Yesterday I was disappointed in the way my new Linux box was playing videos. I installed all the Codec Packs I could find and was still having trouble playing my Samsung video files and DVDs. I went to the Internet with Firefox and tried to play videos from the web in the browser and had trouble too. I tracked down the Samsung problem to a Codec and found that there just wasn't a Codec for Linux for it. (I did find one for MS WIndows).
The DVD would not play at work either in one machine but would in another. The only common factor I saw was both my Linux Box and Work MS Windows Box have DVD burners in them...hmm...The MS Windows 2000 machine that it did play in did not have a Burner in it. I will chalk this up to DRM.
Firefox not playing videos from the Internet is troubling. I will work on it tonight and we will see.
On one of my removable hard drives I had some standard MOV, AVI, DIVX, and MPEG files so I tested them. They worked just fine. Good, that means I did not trash my Codecs on this Linux Box.
Video 4 of 10 (Had to get Codecs just to start, had to install a second Package Installer to get most Codecs, Windows has my needed Codec but Linux doesn't? Oh I could recompile my Linux Mplayer to get it to work, but why? Shouldn't it just be done already if its a know issue? This is the NEWBIE in me complaining about free things)
NOTE: Keep in mind this is my 4th day as a Linux user and I am looking at this OS from an easy of use point of view. I don't want to have to research that much at first. I will later in the month but not in the first week.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
CANNON S2 1S USB
I took some pictures with my Cannon S2 1S Digital Camera and thought I'd test it. I got out the USB Cable for it and plug it in. A window popped up and said that a DIGITAL CAMERA was plugged in and then asked me if I wanted to IMPORT photos from it. YES or CANCEL. I said YES and was then present with a window with thumbnails of the photos on my camera. I picked some by CTRL CLICKING and said ok. It then asked where I wanted them. I said HOME directory (it is a folder with your logon name and can be accessed with the PANEL menu option PLACES). It was fast and it copied the photos to a fold in my HOME directory creating a sub directory of the DATE and TIME you copied the photos.
It went just fine. Only problem was I could not find the camera after the pictures were transfered. I looked in the FILE BROWSER (MS Windows puts an icon for you camera or a drive link here) but it was not there. I thought I'd be able to browse it like a removable Hard Drive but could not find it. I'll have to play with this a little bit.
8 out of 10 (It saw the camera and let me copy my pictures to the Linux Box)
It went just fine. Only problem was I could not find the camera after the pictures were transfered. I looked in the FILE BROWSER (MS Windows puts an icon for you camera or a drive link here) but it was not there. I thought I'd be able to browse it like a removable Hard Drive but could not find it. I'll have to play with this a little bit.
8 out of 10 (It saw the camera and let me copy my pictures to the Linux Box)
USB Storage Devices Results
I've done my USB tests on the storage devices. The results were surprisingly good. All the three Thumb Drives worked without fail and all three of the External Hard Drives worked just fine. I was able to read and write to/from all of them. The only thing I noticed was a forth Thumb Drive had very slow read access. It was a SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY 256mb. Now to be fair it was the oldest one I had so it could have been a USB 1.1 model. The way I test these devices was to CUT 20 photos from the Thumb Drives and paste them into my HOME directory then CUT them and put them back on the Thumb Drive. On the External Hard Drives I moved a 100mb file back and forth. All tests went well.
I learned that when you connect a USB storage device it creates an icon on your DESKTOP. You just DOUBLE CLICK on it and it opens in a FILE BROWSER window. It was very similar to USB Storage operation on a MS Windows Machine. Now when you are done and want to remove the USB Storage Device you RIGHT CLICK on its Icon on your DESKTOP and select EJECT. The system then writes anything that was cached and disappears from your DESKTOP. You then just unplug whatever USB Storage Device you were using. This is kinda like MS Windows 2000 did. If you remove the USB Storage Device before Ejecting it you get a warning about potential data loss.
I give Ubuntu 6.1 Linux a 9.5 out of 10 on USB Storage Devices. (Would have been 10 of 10 but I don't like having to Eject the USB Storage Device before removing it.)
I learned that when you connect a USB storage device it creates an icon on your DESKTOP. You just DOUBLE CLICK on it and it opens in a FILE BROWSER window. It was very similar to USB Storage operation on a MS Windows Machine. Now when you are done and want to remove the USB Storage Device you RIGHT CLICK on its Icon on your DESKTOP and select EJECT. The system then writes anything that was cached and disappears from your DESKTOP. You then just unplug whatever USB Storage Device you were using. This is kinda like MS Windows 2000 did. If you remove the USB Storage Device before Ejecting it you get a warning about potential data loss.
I give Ubuntu 6.1 Linux a 9.5 out of 10 on USB Storage Devices. (Would have been 10 of 10 but I don't like having to Eject the USB Storage Device before removing it.)
