Ubuntu - Still Way Too Geeky!

[RKASA]

Well! Thanh,   I must say my face is red and I am sorry.    I just found that in fact I am having lots of problems with SAM I didn't see before.  In fact, it won't boot right now and I know how you like that.     It seems that when the main is enablabled in the synaptic the updates don't go so well any more and lots of bad things happen.  Wish I had caught this sooner but I was out most the day.

I was running it OK but had not updated the main.  I added a repos address that would work better for me because they only had two listed at install and some how did not enter main.   All the mirrors are the same so adding an address is not an issue and using main extra nonfree kde  an stuff at any mirror site of the 14 works the same.  Just in case up dating that way was the problem I started over from insta

ll and it didn't change the main won't update.  

Now it seems to be a lot of issues with essential packages and stuff.  I even try to up date only by sections and work around any issues and it borked.  

Maybe if you don't up date main its OK.     I still have it on my test drive, but I am moving it back to testing status.  I won't re install it as there must be a way to fix it.

edit oops forgot about the other ?  Yes you can put lots of OS on the same drive and they can share the grub and the swap partition.  I always use a seperate partition for home as well and the numbers can start making the fstab hard to look at. with two partitions for each OS then the swap and all the media and stuff., but really it works pretty well.

I have to fire up a gnome PClinuxOS and take it for a few laps its been awhile.  I ll get back on that.

Edited April 1, 2008 by RKASA

[hp8000]

Give a try to Mandriva One 2008, it rocks. And the Mandriva configuration center works well. Even tell you the graphical driver who will suit your card.

I've installed it on a new laptop I bought 2 1/2 months ago and it works like a charm, updates included.

Oops, forgot the links.

English: Mandriva EN

French: Mandriva FR

And Thanh-BKK, just buy a decent Nvidia graphic card and you will save us some 100 more posts complaining about GNU/Linux. Do you have less than 1000 bahts in your pocket ?

Edited April 1, 2008 by hp8000

[RKASA]

Give a try to Mandriva One 2008, it rocks. And the Mandriva configuration center works well. Even tell you the graphical driver who will suit your card.

I've installed it on a new laptop I bought 2 1/2 months ago and it works like a charm, updates included.

Oops, forgot the links.

English: Mandriva EN

French: Mandriva FR

I should fire that up too.  

[cophen]

I've read recently that there's a Linux distribution that installs in a Windows folder rather than needing drive repartioning. Can anyone tell me what it's called please?

[dave_boo]

I've read recently that there's a Linux distribution that installs in a Windows folder rather than needing drive repartioning. Can anyone tell me what it's called please?

There used to be a program called win4lin....not sure whatever happened to it. However, if I'm understanding you correctly, why don't you just go to the Slax website and install it to a USB key? They're cheap as chips anyways, and you can show it off to your friends on their computers without doing permanent damage.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hello

Just to inform you, i have tried BOTH solutions in the link from that French Ubuntu-Forum and NEITHER worked. As soon as i open any appliction apart from, a terminal, the system freezes (hard freezes, no mouse).

I'll stick to the "nv" driver.

And no, i will NOT buy a newer graphic card - this computer is my test computer, the graphic card is the only thing not on-board and if i fail to get Linux to run on such a simple machine i won't let it anywhere near my main machine, which has tons of hardware that probably means MONTHS of tinkering and 100 OS re-installs under Linux.

Thanks for advising on the SAM 2007 - i'll not bother with it then and go straight for the PC Linux OS Gnome.

The thingy to install Linux (Ubuntu actually) under Windows is called "Wubi". Get it here:

http://wubi-installer.org/index.php

Best regards.....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

And here i am - on Windows.

Unfortunately now i'll say "Good Bye Ubuntu". Reason? I installed Google Earth to see if it works (like it did under 7.10) without the Nvidia driver. It instaleed ok.

Started it - and it crashed X or something, there was a short burst of text running on a black screen too fast to see what is running, then i got the login-window again.

