Ubuntu - Still Way Too Geeky!

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello again

Thanks for all replies I managed to get Google Earth - from it's own site, it was another .bin file but the commands described in the previous page worked on that, too, so it installed - almost fine, it put a desktop icon (this app does NOT show up somewhere in the applications menu!) but that desktop icon didn't do anything. So i went fishing for it - found it in /opt and created my own desktop icon simply by Windows-ish "copy" and on desktop "paste", voila - works fine.

HOWEVER it keeps "refreshing" or something, making it quite useless - about twice a second the picture rebuilds and does so slow enough that it is very visible and very disturbing. I think that must have something top do with the low-power graphic in that computer or a lack of "D acceleration" or something, not sure but i read about that yesterday.

The "Avidemux" and "WinFF" are both already installed, i found those in the repos when searching for "video". As soon as i have some time i'll test them both.

Now next thing that i hope to get working is a dock - like ObjectDock that i use on Windows (both XP and Vista), i found a site with instructions on how to get one (lots of commands again....) and will try that tomorrow morning when i'm in front of that Linux box again. If i get THAT to work and fix the graphic issue in Google Earth i am happy with the machine...... Automatix got me some other essentials such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash Player and Thunderbird 2.0, Open Office is there too and a whole bunch of torrent programs - and i don't need much more.

Come time i'll give it a spin on a new HDD in my main machine which has a lot more "umph" to it (4x the RAM, 4x the HDD space, 400 MHz faster CPU and 4x the graphic RAM.

With kind regards......

Thanh

[hp8000]

HOWEVER it keeps "refreshing" or something, making it quite useless - about twice a second the picture rebuilds and does so slow enough that it is very visible and very disturbing. I think that must have something top do with the low-power graphic in that computer or a lack of "D acceleration" or something, not sure but i read about that yesterday.

Have you installed a driver for the graphic card or is it still the generic graphical driver ? It seems the graphical acceleration doesn't work on your computer.

Have a look at the "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" file at the Section "Device", I have a Nvidia card with the proprietary driver and it looks like this:

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX - GeForce 8800"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "DPMS"
Option "RenderAccel" "false"
Option "Nologo" "yes"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals"
EndSection

Now next thing that i hope to get working is a dock - like ObjectDock that i use on Windows (both XP and Vista), i found a site with instructions on how to get one (lots of commands again....) and will try that tomorrow morning when i'm in front of that Linux box again.

Avant Window Navigator ?

A screenshot awn here. And should be in some repo as well.

[dave_boo]

Yeah, we need to make sure people are posting a lspci so we can give them more help.

But Thanh, we need you to open up a terminal and type in lspci. Copy and paste the whole thing here.

You need openGL support for Google Earth. You say you have a low end card, but without knowing what card it is, we can't help you. It used to be that nVidia was the only game in town offering decent openGL support, but then Intel did a excellent job giving the community drivers (plenty sufficient even on older integrated cards). ATI/AMD used to have pretty craptastic Linux drivers, but it's looking like the recent improvements allow their cards to surpass nVidia's cards from the same price range in performance. The biggest offenders are SiS and Via--absolute rubbish drivers IF you can find them.

[adammike]

Take it easy guys remember what the title of this thread is

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Well guys, i am not AFRAID to use a command line - with guidance i do so happily So this "lspci" command yields the following:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] 651 Host (rev 02)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)

00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25)

00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller

00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] 5513 [iDE]

00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)

00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)

00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)

00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] USB 2.0 Controller

00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [siS] 65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter

So i can see there that i got a SiS graphics card, well.... it's an on-board one, with 32 MB shared from the RAM. RAM is 512 MB, the board won't take more (it's a somewhat crappy machine, but the CPU is up to it - P-IV/2400). Of course, i must have one of the worst, as always So i guess there's no OpenGL for me? Well i'll poste that xorg.conf file here:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)

#

# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using

# values from the debconf database.

#

# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.

# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)

#

# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*

# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg

# package.

#

# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated

# again, run the following command:

# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"

FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"

FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"

# path to defoma fonts

FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"

EndSection

Section "Module"

Load "i2c"

Load "bitmap"

Load "ddc"

Load "dri"

Load "extmod"

Load "freetype"

Load "glx"

Load "int10"

Load "type1"

Load "vbe"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Generic Keyboard"

Driver "kbd"

Option "CoreKeyboard"

Option "XkbRules" "xorg"

Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

Option "XkbLayout" "us"

Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Configured Mouse"

Driver "mouse"

Option "CorePointer"

Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"

Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Driver "wacom"

Identifier "stylus"

Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to

# /dev/input/event

# for USB

Option "Type" "stylus"

Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Driver "wacom"

Identifier "eraser"

Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to

# /dev/input/event

# for USB

Option "Type" "eraser"

Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Driver "wacom"

Identifier "cursor"

Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to

# /dev/input/event

# for USB

Option "Type" "cursor"

Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY

EndSection

Section "Device"

Identifier "Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) 65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter"

Driver "sis"

BusID "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "Generic Monitor"

Option "DPMS"

HorizSync 28-51

VertRefresh 43-60

EndSection

Section "Screen"

Identifier "Default Screen"

Device "Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) 65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter"

Monitor "Generic Monitor"

DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"

Depth 1

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

SubSection "Display"

Depth 4

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

SubSection "Display"

Depth 8

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

SubSection "Display"

Depth 15

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

SubSection "Display"

Depth 16

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

SubSection "Display"

Depth 24

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "Default Layout"

Screen "Default Screen"

InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"

InputDevice "Configured Mouse"

InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"

InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"

InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"

EndSection

Section "DRI"

Mode 0666

EndSection

I know that, editing this one, can either soup up or screw up a Linux. So i would appreciate some tips on what to edit (and HOW to edit it!) to get OpenGL and NOT get a non-booting Linux in the process

About the dock, again i am out of time now and will see to it as soon as i can, i will inform you on the success (or lack of it)

Thanks again for all help.....

your Thanh

[hp8000]

^ I'm afraid that you will never have any 3D with this crap graphic card. I had a look on the french Ubuntu forum and you're not the only unlucky owner of an SIS card. All answers confirm that there is and will never be any 3D with this chipset.

I don't remember if your PC is a notebook or a desktop. If a notebook forget OpenGL and 3D and if it's a desktop buy and install a Nvidia graphic card (~1200 bahts for a FX5500 256MB) and disable the crappy integrated card in your BIOS. And you'll be happy with this.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. That machine is a desktop and the board does have an AGP slot. I believe i have an old, but functioning, Nvidia TNT-2/M64 somewhere flying around, minus the cooling fan because i used that for something.

BUT the big question is - will it require yet another re-install of the OS? Because i am 100% convinced (it's Linux after all!) that, after putting the Nvidia in there, it will not boot (respectively throw me into a non-GUI mode in which i am helpless).

is there a way to have them BOTH working, at least so that i can boot into the GUI (having the monitor connected to the on-board one), then do whatever necessary to get the AGP one to work from there, and THEN disable the on-board one? I've done that once before (Windows XP) and it had no problem working with both at the same time, i could even set it to be a dual-monitor desktop - both active at the same time. But then - that's Windows where such stuff works out-of-the-box (see topic title!)

I found meantime that, in order to get the AWN working, it also requires all sorts of bells and whistles to be available, namely window transparency, it seems that again either my crappy graphics or Ubuntu itself, being 6.10, is not up to that task. I guess i'll have to bite the sour apple and get myself the latest distro version first, then put that Nvidia in there, and then start from scratch (yet again).

Ubuntu - geeky. On Windows it would be a few clicks and done, on Ubuntu it's reinstall OS. Lucky i don't have any data on it....... yet.

Best regards.....

Thanh

[slackula]

...On Windows it would be a few clicks and done, on Ubuntu it's reinstall OS. Lucky i don't have any data on it....... yet.

I never understand comments like this. If Windows does what you want it to do so easily then just use it, stop complaining about Ubuntu being too difficult. If using a command line is beyond your capabilities then shell out the required $ and install something from Microsoft.

Nobody is forcing you to use Ubuntu; either you take the time required to learn how to configure your computer to do what you want it to do or you go back to using Windows and hope for the best. GNU/Linux is about choice and freedom, it's not about bitching because something you got for free is too hard for *you* to figure out.

[dave_boo]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. That machine is a desktop and the board does have an AGP slot. I believe i have an old, but functioning, Nvidia TNT-2/M64 somewhere flying around, minus the cooling fan because i used that for something.

