Ubuntu on a Dell....
 

BOOM, I'm downloading it right now... I might be bugging you a lot about it looking for help, bro.


I've got an Inspiron E1705. Currently running Vista on it.

Figured I'd give Ubuntu a chance.

Any tips on running a dual boot system with Ubuntu?

K... so I TRIED to install it, but I evidently do not know what I'm doing.

Booted from the bootable Ubuntu CD I made (after I checked it for errors). It ran through a bit of loading drivers, etc... then it told me the "GMC" (?) failed to load because there were no screens present.

Then it went to a Linux command prompt...

I'm ig'nant....

is it the new version? I hear it stinks

I downloaded the newset version... like I said. It didn't install.

It hates me.

If this is the live CD, you are already logged in as root, as root is the only user on the live CD. Is this an experiment to supplement Winders, or is it a new complete install?

Type this at the command prompt

startx

Mind you there could be a hardware conflict stopping the window manager (program that makes the deektop and allows Graphic Interface to access all the programs) to not load. Most often the video card drivers are the culprit. I replaced the ATI card in my Dimension 4100 with a new NVIDIA card this year.

Prax, the Beta was problematic, but the release is rock solid. :thumbsup

It's an install in addition to Vista. Looking to do dual boot.

Don't tell me I have to wipe Windows off and load Ubuntu first... please? PLEASE don't tell me that.

I'm not going to switch video cards on my notebook... Sorry...

I guess I'll just wait until Dell releases Linux drivers for the Inspiron E1705.

http://lkozma.infogami.com/linux

Tanx.

I'll mess with it over the weekend.

If it still works the way it used to, Linux will not support an NTFS partition, so you would need to have your Vista installed on a FAT32 partition before being able to dual boot.

However the fact that it won't even boot into X windows while on the CD makes me think you have some hardware incompatibility on your computer... you might take out any cards that you are not using and try booting to the cd again.

It is a laptop....

Your notebook has a video card? That's rare except in very expensive high end gaming notebooks

Will Vista even run on Fat32?

It's a multimedia geared notebook with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 256MB video card. The upgrade is the Nvidia GeFroce Go 7900 256MB video card, which if I would like to buy aftermarket, would be nearly another $400. Not worth it to me... way too much money that I simply don't have.




I've decided to forget about trying it... I'm really not happy at the thought that I'd probably end up toasting the Vista OS and would have to start over completely...

I've got enough things going wrong in my life right now, I don't need that aggravation on top of it...

Use partition magic or a similar partition manager program to resize your Windows partition leaving some free space (4GB would be good). Then download UbuntuCE, boot the live CD and click on the install icon on the desktop when it loads.

Tech support in the name of KwaiQ is available free of charge Bro! Give it a second chance!

Is Christian Ubuntu available with Feisty and Beryl yet?

Ronzo, your grief is the Nvidia card.

http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/S...r_nVidia_cards

This can be solved easily (Boomm runs Nvidia and has Beryl and Smoothdock too!)

I don't even have Wine running here. 100% Linux- I do have some restricted drivers though.

UbuntuCE 3.2 is based off of Feisty.

I like wine... let's me run e-sword!

Although Gnomesword is OK

Nope... it's not. Know why? I don't have an Nvidia card in my notebook. I have an ATI... :sly

I'm tellin'!:evilglee

You guys remind me of some D&D geeks with all this linux terminology... ;)

Bibletime is the KDE port for Sword.

Still not as good as e-sword or Theophilus I agree!

LOL I did not post a page of code ------yet! :aaaa

Open the page I sent you, and click around and you will find an ATI guide.

Do only the top half and you have it running. Add the bottom (Beryl) and you have eyecandy.

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts!

I've lost interest in Ubuntu, honestly...

It's going to take too much to get it to work... with skills that I don't have.


I'll stick with what I know.

I'm loving Ubuntu, but I agree it requires some skill to use... I'm still finding things that don't work because I haven't downloading some obscure program (just the simple act of throwing a DVD in the drive and trying to watch it is leading me on a whole new troubleshooting path).

I'm just taking it as a challenge, I should have switched years ago but was too proud of my Microsoft skills. (I don't have a valid license for XP or Vista and don't want to pay for a new one so I figured this was a good time to switch. lol)

By the way I should have dual screens running Beryl shortly, my video card should arrive today (hopefully second time is a charm. lol)

Cool! Good luck!