I know 8.04 is still beta and all, but i have now tried 6.10, 7.10 and 8.04 and none of them works the way they should without spending a horrible amount of time to try and get them there... sorry, Ubuntu, you may be free as in "no money" but the amount of time needed to get you working stands in no relation to it.

Just to tell all readesr why i am frustrated, here a brief wrap-up on my "linux-history":

early 2000: SuSE 6.4. Never got the modem and sound to work, recurring problems with the mouse. Went back to Windows 98.

2001: several distros from the back of magazines, such as "Easy Linux" and "Red Hat". Various problems with the hardware, mostly again sound and modem, specially "Red Hat" kept crashing for no apparent reason. Went to Windows 2000.

2005-2006: Various attempts with SuSE 10.0. Worked fine initially, after some software installs (Skype! Needed for work then!) got buggy and started crashing. Back to Windows XP.

2007: Playing around in VM's, SuSE 10.0, Ubuntu 6.06 and 6.10. SuSE never got the screen resolution to work, always had a tiny window on a big screen. Failed to install "VMware extensions", screwed up the system. Ubuntu 6.06 worked, did not support sound, DVD burner and USB. Ubuntu 6.10 failed to install on a VM (partitioner hung).

2007: Attempted to install Ubuntu 6.10 on three identical workstations (Compaq Deskpro) at the office. One failed to install completely (hung during install, multiple times), one installed but wouldn't boot, one installed fine but login didn't work - correct username and password but wouldn't log in. Back to Windows XP on all three.

And now - Ubuntu 6.10, 7.10 and 8.04 all refuse to accept the appropriate driver for graphics, suggested workarounds don't work, minimal tweaks such as enabling the splash screens screw up the system or software installs that also screw up the system.

Tomorrow morning i'll put that PC Linux OS on it and see what THAT does (or better, what it does NOT).

Maybe some day i'll hit the lottery, then i'll just buy a new HDD and invite one of you Linux gurus over to my place, give you the distro, point at my main machine with all hardware/USB thingies connected, and say: "Go for it, i want a working system with such-and-such software installed and working" and then i'll pay for your efforts. But right now, i can't afford that - an original Windows is cheaper and i can install it myself.

An idea what needs to work on my main machine: ATI x300 graphics WITH TV-out (which is USED so MUST work!!), 500 GB second HDD with four NTFS partitions to which i need read/write access, PCI dialup modem (you'll never know when the ADSL fails the next time...), DVD burner, internal 4-in-1 memory card reader, on-board sound (just stereo, nothing fancy), HP all-in-one USB printer to be used as scanner ("printer" part is fcuked but scanner works fine), Lexmark USB printer, Bluetooth-USB adaptor, IrDA-USB adaptor, Nokia connectivity cable, Samsung data cable, Sony-Ericsson data cable, Casio serial-IR adaptor.

I need the following softwares: Skype, Google Earth, video codecs/players for EVERY format that exists (!!), video converters for EVERY format that exists (!!!), mp3/ogg/wma/asf editor/converter, picture editor, BitTorrent software, office suite (OpenOffice is fine, i like it), as many as possible different web browsers, Java, Flash, Quicktime, Adobe PDF creation and reading, zip/rar support (opening and creating), FTP, IRC, MSN, AIM, Yahoo messenger, E-Mail software that allows downloading of e-mail to my computer and supports G-Mail AND HOTMAIL (!!) etc.

I want a separate /home partition as big as possible (obviously depends on HDD size) and all the above has to run under a resolution of 1280x1024 on an LCD and also on a 21" TV.

I also want a custom wallpaper (only one, thanks, once set i'll never change it, i'm using this same one since over 6 years already) and require the taskbar to be on the TOP of the screen and a dock on the bottom, the dock has to appear on top of any open window when i move the mouse to the bottom, and there need to be icons for my data HDD partitions and my most used programs.

The machine is a 2007 build, so the hardware may be outdated already but at least not by too much, it has plenty of "oomph" to it (2 GB RAM, 128 MB graphics, AMD 2.800 Sempron overclocked to 3.200 currently) so Linux should be able to run with all the "bells and whistles" enabled.