Friday, November 03, 2006
Eye Candy
I downloaded a few backgrounds just to change the look a little and I accidentally RIGHT CLICKED on the menu bar and found out that they are really called PANELS and there is one at the top and bottom and you can ADD to them. You can also move things around. You just RIGHT CLICK on the PANEL (bar at top or bottom) and a menu will appear. You then pick the ADD option and a window pops up with some choice of things to add. There are about 30-35 things you can add. They range from weather to system monitors to file searches. Once you add something you just right click on that object to configure its preferences or move it around. I'll experment with a few and report on any I like.
Weather is now on my top PANEL beside the date and time (upper right). It's 25 degrees out and clear. :-)
Codec Troubles
I have a Samsung Camcorder that will record to a DV tape or to a sony memory stick. When you record to the memory stick it save the files as AVIs. Well they are in a priority Samsung codec of SMP4. I could not locate a Linux codec for it. Now I could record to the DV tape but then I would have to put a firewire card in this box and get it working with Linux. Maybe later in the month.
The good news is that I was able to track down the problem, research it, and document it here. I did find a few articles that told me I could "recompile mplayer" to fool it into treating the SMP4 as a DIVX file which it is (SMP4 is a clone of MP4 or DIVX so the articles said). But I'm not ready to "recompile" anything yet.
So no DVD playback yet and no home movie editing with the Samsung videos.
The good news is that I was able to track down the problem, research it, and document it here. I did find a few articles that told me I could "recompile mplayer" to fool it into treating the SMP4 as a DIVX file which it is (SMP4 is a clone of MP4 or DIVX so the articles said). But I'm not ready to "recompile" anything yet.
So no DVD playback yet and no home movie editing with the Samsung videos.
DRM Sucks In Linux Too
I can't get a commercial DVD to play :-( I'm not trying to copy it, I just want to see it play. I put it in and it just spins and blinks the DVD roms light. I know its commercial copy protection but this sucks, I want to use my DVD that I paid for in my computer to watch it. The DVD is MONSTER HOUSE. Tomorrow I will take the DVD to work and see if it plays there on a MS Windows machine. I doubt it. DRM SUCKS. If it doesn't play on a MS Windows Machine I will return it!!!
I will try an older DVD to see if it will work on Linux.
I will try an older DVD to see if it will work on Linux.
Another Program Installer
I followed my friend El GEE's advice and installed AUTOMATIX2. It's a package installer and adds a few choices of applications that I was looking for. The installation of Automatix2 was my first adventure into the command line (TERMINAL). I read the install instruction that were posted on Automatix2's web page and just copied and pasted the commands. A few of them I understood, like the opening a file with gedit and making a change and saving it. I think I understand the the Wget command (at lest some of it) but I will have to read about that one. As each command was executed I several lines of commands scroll by. Boy that makes me nervous. I don't like not knowing but it did work and I have added the following applications:
Scribus (Graphic Page Layout and Publication)
Bluefish Editor (HTML editor)
Screem (Web Site Editor/Manager)
Anjuta IDE (Programing Tool)
Audacity (Sound Editor)
DVD Rip (Copies DVDs)
Easytag (MP3 Tag Editor)
Kino (DV Video Editor)
XCD Roast (Create CDs)
I also added adobe Flash support to Firefox.
Now to start doing something with these programs.
Scribus (Graphic Page Layout and Publication)
Bluefish Editor (HTML editor)
Screem (Web Site Editor/Manager)
Anjuta IDE (Programing Tool)
Audacity (Sound Editor)
DVD Rip (Copies DVDs)
Easytag (MP3 Tag Editor)
Kino (DV Video Editor)
XCD Roast (Create CDs)
I also added adobe Flash support to Firefox.
Now to start doing something with these programs.
USB Functions
When I plugged in a LG 1gb thumb drive into a USB Port on this Linux Box it worked without any fuss. Once plugged in the drives little blue light came on and a "computer-file browser" window popped up showing me the thumb drives contents. Just to make sure it was working, I copied a photo from the thumb drive to the my "Home" directory. I then copied a photo from my "Home" directory back to the thumb drive. No Problem. When I just pulled the thumb drive from the USB port I got an "unsafe drive removal" message. It gave instruction on how to safely remove the thumb drive but I clicked the screen causing the message to disappear before I read it. (Note: This Linux Box is a Dell 4500. It has one of the worst designed front panel USB ports I've ever seen. It lives under a half circle gray door with the Dell logo on it. This door does not open very far and the ports are set at a very odd angle.)
This weekend I am going to buy a SanDisk Multi-Memory card reader for a windows machine but I think I will try to get it to work on this Linux Box first.