BUT the big question is - will it require yet another re-install of the OS? Because i am 100% convinced (it's Linux after all!) that, after putting the Nvidia in there, it will not boot (respectively throw me into a non-GUI mode in which i am helpless).

is there a way to have them BOTH working, at least so that i can boot into the GUI (having the monitor connected to the on-board one), then do whatever necessary to get the AGP one to work from there, and THEN disable the on-board one? I've done that once before (Windows XP) and it had no problem working with both at the same time, i could even set it to be a dual-monitor desktop - both active at the same time. But then - that's Windows where such stuff works out-of-the-box (see topic title!)

I found meantime that, in order to get the AWN working, it also requires all sorts of bells and whistles to be available, namely window transparency, it seems that again either my crappy graphics or Ubuntu itself, being 6.10, is not up to that task. I guess i'll have to bite the sour apple and get myself the latest distro version first, then put that Nvidia in there, and then start from scratch (yet again).

Ubuntu - geeky. On Windows it would be a few clicks and done, on Ubuntu it's reinstall OS. Lucky i don't have any data on it....... yet.

Best regards.....

Thanh

You should be able to install the new nVidia card without barfing the system. Just keep your install cd handy and do an upgrade install of the system right after installation of the new card. That's probably the safest be for you.

However, if you do net-installs (such as I do when I install SuSE--basically you just have the kernel and an installer program on a cd and you get all your packages from the internet), you'll probably simply want to install the new video card and reboot. If you get dumped to a command prompt, a simple sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and a startx should get you up and running in a gui good enough to get your nVidia driver installed.

[bkk_mike]

...a simple sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg ...

Not geeky at all...

(P.S. I've been using Unix - although not Linux - for over 20 years)

[dave_boo]

...a simple sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg ...

Not geeky at all...

(P.S. I've been using Unix - although not Linux - for over 20 years)

At least it wasn't a recompile and configure of a kernel!

[Thanh-BKK]

@slackula

It is YOUR attitude that is so typical in Linux forums. Let me guess, of all Linux users, more than 90% started their "computer life" on a Microsoft product, got sick of it for one reason or another, and moved on to Linux. Some stick around, learn and make it work, but a good many do NOT get it to work, ask others for help, get answers like YOURS and decide for ever to stay with Microsoft - because with a Microsoft product you pay for with money, but get usability. Linux is free (as in the "money" aspect) but comes at very high costs if you have limited time to learn and try to figure things out.

This is exactly why i named my topic "Ubuntu - still way too geeky" because i AM open minded to all sorts of operating system, i have no reason to be fed up with Microsoft (i am running a genuine Vista Ultimate very happily on my main computer, it has no flaws and i have no complaints about it at all!) but i WANT to use Linux, here Ubuntu, because i LIKE it. What i do NOT like is the difficulty in getting things to work the way they are supposed to! Hence topic title.

If you had read the topic from the beginning you would know that i am doing all my "Ubuntu experimentation" on a second, rather crappy, computer - with the sole purpose of getting my head around it, learning (by asking questions and trying solutions i receive from fellow users!) it's workings and eventually getting good enough that i can put it on the main machine. It's still a long way there, BUT - we HAVE TO walk before we run, and we have to crawl before we walk, right? I am learning to crawl right now. If YOU happen to be born running from the womb, good for you, but stating that doesn't help people like me, trying to understand the basics. Ok?

@dave_boo

Thank you very much for that! I will now, once i am done burning that DVD i am burning right now, go hunting for that Nvidia TNT and just give it a shot. You see, you gave me a command which i am likely able to use - i am pretty sure that Ubuntu will at least give me a command line now that i know when to hit "ESC" during boot So let's see how it goes, i'll keep you informed.

With kind regards......

your Thanh

[dave_boo]

@slackula

It is YOUR attitude that is so typical in Linux forums. Let me guess, of all Linux users, more than 90% started their "computer life" on a Microsoft product, got sick of it for one reason or another, and moved on to Linux. Some stick around, learn and make it work, but a good many do NOT get it to work, ask others for help, get answers like YOURS and decide for ever to stay with Microsoft - because with a Microsoft product you pay for with money, but get usability. Linux is free (as in the "money" aspect) but comes at very high costs if you have limited time to learn and try to figure things out.