Are you up to the challenge? How much would you take for the job?

With best regards......

Thanh

PS @ dave_boo

Thanks for your suggestions again, as you see, in my case (maybe i'm just a complete idiot) even following the instructions by the letter does not rectify the problem at hand. I would say the graphic card is bad but then it wouldn't work under Windows, and there it DOES work, 3D and all.

Car analogy? Linux is a car where the engine explodes when the brake light bulb burns out. Also you won't be able to start the engine if the ashtray is full or the antenna extended. So much to car analogies.

"If you need help, give me a ring (but i won't answer because i have the phone in silent mode, i'll call you back when i feel like it, maybe next week.)"

My problem with 7.10 was not with Grub, as turned out. The splash screen, for one, isn't part of Grub but part of Ubuntu (for it appears AFTER Grub). Plus Grub itself loaded fine - yet Ubuntu, which Grub started, refused to start. I know boot managers under Windows are fugly, too, but just like Grub you don't get to see them for long - like on my Windows machine, the option to switch between OS's is there for three seconds then it defaults to Vista.

And lastly - uptime. Servers usually run a non-GUI system without any bells and whistles. Something like good old DOS. There sure isn't too much that could cause them to crash. But for you or me, Joe User, mouse pusher, would it be usefull? I doubt it. Servers do just that - they serve. Nothing more. And in Germany i had Windows 98 up, running and online, for several MONTHS at a time, being channel OP on an IRC network. It ran on a 486 machine with 48 MB of RAM and a 1.7 GB hard drive! And here at the office i have a Compaq Deskpro on Windows XP running since late September last year, on a UPS, it hasn't been turned off or rebooted in all that time. Plain bare bones XP and two applications - one for our security cameras to record the video during night time, the other uTorrent (this is the machine i use to grab my Linux distro iso files). Oh, the Windows by the way is SP2 and no further updates, auto-update etc is DISABLED so it can't be forced to do a reboot

Regards

Thanh

Edited April 2, 2008 by Thanh-BKK

[Thanh-BKK]

By the way......

Just started download of "Mandriva Linux One". As i said, i am open minded to try them all and find one that works. On their site it says to enable 3D i need "Nvidia Geforce or later". Well, Ubuntu should mention that, too....... so at least i know now why it never works.

Regards.....

Thanh

[hp8000]

Now if you're downloading Mandriva One, why not give it a try in LiveCD mode on your main machine ? You will at least see what works or not.

And don't forget to have a look at this (very important) page: Forum Mandriva

as well as this one: Wiki Mandriva

@RKASA: Mandriva One come with most of the drivers pre-installed as it's a LiveCD. If you plan to install it on the harddrive you could then want to remove all the unwanted one as I did to keep the system cleaner and avoid useless updates. It can be done through the package manager. Good testing.

Edited April 2, 2008 by hp8000

[bkkguy1970]

I've read recently that there's a Linux distribution that installs in a Windows folder rather than needing drive repartioning. Can anyone tell me what it's called please?

the Ubuntu 8.04 Beta includes Wubi which needs no playing around with the partition table or the MBR. it is an install routine that can be run under Windows to install Ubuntu into a large file in the Windows filesystem. It also adds Ubuntu to the Windows boot menu so you can choose at boot to start windows or Ubuntu. there is also an unitstall program that runs under windows to remove the file and the boot entry

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/beta

http://wubi-installer.org/

bkkguy

[bkkguy1970]

I know 8.04 is still beta and all, but i have now tried 6.10, 7.10 and 8.04 and none of them works the way they should without spending a horrible amount of time to try and get them there... sorry, Ubuntu, you may be free as in "no money" but the amount of time needed to get you working stands in no relation to it.

I have often heard it said that Linux is only free if you do not value your time!

and I think most free public forums - be they Linux or Windows - give you exactly what you pay for, but with gems that are usually too hard to find!

