My Little Ubuntu Guide

UPDATE: AAAARRRGGGHH! Not working fully yet. Beryl doesn’t seem to be installing correctly. I’ll get this fixed by Tuesday, no later. Sorry for the delay!

Ok, I FINALLY got the live DVD working! Hurray! I’ll upload the ISO I created tonight. It’s about 1.3 Gigs, so prepare for an extra long download. But let me tell you, this is so easy now. No more booting into a broken X, no more booting without wifi. The live DVD has graphics, WiFi, all the apps you’ll want on your new system, and more! Only downside is VMWare Server doesn’t work until you run the “FinishUp” script on the Desktop. But that’s the first thing you should do once you’ve installed a new system anyway!

What is the “FinishUp” script you ask?

It’s a little script I created that has an icon on your Desktop after you install from the Live DVD. You run it and it does the kernel upgrade and all other updates to the system after a fresh install. When it’s done, it just “disappears” from your desktop and you can reboot to make the changes take effect.

Although I’m proud of myself for committing to getting this DVD done and ready for download or shipping to anyone who wants it, I’m not ready to call it a finished product.

Why?

Because, it’s only really useful for users with ATI graphics on their laptops. I want to make it autodetect the graphics card and enable the appropriate driver as a result. I’m pretty close to getting that function working, so hang tight. Once that works, this will be one rocking live ubuntu cd (DVD)!

And, I’ve tested putting it on a USB stick and it works like a charm.

Anywho….I’ll email you who have subscribed when the ISO is online and ready for download.

Cheers!

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Okay, so I think I’ve gotten all the bugs worked out of the custom dvd script. By using UCK, you can get into the Live CD image using your GUI and then launch the Terminal (see the guide). Once in the terminal you can download my script and run it. It will auto install everything, literally, that you would need. When it’s done you just close that window and continue buidling the DVD.

I’m going to create an ISO that’s ready for download as well.

First I need to fully test the ISO and see what it “looks” like. If anyone has a request for an application to be included in the script let me know.

After you install from this Live DVD you create using the install script I made, those applications will also be installed on the system! But the Sources.list will not, you’ll need to do that after a fresh install. I’m going to create a “finish up” script to run after a fresh install, which will do this and a few other things automatically.

That’s it for today! Now off to do some other stuff…

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If you are experiencing an issue with Automatix (www.getautomatix.com) during the dellinstall script, have no fear! I’m looking into it and will let you know the update right away! If all else fails, I’ll create my own automatix type script and have it take care of it all during the install process.

Cheers!

John Westbrook

UPDATE……

Ok, the Automatix issue is taken care of. It was simply the fact that they had just updated their script to a different name. I’m currently updating the script to take care of this and a few other issues so we don’t keep having this problem.

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So about June 28 Tribe 2 of Gutsy was released. I have high hopes for Gutsy, mainly that it’s Live CD will actually work! If it does, I’m going to attempt to create the USB from it. And, since it’s such a pain to make the Feisty USB work, I’m hoping this one will work and allow me to save changes, etc.

Now downloading the Desktop CD image found here: Ubuntu Gutsy Tribe 2

UPDATE…

Ok, downloaded and during the install it still won’t load the GUI. So I’m going to try for the custom USB instead. I’ll post an image that you can copy to your USB when I get it finished!

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I want to manually setup a USB install stick to have the ATI graphics driver already enabled, so I can pop it in and have it boot into the Live CD mode with the correct graphics driver. I’m starting my research on this today. So if any of you know how to do this and can help me avoid reinventing the wheel, please email me! Just email john AT jrdw.com. Thanks!

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Ok, so I just purchased a new domain…ubuntuondell.com…and I want to set it up as a site specifically for Dell users who want to reduce the confusion, work, etc. involved in making Ubuntu work on their Dell computer. Your input into how I should design the site, e.g. forum, blog, content management, etc., is very welcome! Thanks!

Cheers!

John

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It’s that time again, I’m downloading a new copy of Ubuntu Feisty, after rumours of a new CD released, and am going to do a fresh install with my scripts. I’ll fix any errors and update the How-To and script as necessary.

Cheers!

John Westbrook

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Ok, I’ve updated the Feisty How To as well as the Ubuntuforums.org version. I’m trying to make them more clear and understandable, even for a newbie. Please let me know if I’m succeeding at that. If you have suggestions and updates of your own they are more than welcome!

Oh, by the way, I should state the obvious. I’ve done a clean install using the Official Alternate CD Release and everything is perfect! This time I can even read SD cards from my Card Reader! Yeah! But I’m still listing it as not working since Sony cards still won’t read.

And if any of you are savvy enough, I’d like to create some scripts from this guide to automate the install process. Let me know!

Later!

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Ok, I’m taking the plunge now, after using the Beta feisty for about a few weeks successfully, I’ve just downloaded the latest official Live CD from Ubuntu.com and am about to blow my system away. Before I do here’s a quick “lesson” for you newbies:

NEVER do this unless you have either backed up your system entirely or have seperate partitions and don’t format the one with your stuff on it! What I did is create three partitions on my 160GB drive. The first is a 30Gig for the System itself. The second is a 1Gig for Swap. The third is a 120Gig partition that I assign to /home.

Now, when I do a “blow away” clean install of linux I make sure that after booting into the live CD I delete all my settings in my home directory EXCEPT for my firefox and thunderbird, since these contain my favorites and email. The other hidden directories, those with a “.” in front of the name, I usually delete all of them. Unless, of course, there’s some type of file in them that is necessary later. This ensures a clean install. And I never, of course, format the home partition. Just the swap and root (30gig) partition get formatted.

Ok, it’s off to the install process!

Wish me luck!

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Finally got my Feisty working 100%! Yeah! Check it out under the “How To’s” Category. I know I know, a lot of rebooting, but that’s the only way I found for it to really effectively and “cleanly” install.

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Ok, the kernel thing was a really dumb idea! It hosed my system. So now I reinstalled, only this time did a Feisty Fawn Beta install and am determined to get Beryl working! Will report back…

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Ok, so I ran into a problem with the latest Edgy kernel (2.6.17xxx) and VMWare. The problem is any network activity in the VMware guest OS causes the VM to lock up and if my host is fully engaged in the VM the host is locked also, for a period of exactly 5 minutes.

The problem is very mysterious and no one has really found a solid “fix”, even in the VMware forums. However, after I upgraded to the newest kernel via Feisty Beta the problem disappeared. This led me to beleive that the problem is the kernel. So, because I don’t want to run a beta right now on my system, since I cannot get Beryl working, and other reasons, I’m going to attempt to update just my kernel to 2.6.20xx.

After a post on www.UbuntuForums.org, I was directed to a thread here (thanks to NeoLithium): http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=311158

So I’m following this guide and will post back my progress and success/challenges.

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