This is exactly why i named my topic "Ubuntu - still way too geeky" because i AM open minded to all sorts of operating system, i have no reason to be fed up with Microsoft (i am running a genuine Vista Ultimate very happily on my main computer, it has no flaws and i have no complaints about it at all!) but i WANT to use Linux, here Ubuntu, because i LIKE it. What i do NOT like is the difficulty in getting things to work the way they are supposed to! Hence topic title.

If you had read the topic from the beginning you would know that i am doing all my "Ubuntu experimentation" on a second, rather crappy, computer - with the sole purpose of getting my head around it, learning (by asking questions and trying solutions i receive from fellow users!) it's workings and eventually getting good enough that i can put it on the main machine. It's still a long way there, BUT - we HAVE TO walk before we run, and we have to crawl before we walk, right? I am learning to crawl right now. If YOU happen to be born running from the womb, good for you, but stating that doesn't help people like me, trying to understand the basics. Ok?

@dave_boo

Thank you very much for that! I will now, once i am done burning that DVD i am burning right now, go hunting for that Nvidia TNT and just give it a shot. You see, you gave me a command which i am likely able to use - i am pretty sure that Ubuntu will at least give me a command line now that i know when to hit "ESC" during boot So let's see how it goes, i'll keep you informed.

With kind regards......

your Thanh

You know, there's a slight culture of superiority that comes with any hobby. Whether it's cars(go to some car club meeting sometimes), music(read some crap by audiophiles), or even computers; there's the old guard who've had to struggle from the begining and when it finally gets to a general consumer's level they're peeved that others don't have the same experience and or are sometimes asking dumb questions (not that your questions have been dumb!). Think of them as your grumpy old uncle. You can't get rid of them, you just have to live with them.

If you don't have any issues with installing that card, I'd actually advise you to download the latest driver from nVidia and save that to /home before you get the card in the machine. You may also want to follow step two while you still have a GUI. If it doesn't start up do a GUI, you're set to install the driver and use nVidia's configuration to get your machine up and running.

1. You install the card and no matter which port your monitor is on you don't get a GUI. This would be best for you. You could try and set your bios up to use the onboard as the primary display and hope for a GUI, but I don't know how well the SIS card's drivers play with multiple cards-especially from other vendors. Even doing that, when you reboot you most likely would get dumped to a CLI and have to run that sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg anyways.

2. Based on the assumption you've already downloaded the proper nVidia driver and saved it to /home, you need to make sure you have your kernel sources installed (why?....I don't know, ask nVidia!). A simple

uname -r
sudo apt-get install linux-header-whatever_uname_-r_gave_you build-essential gcc xserver-xorg-dev pkg-config nvidia-xconfig nvidia-settings

3. Then you get to install your driver.

cd /home
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run -n -s --x-prefix=/usr/lib/xorg/ --kernel-source-path=/usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`

Note that the "`" key isn't a single quotation mark (or whatever it's called!) but rather the key that corresponds to the tilde without the shift on a US English keyboard.

4. Use nVidia xconfig to setup your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

sudo nvidia-xconfig

5. Prevent Ubuntu from trying to load the restricted driver.

sudo nano -w /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

At the very bottom there's a DISABLED_MODULES="" insert nv so that you get DISABLED_MODULES="nv". Use the key combination CTRL-X to exit answering yes when asked if you want to save.

6. And that's it. Well, except for getting a gui. You can either restart, which is an ugly way of doing it, or you can simply start your x-server.

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

As predicted - the system IS knackered.

I got the command line (in the boot menu there is "rcovery mode" which goes to the command line as root), i did the here mentioned command - it gave me a ton of option, the first being the video driver. And what... NO NVIDIA THERE!!!!!

So i attempted a generic one (Vesa)..... with the rather Linux-typical result: Xserver failed to start blah blah.

Am reinstalling from scratch now.

WHY oh WHY is there no "repair install" that i could at least keep all the upddates, software etc that i already downloaded..... all the Automatix etc AGAIN.... aaaaargh!!

Best regards.....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

And the #$%!! Installer doesn't give a hoot for the fact that there was the identical system already there, it only continues if i erase the entire hard disk..... WHAT a flaw! That's what i mean - i will NEVER trust any of my data to the HDD on which Linux itself sits. Each install always have to format...........

Thanh

[hp8000]

I hope you're not loosing time again installing an older Ubuntu version. Just go there Ubuntu 7.10 and download the latest Live DVD.

And The WIKI is the best place to find useful informations about install and config.