I recently was trying to fix a problem with my microphone not working on a new Ubuntu install. a quick search of the Ubuntu forums found 20+ multi-page threads that contained confusing, conflicting and usually wrong information that wasted a lot of time, then in another forum I stumbled on one one of the programmers that was working on the code that was causing my problem. he gave me some diagnostics to run then based on the results some flags to pass at load time to fix the problem and the next day he had updated the source code ready for including on the next Ubuntu update - a classic example of open source at its best and worst, and one that keeps me a fan of open source but frustrated when I have problem!

bkkguy

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

About Wubi, it would be *almost* ideal for me - i.e. i could put it on the main machine and mess with it there.....

BUT (there's always a "but" in good things).... of course, it does not work with Vista. To be precise, with Vista's boot manager which can get thoroughly destroyed by Wubi, in which case you have NEITHER Windows NOR Ubuntu working.

And for me, i already have dual-boot which was a mess to set up (as i installed XP after Vista and still managed to get it to work) and trying Wubi would destroy me that boot manager - and again, the time to fix THAT is what i don't have. Which is why i mess around with that spare computer.

I remember a while back, with one of my Linux installs (on the main machine!) i had an option to put Grub on a floppy - if i wanted Linux, i booted from said floppy, otherwise (from HDD) it went straight to Windows without messing with the HDD's boot sector. Now i'm not sure if my system supports booting from USB, but IF it does, can i install Linux on a big-enough thumb drive and have Grub there, too? Boot from that thumb drive for Linux, from HDD for Windows, and if it screws up it's just a thumb drive and nothing is lost?

I get 8 GB ones for below 1.000 Baht, cheaper than a HDD and, as my current Ubuntu is below 3 GB, plenty enough space.

I WANT Linux, definitely. Just scared to screw up my main machine which is my life, so to speak, after the recent trouble with Linux on a much simpler machine. Live CD's are fine but as they are no installs, i can't change settings and see what happens as no settings can be changed.

Best regards......

Thanh

[hp8000]

USB Ubuntu 7.04 persistant

HOW-TO install Ubuntu on a USB pendrive

Good luck.

PS. Do you know Google ? Google

Edited April 2, 2008 by hp8000

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Thanks for that. Yes, i know Google - for one question i get 20,819,345.37 answers, each of which says something totally different from all the others (specially when it comes to Linux) and i need to plan for the next 240 years in advance to try them all (and fail with the first 19,989,427 of them, each one requiring an OS-reinstall).

Still have to check first if my mainboard actually supports USB boot - again, DID google for that and got my millions of answers, of which roughly 48% say "yes", 48% say "no" and 3% say "popcorn". I'm still hunting for that last percent, maybe the golden answer is in there.

You know, i am just very scared that any kind of install, as long as it's done on the main machine, will put Grub or ANY modification on drive c: respectively it's boot sector. Like before when i HAD installed Linux on a (removable!) second HDD with the boot manager supposedly in there as well - however when i removed that drive, the machine wouldn't boot - not to Windows, either, because Linux HAD written at least *something* in the boot sector of the first, fixed, HDD which now required the second HDD to be present to boot from the first!

But on the other hand, aren't "Linux on flashdrive" installations supposed to be for the purpose of having your OS with you, to use it on a foreign computer? So that shouldn't modify the boot sector. However.... err.... (i'm such a n00b!) how would it support the (obviously different!) hardware in the foreign computer?? Or is that just like the live CD so each boot is like a "mini install into RAM"?

So my schedule:

1) tomorrow morning: Put PC Linux OS Gnome on the test machine

2) tomorrow morning: Check for main machine USB boot ability (BIOS)

3) coming weekend: Get another 8 GB flash drive if 2) is positive

4) Get me some Linux going!!

Kind regards......

Thanh

[hp8000]

But on the other hand, aren't "Linux on flashdrive" installations supposed to be for the purpose of having your OS with you, to use it on a foreign computer? So that shouldn't modify the boot sector. However.... err.... (i'm such a n00b!) how would it support the (obviously different!) hardware in the foreign computer?? Or is that just like the live CD so each boot is like a "mini install into RAM"?

