tell me you have access to a computer with a CD drive!!!

EDIT: Just realized what you may have done. How did you install before? You didn't have XP open, and launch wubi.exe from the flash drive did you? This performs a WindowsUbuntuBasedInstall, which sets ubuntu up as some virtual hard disks and hoodwinks Windows into thinking they're different versions of Windows.

I may have done the Wubi thing which messed me up... and thank you for clearly putting instructions..
Yes I have a desktop with a CD drive but I'm not sure if it can burn the image on... I'll see what I can do

Also, exactly what type of CDs are needed? since there's CD-R, CD-RW and all of those things... Or does it not matter?

Thank you again for ALL of the help

It does not matter

As long as the disc drive us a burner, it doesn't matter, no.

Alright Lets see here... I have my CD made, I have my bootable flash drive made
The Flash drive and CD both work
I booted my Netbook into Ubuntu and I tried to connect to the internet but my home connection wouldn't work It has a WPA-PSK personal password on it, I know the password yet it still won't work but my neighbor's unprotected Wi-fi works perfectly fine.. Do you know a fix? It may have something to do with my router and the settings on it...


UPDATE: Nevermind I got it working now... I think I'm now ready to install it fully :]]]
UPDATE2: Ugh... well I tried to install it but it says it's missing a component... It tries to go to the partitioning part of the installation but then it goes back to step 3 which is the Time step....

Man I feel stupid...

Does it say what component it's missing?

Oh, and what did you do to get the WiFi working (just wondering, it won't mess anything up)?

Super_ness said:

Does it say what component it's missing?

Oh, and what did you do to get the WiFi working (just wondering, it won't mess anything up)?

Click to expand...

Anthony523 said:

I know the password yet it still won't work but my neighbor's unprotected Wi-fi works perfectly fine.

Click to expand...

there's an answer to one of your questions

Okay well here goes... These are all of the errors listed
ubi-console-setup crashed with exit code 1
ubiquity.components.partman crashed with exit code 141
ubiquity.components.summary crashed with exit code 141

It said I could find more information in /var/log/syslog

If there is any other info I may be able to tell you then just ask.

Few things from that; Ubiquity(Ubi) is the installer and an exit code other then 0 generally means an error.

When exactly to you get the error?
Another thing you might wanna do at the menu when you boot the cd, try hitting test for defects. Sometimes, when burning big iso files, it can malform them.
The stuff in /var/log/syslog could help too.
Finally, you might wanna try burning a new CD and making a new USB burning the iso at a lower speed. If that fixes it, then good. If it doesn't, there's a deeper problem.

I'm really sorry your having so much trouble. I had no trouble installing. But I hope your liking Ubuntu regardless these little troubles.

I already did the checking disk for defects a few times and it said nothing's wrong

I think I'll just try making a new CD and boot disk..

Tell us how it goes...

ugh..........

Idk I think I just have more problems with installation of things than anyone else ever could
I don't think the "Make startup disk" thing likes my Flash drive very much
Here's what happens:
1. I open up the make startup disk program
2. It lists the ISO image up top and the device to use in the bottom
3. The ISO image is correct, but under "Disk to use:" it says /dev/sdf and /dev/sdf1
4. It says /dev/sdf needs to be formatted before use and format is the only option for it... Same with /dev/sdf1
5. I click format for /dev/sdf
6. /dev/sdf1 now has a label called 4.0 GB Filesystem that it did not have before
7. I click on /dev/sdf1 and it says there is not enough free space for this image

Man... I'm having so much trouble for no reason
Side info: I only have ONE flash drive in, It is completely formatted and I made a startup disk out of it before....
I'm tempted to ask a friend to let me borrow their CD drive for my netbook so I can just do it straight from the CD instead of USB...

The case with the 2 flash drive is ( I think) that one is the raw device, and one is the partition. Yeah though, if you can get hold of a USB CD drive, then do that.

Meanwhile, here's some tips.
Plug in the flash drive, and when it appears on the desktop, right click it and format it s FAT. Then, go into the LiveUSB creator and when choosing a flash drive, there will be 2. Pick the one that says it doesn't need to formatted.

And 4GB is enough. If it can fit on 700MB CD, it'll fit on 4GB flash drive.

EDIT: How many hard drives do you have? On Linux, sda is the first, sdb is the next, sdc, sdd, and so one.

I only have 1 hard drive

Also the one that says it doesn't need to be formatted it says there's free space left on it when it's completely empty so it won't let me...

And my flash drive is formatted in FAT32 soo there should be no problem there.

Hmmm... Could you give me a picture? Just open the USB creator, don't pick anything, then open Applications < Take Screenshot.

Well guess what! I finally got it working I now have Linux on my computer fully...

Thank goodness.

EDIT: but now I'm trying to put Chrome on it but it won't let me it says
"Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: lsb (>= 3.2)" This is strange because when I ran the live CD I had Chrome working...

EDIT2: Nevermind I just ran the update manager, updated everything then it installed it properly

Congrats!!!

Now go recompile the kernel!!!

Just joking.

But a useful tip is that if a dependency needs do be satisfied, just go into synaptic an search for the package name.

Post any other questions or problems here. And, curiosity, how did you get it installed?

Get what installed? Ubuntu?
Well I remade my flash drive into a new bootable disc and it just worked... idk? Well everything is running smoothly now and thank you so much for all of the help