Now I Change To Ubuntu

[h90]

As I need to setup my system, I think I go with Ubuntu 10.10 now.

Do I have everything OK for the change:

Mainboard

MSI P45 Platinum: any problems with that?

CPU: E7200 (7300 can't remember)

Printer HL-2140 from Brother (will it work??)

Email I want to use Thunderbird and I need to swap the email folder between the Ubuntu computer and a Win7 Laptop: Does that work (different file format and 10+ GB)

I have some software which only works on WinXP and older (designed for Win95) with Dongle Emulator (as it needs parallel port dongle).

What will I use? Sun VirtualBox with WinXP installed?

Will I be able to print from the VirtualBox and I need to make PDF documents from this software, will I easily able to send these pdf from Ubuntu (interface between Ubuntu and virtualbox)???

I need to backup my to a USB HD in NTFS: possible?

Please advise before I destroy my old system :-)

[h90]

forgot I have 2 displays and a nvidia card

[thaimite]

Congratulation on the change

I will try to answer a few of your questions and maybe give few hints as well.

You do not state what graphics card you are using. In my experience Nvidia is well supported for the later models

I used to run a dual boot XP and Ubuntu system and I used a shared profile for my Firefox and Thunderbird installations. Thus whatever way I booted my system, Thunderbird emails and Firfox History, bookmarks etc was up to date. There are many tutorials on the web as to how to do this, but it is quite simple and basically invloves making sure your profile is on a shared drive and then using Thunderbird's and Firefox's profile manager to set the required profile. There are a few possible issues with extensions that work in Windows not working in Ubuntu and vice versa, but if that hppens there is an easy workaround. To swap the email with you Win7 machine you could just use a USB drive as the email folder on each machine and point your profile to it. There is no problem with compatability

I use VMware rather than Virtual box (mainly because I work alongside a certified VMware professional) and I find it very good, in addition my colleague assures me that VMware has better support for other devices and is faster than VirtualBox (but then he would!!). I have just checked with him and he thinks that VMware should be able to support a serial or Parallel port dongle. If the software is Win95 why not make a Win95 virtual machine for that as well as the XP one?

I have used Wine but found many applications would not run and are not supported. Wine or similar will certainly not support a dongle. Printing from VMware and using USB ports to connect phones etc is no problem.

VMware needs a patch to run with Ubuntu 10.10 but this is easy done once you know to look for it.

Hope all this helps and welcome to the world of Ubuntu

[thaimite]

forgot I have 2 displays and a nvidia card

I have seen some issues on the forums with dual displays, but I think they were all sorted. You do not state what model of Nvidia card you have, but it should be OK. Ubuntu has good Nvidia support and a lot of users on the Ubuntu forums posting advice

[sulasno]

I got a friend who recommended Virtual instead of VM

I suppose I should try VM as well; but the size is rather big

[thaimite]

I got a friend who recommended Virtual instead of VM

I suppose I should try VM as well; but the size is rather big

I also downloaded Virtualbox (dont tell my colleague haha) but I could not get it to work. Admittedly I did not try too hard and instead of creating a new virtualbox machine I was trying to get it to boot my VMware machine (which it is supposed to do!).

[h90]

thaimite: Graphic card.....EVGA GeForce 9800 GT

I thought for the VirtualBox, because I tried VMWare before on Windows 7 and when loading my old software it crashed including the Win7 "mothersystem" in a blue screen, whenever it tried to read from the non existing parallel port. But that might be different under Linux.

The idea with the USB drive won't work, as the emailfolders are 10 GB and that get from the harddisk already very slow. Usually the emails stay on the office computer unless I go in the south for a few days, than I move it on the laptop...I'll see how that works....

I though:

1) I defrag my hd (500 GB Greenline Western Digital)

2) I install Ubuntu as second OS (So I have my old one till everything is running)

3) Once it is OK, I delete the WinXP and use that free space as additional partiton

4) I take my old 160 GB HD and install either XP or Win7 Only for games and change booting in the Bios.

Actually I would prefer to install the WinXP new on the 500 GB HD, but I think it will kill the dual boot from Ubuntu, or? Or is there a simple way to reinstall that bootmenue?

