Communtu Edition on a Vista Laptop

Ubuntu User issue 10 has a Coverdisk with Ubuntu 11.04 Communtu Edition on it.

All the other distros I have tried have bombed out in some way or another. This one seems okay.

On page 80 of issue 10, you have a box marked “Reanimation”, which involves typing a series of commands into the Terminal to get Ubuntu to boot up. But there is an easier way,

Use the Windows program “EasyBCD 2.1″to create an additional entry in the Windows boot loader. Choose “Add New Entry” (the third option down), choose the “Linux/BSD” tab, and select “GRUB2″. The entry will say “Neosmart Linux”, and that’s all there is to it.

The procedure I followed was:

1. Download EASEUS Partition Master 6.5.1 Home Edition.
2. Make the “C” partition larger, and make the “D” partition smaller. (The Ubuntu installer steals space from your “C” drive, so make it bigger by the amount you intend to give to Ubuntu. I made it 12Gig, which seems to be enough).
3. Apply these changes and re-start the machine, to make sure all is well.
4. Create a “Restore point” manually for the “C” and “D” drives (The re-size may wipe out any previous restore points).
5. Restart the machine with the Ubuntu 11.04 live CD in the drive with the machine set to boot from the CD.
6. Choose “Try Ubuntu”
7. Connect up to the Internet, either Ethernet or Wireless.
8. Run the installer, and set it to download third-party updates etc – this deals with the caveat in the blue box on page 4 of issue 10.
10. When the installer is finished, Restart and allow the laptop to boot back into Windows.
11. Windows may say a second restart is necessary, in which case Restart again.
12. Use EasyBCD2.1 to create the bool loader entry as described above.
13. Restart the machine, select “Neosmart Linux”, and you are away with your Communtu Edition of Ubuntu!

Have fun.

Make Ubuntu look like a Mac

Here’s a good one to fool your friends into thinking you have got a Mac. It works with Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 11.04. I know because I have tried it.

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/09/make-ubuntu-look-like-mac-osx-in.html

You download a package which you run as a terminal script

 

This method is not as good as Macbuntu Google “Macbuntu” for a good time.

libreoffice writer crashes on selecting bibliography database

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+question/169933

HOW TO: Increasing fonts size Google Earth 5.x

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1435424

Open Suse 11.4 Live CD

If you have been trying Kubuntu, and have had enough of it, the alternative is the “K” version of Open Suse.

The main Open Suse page is here.

http://www.opensuse.org/en/

However, it looks like you have to download a 4.7 Gig DVD. In fact you do not, click the link below, and then click on the “Live KDE” icon, where it says “A KDE desktop you can run from CD or from USB stick”. This takes about 40 minutes to download on ADSL.

http://software.opensuse.org/114/en

Re-animate Linux after install

Issue: the Ubuntu installer has a bug in it which means it does not make an entry in the Windows boot loader for either Windows or Linux.

Fix: for the Windows side, boot the machine with “Partition Wizard Home Edition”, select the relevant partition – i.e. the partition denoted “Boot NTFS” – and click “rebuild MBR”. You will then be able to boot Windows as normal.

Fix for the Linux side:

 

If you cannot boot into Ubuntu after having installed it, you have to boot from the Live CD again and type the following sequence of commands into the Konsole. You type what appears after the dollar sign.

To determine the value for “sda”, in line one, type
$ sudo fdisk -l

This may return “6” for the second partition of the first logical volume, but it can be something else depending on how your system is configured.

If the value is not “6”, enter the different value returned by fdisk when you type line one.

Listing 1: Reanimation
01 $ sudo mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
02 $ sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
03 $ sudo mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
04 $ sudo mount -t proc /proc /mnt/proc
05 $ sudo chroot /mnt
06 $ grub-mkconfig
-o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
07 $ update-grub2
08 $ grub-install /dev/sda
09 $ exit
10 $ sudo reboot

Reference: Ubuntu User Issue 10 page80
http://www.ubuntu-user.com

Following these procedures will enable you to boot either Linux or Windows, but there is a drawback – the machine will not hibernate on the Windows side.

Fix. Use”EasyBCD 2.1″ to create an additional entry in the Windows bootloader. Choose “Add New Entry” (the third option down), choose the “Linux/BSD” tab,  and select “GRUB2”

If you do this, when the machine comes out of hibernation on the Windows side, it will go back to Windows and not put you into Linux as will otherwise happen.

On the Linux side, hibernation is also supported, which is good. The WUBI method does not support hibernation, but you can add an entry for your WUBI partition using Easy BCD 2.1. This makes things very easy.

 

Virtual Box Export Appliance

Virtual Box has a feature whereby you can “export appliance” this means that the Virtual Box VDI disk image can be made into a file which can be transferred to another machine.

There is a program called “VMC0nvertor” which can turn this file into a real partition. I have not tried to do this yet!

EasyBCD 2.1 is the program which can clone partitions.

 

Ubuntu on Virtual Box

I have been trying various versions of linux on Virtual Box. The one that comes out on top is….

You’ve guessed it – Ubuntu!

If you are thinking of trying Ubuntu on Virtual Box, remember you have to get the “Server” version of Ubuntu. This is currently version 10.01.

The Server version does not include Ubuntu Desktop. You have to install it manually from the Konsole, by typing “sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop”

After that has installed, you have to type “reboot” to get things going.

You can attach printers, memory sticks etc., by using the “Devices” menu on Virtual Box. The device has to be “attached” before you start Ubuntu. You can save to the memory stick if you see it on the Ubuntu Desktop. You have to release the device, using the “Devices” menu, before Windows can access the device. Once you release the device from the emulated environment, you can’t get it back, unless you re-start.

Which is the best Linux Browser?

I am trying out both FireFox and Google Chrome. Firefox seems to display fonts better, but Chrome seems faster.

Which do you prefer.

To get Chrome, go here:

http://www.google.com/chrome

 

 

 

Ubuntu with WUBI

II am now running Ubuntu 10.10 – Maverick Meercat – under WUBI. It is all working. There is no discernible slow down. It seems to me, that if you want to install Linux on a Laptop, the WUBI is a much better way to go than creating a special partition for it. If you make a separate partition and install Linux on it, every time you restart the machine, it drops you down into Linux instead of Windows. You can change this, but it is all extra work with a good chance of messing up your machine. I know because I have been there! An expert in the Linux world is described as being one who has made every conceivable mistake.