I haven't even rolled the dice yet.... :happydance

I'm up and running, woo hoo! It's amazing how much easier it is with a supported video card. Now I just need to know where to get the coolest Beryl themes. :D

Congrats!

The only real available themes are Emerald and they can be added with Adept or Synaptic.

(I added Synaptic in KDE myself)

I added also smoothdock and I really like this one running in center of bottom of screen keeping corners open.

I keep radio/kaffiene on one desktop, Firefox running on another, and mail on another.

I then drop to a corner and spin my mouse which spins the cube to another app- like having Alt-Tab with my mouse.

Sheltie, did you add drivers with system, or did you reference the page I put up here? I had a bugger of a time getting all the drivers taken out of my system, and now have the latest only. I have a GeForce 6200 card with only one monitor. I want to get a DIV flat screen for dual monitors.

:tvhappy

How easy is it to install a dual boot using WinXP and Linux with a GUI? I've never used Linux before but I would like to mess around with it. Im going to be building a new system soon

Right now I am using the default Emerald Theme (I want the one that has fire though when you close a screen... I turned it on at one point and now can't figure out how to get it back). I'm running 2 flatscreen 19" monitors side by side both at 1280x1024 giving me a 2560x1024 screen and my card is a NVidea 7600 with one VGA and one DVI port.

Since I had already used "Envy" to load my Nvidea drivers I couldn't follow the regular instructions for updating Nvidea drivers on Feisty but it all seems to be working. I just uninstalled the Nvidea drivers (since they were installed for my old Geforce 4 card) and then reinstalled them again with Envy for my Geforce 7 card.

I also don't know how to do the zoom feature like I have seen in some of the Beryl videos on Youtube... that looks kinda cool.

ElectricSheep looks awesome on dual monitors too!


I'm gonna go play with Smoothdock now and see if I like it.

Beryl-Manager>Visual Effects>Animations>(Un)Minimize> Select Burn

It it is broke, why not fix it?
Sounds like you have it going good.

Hold they Win Key (Meta) while running your scroll wheel inwards. I use this on photos all the time.

What is Electric Sheep?

I have both the Kubuntu box and I have the XP drive still there. I created a virtual directory and can access any files there. I have dual boot into three versions of Linux or the XP box (once every 3 months)

I have 79% of a 31.5 GB partition for Linux running Feisty. I have a 160 Gig drive here. I could mirror the entire 20 Gig XP and not blink. this all on a 933 Mhz P-3 with 1024 meg of Ram. I am not doing video production- I simply websurf here.

Cool! I didn't have the "Beryl Settings Manager" installed so didn't see this option, it's working now.

Baby-steps! I don't want to bite off more than I can chew... after I get more comfortable using it I will probably blow it all away and start from scratch, but the longer I wait the more I will know next time around :) The goal was just to make it all work so that it can be my main system at home.

I'm still working on this one... do you mean the Windows key between the CTRL and the ALT Key? It doesn't seem to do anything so I might have to change my keyboard settings... the scroll thing on my mouse does work though so that did help me to see the inverted Beryl spin... this might just be user error. lol.

Here is a link, it's a pretty cool screensaver... I'm not sure if I will use it all the time because I also do folding and don't want to waste the processor time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Sheep

First, make sure you have a seperate partition or free disk space you can use. If you don't use a partition manager (I recommend Partition Magic) to resize your windows partition leaving a few GB (4 or more) of free space for your linux distro.

Next, Choose your Distribution (I like Ubuntu Christian Edition as it includes e-sword) download the iso file and burn that to a disk using your favorite iso burning software (I prefer Nero for this). Then, keep the disk in the drive and reboot your system. Hit F8 when your bios starts to reload, (or whatever key takes you to your boot manager). As the Linux disk loads, follow through the instalation screens to install. If it is a 'live' CD, (like UbuntuCE) then let it load and click on the install icon when the desktop loads. Most distos will ask if you want to install on a seperate partition. Choose the use free space option with the default partitions for swap, etc.... When it is finished installing, reboot the system, and a LILO will pop up asking you which OS you want to load.... examples include Ubuntu, Windows XP, etc...

[QUOTE=KwaiQ;170514]

Next, Choose your Distribution (I like Ubuntu Christian Edition as it includes e-sword) download the iso file and burn that to a disk using your favorite iso burning software (I prefer Nero for this). QUOTE]

Do you have Kiosword also?

Is CE Gnome or KDE based?

Are you using NeroLinux or K3B for burning?

Yep... that's exactly what I thought you said...