[keeniau96]

VirtualBox works very well on Ubuntu host. You can install it with the Synaptic Package Manager (on the Ubuntu main menu) or direct d/l from Sun/Oracle. Good tutorial for the install on Ubuntu site. About the only trick is to add yourself to the vboxusers group. Can try the dongle on the parallel port. Make sure to install the GuestAdditions once you have the Windows OS installed. Then install a shared folder which allows passing data back and forth from the host (Ubuntu) to the guest (windows) OS. VBox is really quite stable and certainly easy to use. Per the previous posting, you can certainly install multiple guests eg. WinXP, Win95 etc. I use WinXP and Win7 on my install.

When installing the guest OS (WIndows) make sure you have the CD enabled in the Settings process, then load the Win CD and wait for it to be recognized inside Linux, then start the installation, which will proceed exactly like regular Windows installation.

[thaimite]

As stated I use VMware because of the free professional support I get, but I am aware that a lot of people use and like Virtualbox.

If I remember correctly you are better getting Virtualbox from the official site as the one in the Ubuntu repository is the open source version which does not include all features.

I understand about emails being slow on a USB drive but the point is that both Linux and Windows versions of Thunderbird use the same formats and so can either be shared on a dual boot system or you can copy your emails between machines as and when required.

Your installation procedure sounds fine and I agree that installing XP on the 500GB after Ubuntu will probably kill any dual boot. There are ways to correct this, but I would have to search the web for them.

Why not install XP first (I am not sure what OS is already on this disk.) . If you install Ubuntu over XP it will set up the dual boot automatically, and make space accordingly. From memory your Nvidia graphics card should work fine. I am using a laptop with a GeForce card.

edit

does anybody know why when I use a smiley I always get a different one to the one I select?

Edited October 16, 2010 by thaimite

[h90]

As stated I use VMware because of the free professional support I get, but I am aware that a lot of people use and like Virtualbox.

If I remember correctly you are better getting Virtualbox from the official site as the one in the Ubuntu repository is the open source version which does not include all features.

I understand about emails being slow on a USB drive but the point is that both Linux and Windows versions of Thunderbird use the same formats and so can either be shared on a dual boot system or you can copy your emails between machines as and when required.

Your installation procedure sounds fine and I agree that installing XP on the 500GB after Ubuntu will probably kill any dual boot. There are ways to correct this, but I would have to search the web for them.

Why not install XP first (I am not sure what OS is already on this disk.) . If you install Ubuntu over XP it will set up the dual boot automatically, and make space accordingly. From memory your Nvidia graphics card should work fine. I am using a laptop with a GeForce card.

edit

does anybody know why when I use a smiley I always get a different one to the one I select?

I just posting that from Ubuntu, while on the second screen WinXp is installing, unfortunately the Open Source version of Virtual Box :-( as I read you posting too late.

(but dual screen works perfect!!!)

Currently I have an old dirty WinXP installation on the HD. This is the installation I work (work in the office earning my money) with, so I can only destroy it after I have another work OS. Therefore first Ubuntu and later WinXP (or Win7) :-(

While I wait for the installation I look around and I can't find some detailed energy safe options. Often the computer runs several days and nights....So it should slow down the CPU (maybe it is automatic) and the GPU.

As well I need to put in my password again every time it recovers from blank screen, and I can't find where to stop that.

Reason of edit: many things were not clear and easy to misunderstanding

Edited October 16, 2010 by h90

[thaimite]

I am sure there is a way of stopping the requirement for the password to turn off the screen saver. Unfortuantely I am still at work and on a windoze machine so cannot check. I will have a look when I get home in an hour or so

It is a little bit gimmicky but last week I downloaded an app that detects the range of my phone's bluetooth and locks the machine when I walk away and unlocks it as I approach. It works well, and saves typing in my password, while keeping the machine secure.

I am glad to hear your video card is working well with the dual monitors.

I thinkg energy saving is automatic but like you I am not sure.