It will support the different (most common) hardware by including the drivers (modules) in the kernel. It's why a LiveCD will boot and work on most computers, everything is in the (Linux) kernel. The rest of the operating system is GNU The GNU Operating System .

It's why we should call it GNU/Linux OS and NOT Linux.

Mandriva sales a Mandriva Flash have a look there for more infos about how to boot from USB keys.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

The gods of Linux seem to hate me big time.

Download of PC Linux OS Gnome is CORRUPTED.

2 CD's wasted.

Thanh

[dave_boo]

Thanh, I'm sorry to hear of your 'adventures'. I've been using Linux pretty much full time since ~2001, and whilst I'm no guru, I'd take you up on your challenge when I return to BKK in July. Will cost you a dinner though!

You can't really compare a desktop system with a server can you? Especially considering that a server is serving up more than just webpages/irc/whatever. The whole point that I was bringing up is that there's no way a home user can put the same load on a desktop that is put on servers. I will grant you that most servers are run without GUI, but the stresses are also much greater. Also, quite a few servers are used in conjunction with 'dumb' terminals. I.E. they server up the GUI for numerous other machines, host the clients data, etc.

As I said earlier, I've been using Linux since 2001, and had experimented with it before then. In the pre-2001 years I had problems, but since then ALL the problems were with either my own ineptness or a hardware fault/beta software (and that includes drivers). The only time I've ever had to re-install is when I was rushing to put Ubuntu on my personal laptop and wasn't paying attention and somehow overwrote my SuSE install. Luckily I always back up onto an external drive!

I can't emphasise enough that if someone were to really sit down and look at it, most problems with OSes (yes even Windows) can be traced back to hardware manufacturers/add on software releasing buggy product/code. For instance, my personal laptop has 2 bioses released on its website. One is for XP and the other is for Vista. Guess which is more compliant with international standards?

[Thanh-BKK]

Good morning

Thank you for your reply. If, by July, i still don't have Linux on my machine i'll gladly have you do it..... thank you so much!!

About PC Linux OS, the whole thing seems to be some sort of joke.

Had one corrupted download yesterday (the file was completely downloaded, no errors, and also burned to a CD and verified perfectly but that CD was then corrupted - TWO in fact as i tried twice). I then kept my machine on over night to download it again (from a different mirror) and the new file is 60 MB LARGER - burns to CD again without error, but -

CORRUPTED again!!

IS there a working version of it somewhere? I am talking of the "Gnome" one.

Best regards....

Thanh

Edited April 3, 2008 by Thanh-BKK

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I don't know about this PC Linux OS.... just to test i put that CD into the other machine and tried if it would boot - under Windows all the other Linux CD's can be opened too, this one can't but it boots nevertheless, and i like very much what i see - beautiful desktop and theme.... but the installer is WEIRD.

If i try the option "use and erase entire disk" or "custom partitioning" i get the message "you have to log out and back in for the changes to take effect", upon doing so - nothing at all has changed?

When i use the remaining option "use existing partitions" it starts doing something (supposedly formatting, altough that takes only half a second... then copying stuff) and that just exits after like 40% and then it sits there on the live CD again, no further activity going on........

I'm haunted with this stuff.......

But at least my main machine DOES boot from a USB device, it just has to be plugged in at boot to get that option in the BIOS.

Regards.....

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

ooooooh

You are reading here semi-live the story of frustration of one who wants to switch but is forced to continue using Windows!!

So the CD is DEFINITELY corrupted. Altough it actually boots just fine, even under the just loaded OS i can NOT open the CD - it says "there is probably no disc in the drive". No wonder the installer fails. I am currently downloading it for a THIRD time, this time via torrent (and found out that it has to be even bigger by another 5.5 MB).

Next i tried "Mandriva One". And for some reason, selecting ANY country other than "United States" makes the thing hang - i am talking about the live CD! "Thailand" is not available at all, so i tried Hong Kong and Singapore - both hang at the next step (time zone). WEIRD.

Now it's loaded in U.S.A. "mode".

Looks just like Windows if you ask me.

Best regards....

Thanh

(will report if "install" worked)

[Thanh-BKK]

Ok, so......