[dave_boo]

And the #$%!! Installer doesn't give a hoot for the fact that there was the identical system already there, it only continues if i erase the entire hard disk..... WHAT a flaw! That's what i mean - i will NEVER trust any of my data to the HDD on which Linux itself sits. Each install always have to format...........

Thanh

Don't erase your stuff!!! Do an expert install and choose the existing partitions WITHOUT formating them.

[Thanh-BKK]

Well....

Back on Linux. The bare-bones system installs rather fast, kudos to that Already installed Google Earth - and guess what?

Still no OpenGL.

So the whole thing for nothing, an otherwise perfectly working system ditched and now back to the beginning, with -again- nothing in hand.

Don't you love it, too?

Now it's a Nvidia TNT2/M64 Professional graphics card, i had been using that one for quite some time under XP and i know that it, despite having only 32 MB, can run some decent games on it (Need For Speed Underground!) withjout any problem, so that poor little thing GOT some horsepower. It should be ok for Linux, no?

Can anyone advice me on how to get OpenGL started on this baby?

I'll go look for some drivers, but knowing my luck.... probably for Ubuntu 7.10 only. On the main machine i've already started the download of that one, so i won't bother with any updates on THIS one now.

Best regards.....

Thanh

[dave_boo]

Well....

Back on Linux. The bare-bones system installs rather fast, kudos to that Already installed Google Earth - and guess what?

Still no OpenGL.

So the whole thing for nothing, an otherwise perfectly working system ditched and now back to the beginning, with -again- nothing in hand.

Don't you love it, too?

Now it's a Nvidia TNT2/M64 Professional graphics card, i had been using that one for quite some time under XP and i know that it, despite having only 32 MB, can run some decent games on it (Need For Speed Underground!) withjout any problem, so that poor little thing GOT some horsepower. It should be ok for Linux, no?

Can anyone advice me on how to get OpenGL started on this baby?

I'll go look for some drivers, but knowing my luck.... probably for Ubuntu 7.10 only. On the main machine i've already started the download of that one, so i won't bother with any updates on THIS one now.

Best regards.....

Thanh

That's easy. Look in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf In the device section for you nvidia card, change the Driver "nv" option to Driver "nvidia".

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thank you But HOW do i do that? I sure know how to edit that file - yet Ubuntu says that i "don't have permission to do that".

Cool.

I am locked out of my system.

Best regards....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

No.

I'm done with this BS now. Honestly, FED UP.

I found the way to edit that file (sudo nano) from command line, did it, had success..... but no change. Aha, need to reboot maybe? So i did.

After the first splash screen i got something new - an Nvidia splash screen in fact, then i log in - perfect!

Start Google Earth - and the system freezes dead.

Hit reset, start again - same thing, log in, all fine - the first app that i start (Firefox here) freezes the system dead.

No more for me, i've wasted too much time on it now. I'll give 7.10 a spin and if that behaves just as bad i'll have another look at Linux in 3 years from now, maybe by THEN they have figured out how to let newbies use it.

Thanks again for all help that i received - unfortunately, i don't have the time to spend days and days getting the simplest things to run. People may bash Windows all they want, it cost 3.000 Baht for a genuine XP Home, everything works right out of the box (on a simple computer like that one anyway, won't need a driver CD) and what doesn't work takes a few clicks and done.

With kind regards......

Thanh

[higgy88]

I´ve been reading this thread with interest, although I have had nothing to contribute for you. This is only a suggestion, but you may want to just step back, take a deep breath, and put it away for a little while. Not being an expert, I do believe that each new version is an improvement over the last one, or at least tries to be, and the next new ubuntu version 8.04 will be out in 27 days. You may want to just wait on 7.10 and go with the newest one.

[Niloc]

Thanh, I downloaded GoogleEarthLinux.bin but what do I do now? It tries Wine to open it but no luck, is there another file I need??

Colin

[RKASA]

Your system is borking because your installing from out side the distros repos its a no no for noobs.  Take a break relax and you don't have to use an old ubuntu.  Try something else.  everything you wanted to install is in the PClinuxOS repos even wrappers for vid cards all GUI, yes sometimes in the forum someone will say just do this, but everthing in GUI is the same command with a dialog box rather then the command line and everything can be done windows like I do it all the time.

If your using a PC just for the linux that will make it super easy.

