Linux is made by and for clowns

Gainsbourg · Post by **Gainsbourg** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:09 pm

Both of the versions of Ubuntu mentioned here are pretty old. Is there any specific reason to use 6.04 ? That's like one of the first versions of Ubuntu and would probably be difficult to get working most modern computers.

Debian also has the special problem of not including any non-free firmware so some specific devices don't work until downloading the firmware from the manufacturer's site and putting it in your /lib/firmware directory. This makes it a bitch to do net installs (which are the debian default)

Either way both debian/ubuntu are going to want to actually install themselves on a linux formatted partition on your hd. Both should be able to resize an existing NTFS partition (back up first though just in case).

Count you might want to try installing Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu but comes with a lot of stuff like flash and other restricted extras pre- installed
I don't know where Ubuntu got it's reputation for being easy to use but generally if you're used to how things go in windows Mint is better.

Also pro-tip. If you make a separate partition for your home directory you can distro-hop or re-install without worrying too much about all your files .

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:11 pm

Ubuntu can install in an existing NTFS partition that already has an OS in it, IIRC.

Gainsbourg · Post by **Gainsbourg** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:13 pm

Yes you can install it using wubi into windows. You can then weep tears of sorrow as everything in it breaks.

Another thing I can say anecdotally is that if these are install cd's you've burned yourself if you can boot using them try to run the cd's self check diagnostic. CD's don't always get written 100% correctly especially at faster speeds and this can lead to install disks that do crazy things. Another culprit is using the nightly builds of testing versions. They're usually generated automatically by build scripts with not enough manpower to check whether they actually install or not. Debian testing on ppc arch spent months like this.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:41 pm

Gainsbourg: it's easy compared to Debian, Mandriva, Fedora, and the old gentoo.

Also, my wife wants me to put either a better ubuntu variant on the desktop or a different distro. Anyone have any good suggestions. A little bit of a learning curve isn't frowned upon. something along the line's of mint with it's loaded features woudl probably be right up her alley but I'm wondering if there's a similar distro that isn't an ubuntu variant.

Gainsbourg · Post by **Gainsbourg** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:55 pm

Well as far as easy to use goes the big ones touted are always Mandriva, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS.

Of those I've only personally used Ubuntu .

From what I've read PCLinuxOS is very easy and familiar if you like windows but I've no idea as to how capable it is.

Ubuntu is supposed to be easy (It's often really not) So a lot of people prefer Mint. Although after giving Ubuntu 10.04 a test run at home it's pretty nice. I preface that by saying I did an "update-manager -d" to upgrade from 9.10 so I've never installed 10.04 from scratch but it's the most fun I've had in linux for a while. It does some things out of the box that could be tricky before like "put stuff on my ipod"

Mandriva is supposed to be as easy if not easier than ubuntu and sometimes more stable, I've never personally touched i hear accolades about it all the time,

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:35 pm

That would be a hardware limitation. It's not possible to boot some hardware and some operating systems from USB. I know, for instance, that I can't boot my Apple hardware via USB, even though other versions can be.

You'd need to replace your bios.

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:07 pm

Crissa: the thing is my lifebook is only 6 month old. Quite a few of the standard bios packages before that were allowing easy usb access through bios.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:57 pm

Doesn't mean they didn't leave it out. They left it out of the last edition of MacBooks.

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:06 am

yes... I understand they left it out. I'm criticizing them for leaving it out. It's not a hardware limitation. It's failing to implement a proper bios software that's more in times with the ways people install files.

Especially in win 7 based laptops and desktops that come prepackaged with it.

As you don't get a copy of the OS and are expected to burn a backup image if you want to reinstall and more and more people can easily do a backup to a usb drive rather than have a set of blank dvds on hand.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:14 am

The bios is otherwise part of your hardware, though. Unless you can find a replacement for it - physically, or a hacked flash of it - you're pretty much stuck.

Although, I do know that if you have a more common hardware base - like a dell or something - there are often cracks of the bios.

-Crissa

Murtak · Post by **Murtak** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:42 am

Gainsbourg wrote:Both of the versions of Ubuntu mentioned here are pretty old. Is there any specific reason to use 6.04 ? That's like one of the first versions of Ubuntu and would probably be difficult to get working most modern computers.

Probably because he uses it in a university setting to run a specific program which is only cleared for this version of Ubuntu and/or the admins will only work on that version of Ubuntu.