Mandriva installed fine.

Asked me for a user survey, registration etc... IN SPANISH for some reason, luckily i speak it enough to know what to put where....

then, into the session...... after like 2 minutes....

HARD FREEZES.

NVIDIA!!!!!!!!!!!

Finish. Back to XP.

Thanh

[RKASA]

I am still try to get the 2008 gnome its been sloooow.  But I had the mandriva one and between power outages,wind storms and lightening I loaded it up.  

It started fine I found the Thailand and stuff but had to drill around in the box for a while to get to it.  

I did the survay in English then half way it whiched to something else so I dumped on that.  

I got it installed fine from GUI the drive I selected was already partitioned the way I would like so I selected existing and everything works.  I don't care much for the package man. program and it seems really locked down, but that can be worked around I am sure.  It runs just fine and its vary refined.  I could see at least on my 5 year old compaq laptop with a ext usb drive I installed to, that it is vary usable out of the box.  With all the games preloaded I had to hide it from the wife I don't really need this to become a reg. install.  I did see that they have GPRS/Edge/3g so at least I know if I need that it will work in PClinuxOS because its mandrake based.  I was surprized to see my wifi with eth2 lite up and it told me its was connecting eth1 because it can't fine an wireless AP, most likely because we don't have one.  The power man was working without a problem as was sound and everything.  This is kde but can be changed over to gnome I beleave.  If your equipment runs xp I see no reason this should not work.  

My downloader says that gnome 2008 will be done in 4 days?? I am sure it will pick up some speed.

Have to give the mandriva 2008 one kde a big thumbs up.

[hp8000]

Ok, so......

Mandriva installed fine.

Asked me for a user survey, registration etc... IN SPANISH for some reason, luckily i speak it enough to know what to put where....

then, into the session...... after like 2 minutes....

HARD FREEZES.

NVIDIA!!!!!!!!!!!

Finish. Back to XP.

Thanh

You'll never be successfull with this antediluvian card. And I guess Mandriva is loading the "nvidia" module by default as it has recognised an Nvidia card. Checking the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file will confirm it. And even an experienced user will NEVER bring 3D in your computer with this card. So I suggest you stick with XP as it's so much better.

As you are in BKK, you could find a cheap Nvidia 128MB (second hand or new) 3D Linux compatible for less than 1000bahts. I have an unused one somewhere here but I'm in the north.

Have a nice day.

[hp8000]

I am still try to get the 2008 gnome its been sloooow.  But I had the mandriva one and between power outages,wind storms and lightening I loaded it up.  

It started fine I found the Thailand and stuff but had to drill around in the box for a while to get to it.  

I did the survay in English then half way it whiched to something else so I dumped on that.  

I got it installed fine from GUI the drive I selected was already partitioned the way I would like so I selected existing and everything works.  I don't care much for the package man. program and it seems really locked down, but that can be worked around I am sure.  It runs just fine and its vary refined.  I could see at least on my 5 year old compaq laptop with a ext usb drive I installed to, that it is vary usable out of the box.  With all the games preloaded I had to hide it from the wife I don't really need this to become a reg. install.  I did see that they have GPRS/Edge/3g so at least I know if I need that it will work in PClinuxOS because its mandrake based.  I was surprized to see my wifi with eth2 lite up and it told me its was connecting eth1 because it can't fine an wireless AP, most likely because we don't have one.  The power man was working without a problem as was sound and everything.  This is kde but can be changed over to gnome I beleave.  If your equipment runs xp I see no reason this should not work.  

My downloader says that gnome 2008 will be done in 4 days?? I am sure it will pick up some speed.

Have to give the mandriva 2008 one kde a big thumbs up.

Nice to hear that it works well in your PC.

From where are you downloading the Gnome ISO ?

From an ftp like this one ?

ftp Mandriva Hong Kong

I've just tried to begin the download (the first file on the top of the page) and I have a speed of ~30K/sec and an estimated time of 6-8 hours.