Good luck and i look forward to hearing your experiences with Ubuntu

[h90]

I am sure there is a way of stopping the requirement for the password to turn off the screen saver. Unfortuantely I am still at work and on a windoze machine so cannot check. I will have a look when I get home in an hour or so

It is a little bit gimmicky but last week I downloaded an app that detects the range of my phone's bluetooth and locks the machine when I walk away and unlocks it as I approach. It works well, and saves typing in my password, while keeping the machine secure.

I am glad to hear your video card is working well with the dual monitors.

I thinkg energy saving is automatic but like you I am not sure.

Good luck and i look forward to hearing your experiences with Ubuntu

Skype installation without troubles,

Thunderbird without troubles

found the WinXP Network drive on a other computer and could open the Excel file per double-click and print it.

The print is pretty poor, but some small adjustments I think.

So far super simple....but getting the old software to run is the point.....

[thaimite]

Power management

On my PC I have theprogram system - preferences power management which lets me set a few options for power management. If it is not there it can be installed through the Ubuntu software centre. There also seems to be a few other packages in the Synaptic package manager Filter on Power) that may give more options. In addition my Nvidia driver configuration (Preferences - Nvidia X-server settings) gives limited options for the graphics card.

If you go to Preferences - screen saver there is a check box to lock the machine when the screen saver is active. Unchecking that may solve your screen lock password issue.

[h90]

status now: When I try to install my old software in WinXP in VirtualBox, the WinXP freezes and the VirtualBox crashes.

VMware seems to be a commercial product. Is there any trial version?

Or any other software I can try?

[thaimite]

You can try VMWare workstation for 1 month from this link

https://www.vmware.c...orkstation&lp=1

Edit

To get VMware workstation to work with Ubuntu 10.10 you need to follow the instructions on this link

http://blog.mattrudge.net/2010/10/11/vmware-player-on-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat/

Edited October 17, 2010 by thaimite

[h90]

update: vmware, trial version is a pain, they want to know too much on their webpage.

VirtualBox: I downloaded the new HASP driver from their webpage, installation always crash but finally it installs.

The software I need does not install, as it automatic installs an old HASP driver which complete crashes everything, but it is possible to just copy all the files from a working system and copy the registry informations.

Than start the software the company uses for systems without parallel port, which prevent the HASP Software to query the non existing parallel port.

And than it works......difficult but working....

[thaimite]

update: vmware, trial version is a pain, they want to know too much on their webpage.

VirtualBox: I downloaded the new HASP driver from their webpage, installation always crash but finally it installs.

The software I need does not install, as it automatic installs an old HASP driver which complete crashes everything, but it is possible to just copy all the files from a working system and copy the registry informations.

Than start the software the company uses for systems without parallel port, which prevent the HASP Software to query the non existing parallel port.

And than it works......difficult but working....

I am happy to hear you have had some success.

As for companies that require an intrusive amount of information, I agree it is a pain, but then I never tell them anything true or sensible anyway, and of course have a special Spam email address for their marketing dept.

My logic is that I would not buy from a shop that insisted on me answering intrusive questions before letting me through the door and I will not do it on the web. In other words, If they insist on asking stupid questions, I insist on giving stupid answers.

[h90]

the next small problem.....

The screen/the letters in Ubuntu are not as sharp as in WinXP.

The resolution is set right and the Nvidia driver are installed.

Even the WinXP in VirtualBox is sharper than Ubuntu.

My opinion is (and I might be wrong), that Windows, when adjusting the size of the letters just allows "black or white", while in Ubuntu there are grey pixel on the edges.

Anyone understand what I talk about??

Edit: Problem fixed (Appearance fonts)

Edited October 17, 2010 by h90

[h90]

Next problem in Thunderbird and Firefox the fonts are still blur...I read a lot but can't figure out to get them sharp

[sulasno]

which VM can I run with an old notebook on WinXP ?

VMware-player-3.1.2-301548.exe doesn't work for me

[siamect]

which VM can I run with an old notebook on WinXP ?

VMware-player-3.1.2-301548.exe doesn't work for me

I think you should take a closer look at Qemu... both for Win and Gnu/Linux