Ubuntu is a great distro but IMHO and after using it, I found it was not the simple one.  Download and install from PClinuxOS the 2007 final.  Livecd that can be installed.  Radically simple is the screen you will be greated with.  If your tring to get a linux running forget about how windows is, its not windows.  and when you set up your drive you can reinstall in a few minutes without losing anything if you have a /home thats where your settings stuff are not in the partition with the OS.  In fact my data is on ntfs drives which linux os's can't even be on anyway.  Plus you should not have to be re installing or even rebooting to do any of this, you seem to be on the wrong foot to start.  

If you do it right its fun, if your not having fun its not being done right.

GoogleEarth does not use or need wine and a complete linux version is in the repos. click and it will install itself don't even have to reboot to use it and works.

[Niloc]

Maybe Google Earth works for you but not for me, it is a simple .bin file, I have clicked it a dozen times, even downloaded it again but still no joy...

I am using Ubuntu 7.10 with an AMD processor...

Colin

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello

Thanks again for the replies. Regarding the Nvidia driver, this WAS from the repos! I followed an instruction on what to look for (actually on the Google Earth website!) and then installed it, using the Synaptic - no problem. I had to reboot once to make it work, but noticed no change at all. I then went googling again and came to Nvidia's site, where i downloaded ANOTHER driver (dated early March 2008). I tried to install that - no go, of course only via command line, and then it complained about an X-session running so i rebooted again into the command prompt only, tried again, an now it complained about "runlevel 1 can have problems, you should change to runlevel 3". Did that - and got the FIRST complaint again (as it started X again of course!). So i just thought "screw that driver".

@Niloc

There is a reply on the first page of this thread on how to deal with .bin files, that works quite nicely Just you have to navigate to where ever your "GoogleEarthLinux.bin" file is - desktop, or where ever you downloaded it to.

@RKASA

I very much appreciate your input. I went to have a look at PClinuxOS website, and while it is probably easy to install, to be honest i don't like the look of it.... it's KDE, i very much prefer Gnome..... the reason why i want to stick with Ubuntu is not because "i want Linux" but exactly because "i want Ubuntu". I could go with SuSE - i had no problems getting that installed, working and tweaked, however there too - Ubuntu just looks better for me. All i want is to get these basic things going - like that OpenGL. All other hardware worked fine - USB, DVD burner, sound, LAN..... so i am sure it's only a teensy weensy step to get that last thing working, too, but as my Ubuntu 6.10 is anyway outdated, i'll just put 7.10 on (which is the current version and supported until next year so that's fine) and see if it "does the job". If not - maybe Ubuntu 15.10 will

With kind regards.....

Thanh

[hp8000]

The file is not executable by default, so use this command:

$chmod u+x GoogleEarthLinux.bin

then as root

#./GoogleEarthLinux.bin

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello again

@Niloc

Open a "terminal" (command line window) and type this:

cd /home/*your_user_name*/*folder where the .bin file is* (example: ch /home/niloc/Desktop)

hit ENTER

Then type the following:

sudo chmod +x GoogleEarthLinux.bin (important! Capital letters must be typed as capital letters!)

hit ENTER

It will ask your password - enter it, and hit ENTER again

Then type the following:

sudo ./GoogleEarthLinux.bin (thats "dot slash" and no space between the slash and the file name)

It will install, and you can use it.... it WILL work, but if you, too, don't have OpenGL it will do the same it did for me - i.e. refresh all the time and look ugly while doing so.

Best regards.....

Thanh

[hp8000]

went to have a look at PClinuxOS website, and while it is probably easy to install, to be honest i don't like the look of it.... it's KDE, i very much prefer Gnome..... the reason why i want to stick with Ubuntu is not because "i want Linux" but exactly because "i want Ubuntu". I could go with SuSE - i had no problems getting that installed, working and tweaked, however there too - Ubuntu just looks better for me.

The look of your graphical environnement has absolutely nothing to do with the distro you are using. You can make PCLinuxOS, Slackware, Mandriva, Suse, Archlinux, etc, etc looks exactly the way you want with the desktop environnement you like. You can as well install KDE AND Gnome on the same system, plus Xfce, fvwm2 and any other you want.

The graphical environnement is just the "coat of paint" of the OS, and every distrib has the Gnome packages and all the colors you want.

[hp8000]

How to install Nvidia drivers from the Ubuntu Wiki:

Nvidia installation