Edited April 3, 2008 by hp8000

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Yeah, the Mandriva looks very promising - i don't like KDE but that can be changed i am sure, yes, good menus there, good applications too, nothing to complain. IF it only would have skipped the <deleted>' Nvidia driver...... yes, it definitely has one installed, judging by the "Nvidia" splash screen that comes up during boot. Should have asked me if i want it, the way Ubuntu does. I am sure it's a rather excellent system, unfortunately i am fed up with the way none of the Linux distros works with my graphics card, be it ancient or not! They didn't work (well Ubuntu at least) with the on-board one either and that's a mere two years old.

And i KNOW the problem is with that driver, not the actual Linux, so i'm not ranting about Linux here. Yet still - the fact remains that my "ancient" graphics card works just fine under Windows, with both XP's generic driver (similar to the "nv" one under Ubuntu) as well as one downloaded from Nvidia, respectively supplied with the card (i still have that CD). Google Earth has no problem running there, fully animated and not slow at all. As mentioned, also no problem with a fast-paced game such as "Need For Speed Underground".

I have two more Linux's to try - SAM 2007 (which i downloaded despite the update-related warning i received here) and PC Linux OS Gnome, i hope that the one i am downloading via torrent will not ALSO produce a corrupted CD. If all fails, i'll put Gutsy back on that machine so i have a spare computer that can be used for something at least (Gutsy still worked best of all of them, apart from the splash screen issue which i will survive somehow). I will NOT go and buy yet-another-graphic-card only to find out, back home, that it doesn't work either (been there, done that, got the t-shirt plenty of times) - Linux works with what i have or i'll work with something else than Linux.

IF i manage to get PC Linux OS, i will put another HDD in the main machine comes time to do so (i found out i have another 30 GB IDE drive lying around, that should be enough for just the OS) and just go for it - PC Linux OS Gnome, if it works then i'll keep it, if it doesn't i put the Vista-XP HDD back in and not much time lost (and, importantly, nothing messed up!)

Thank you all for advice received - i'll keep you informed on my success or lack thereof.

Best regards.....

Thanh

[RKASA]

The gnome 2008 I am using the mirrors.lastdot.org  its picking up some speed here later in the afternoon.  I think its a load on the server.  

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

Is that "PC Linux OS 2008 Gnome" that you are trying? Please, let me know if any success. I just found that my THIRD download, the one via torrent, ALSO produces a corrupted CD (one that appears empty even after 665 MB have sucessfully been burned onto it).

I think the whole thing is an april fools gag or something.

Best regards

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

have just ordered a CD from here:

http://on-disk.com/product_info.php/products_id/431

Hope that won't be corrupted, too!

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

Just attempted to try my third failed PClos Gnome CD - boots fine, installation doesn't, just like the one from yesterday.

Tried SAM 2007 - no joy, just like PClos i get no "Thailand" option in selecting countries, went with U.S.A. and right after selecting the time zone (which i left at the values SAM suggested) the screen goes black and that's it, no further reaction.

Now i'm putting Gutsy back on - that was the only one that ran Google Earth without trouble and allowed me to ignore that stupid "Nvidia" driver. I WANT a Linux working on that machine!!

With best regards......

Thanh

[Thanh-BKK]

Yup.

Gutsy up and running - WITH splash screens this time round, i applied the same edit to the "usplash.conf" as before (change resolution from 1280 x 1024 to 640 x 480) but this time it was the first thing i did after installing the system - and voila, works like a charm. Using the "nv" driver.

Then updated everything - 204 packages - and it still worked.

Haven't installed anything else yet - Google Earth, Automatix, Skype, RealPlayer, VLC - will do them one-by-one and reboot inbetween to make sure it either works or at least i find out which one causes trouble.

Oh, and i had success in manual partitioning too! Got a separate 25 GB "/home" partition now.

@RKASA

If you get your PClos 2008 Gnome download completed, please let me know if the CD turns out ok or corrupted.... i'm still puzzled why that happened to me not once but THREE times from THREE different sources. And no, it's NOT the burner because other CD's and DVD's burned after are fine.

Best regards.....

Thanh