USB Tests to do:
1. Memorex 256mb thumb drive
2. LG 1gb thumb drive
3. SanDisk 4gb thumb drive
4. Western Digital 2.5 external Hard Drive 60gb
5. Western Digital 3.5 External Hard Drive 120Gb
6. Homemade 3.5 External Hard Drive 300gb
7. Sandisk Multi-Memory Card Reader
8. Cannon S2 1S Digital Camera
9. Cheap Cannon Digital Camera ($125)
10. Kodak 3430 Digital Camera
11. Creative Zen Extra 40gb MP3 Player
12. Apple IPod Video 30gb (is there a Linux iTune?)
13. HP 1100 and/or1200 LaserJet Printer
14. Dell Axim pocket PC running Pocket PC 2003
I will break this down into four categories, testing all the storage devices/readers, then the cameras, then MP3 players, and finally the printers/Handhelds. The storage devices and cameras are most important to me so they will be done this weekend. I will post my results as I get them.
This weekend I am going to buy a SanDisk Multi-Memory card reader for a windows machine but I think I will try to get it to work on this Linux Box first.
USB Tests to do:
1. Memorex 256mb thumb drive
2. LG 1gb thumb drive
3. SanDisk 4gb thumb drive
4. Western Digital 2.5 external Hard Drive 60gb
5. Western Digital 3.5 External Hard Drive 120Gb
6. Homemade 3.5 External Hard Drive 300gb
7. Sandisk Multi-Memory Card Reader
8. Cannon S2 1S Digital Camera
9. Cheap Cannon Digital Camera ($125)
10. Kodak 3430 Digital Camera
11. Creative Zen Extra 40gb MP3 Player
12. Apple IPod Video 30gb (is there a Linux iTune?)
13. HP 1100 and/or1200 LaserJet Printer
14. Dell Axim pocket PC running Pocket PC 2003
I will break this down into four categories, testing all the storage devices/readers, then the cameras, then MP3 players, and finally the printers/Handhelds. The storage devices and cameras are most important to me so they will be done this weekend. I will post my results as I get them.
A Clean Sreen Shot
Before I start playing with the desktop and layout of Ubuntu Linux I thought I'd post a screen shot. This is the default look you get when you first install Ubuntu. I know it's a small photo but it should help you see what I was talking about when I describe where things are.By the way located in the APPLICATIONS/ACCESSORIES/
there is a program called TAKE SCREENSHOT that I used to make this.
On a side note, since this is my first Blog too, notice that I have figured out how to post photos. I've also noticed that there are link short cuts and some formating options.
Memory No Upgrade / Boot Times
Ever notice how PC2700 looks like PC2100? I do now. I guess I'll have to go buy some memory. Oh well, I guess a gig will be better than 512mbs.
Now lets talk Boot Times. From the time I see GRUB until the Logon screen appears it takes 29 seconds. After I type my user name and password its 13 seconds until I can start using the system. Counting the BOIS posts and my typing times that's about one (1) minute from power on until I can use it. This is not bad. My MS Windows laptop takes about three minutes and my new work machines takes a minute and a half.
Now this is a "clean install" and some MS Windows machines can achieve theses times when "clean". I'll time it again later as I make changes.
Now lets talk Boot Times. From the time I see GRUB until the Logon screen appears it takes 29 seconds. After I type my user name and password its 13 seconds until I can start using the system. Counting the BOIS posts and my typing times that's about one (1) minute from power on until I can use it. This is not bad. My MS Windows laptop takes about three minutes and my new work machines takes a minute and a half.
Now this is a "clean install" and some MS Windows machines can achieve theses times when "clean". I'll time it again later as I make changes.
Method to the Madness
I've decided to use a two step process while learning and using Linux. The first process will be to try to get Linux to do what I want it to with the "click and pray" method. (click on things without much reading until something happens). This will test how user friendly Linux is. This is the method that I see most MS Windows users try. And like most new MS Windows users this method will probably get me into trouble but should work for 60-70 percent of what I want to do. (I've installed Ubuntu Linux, got Internet access, and made this Blog with this method)
Now if this method does not work and I really need to do the task at hand, I will go to the 2nd method, RESEARCH. This will start with any local HELP menu options, followed up with Internet searches, and finally I'll ask others who have more Linux experience than me. (I will try to keep the "ask others" to a minimum). When I use this 2nd method, I will try to document the source of any answers I find.
Since I have set a 30 day limit on this test and want to get the most from this experience, I will only resort to the 2nd method if its something I really need or want to do. (I have a feeling that networking with my MS Windows network and accessing NTFS shares will be one of these and adding a wireless PCI Network card).
Over the weekend I plan on trying various Thumb Drives, removable hard drives, getting a SD card reader working (for photos), and maybe an MP3 Player.
As for now, I am going to power this Linux Box down and try to add another 256mbs of memory. I wonder how this will go.
Now if this method does not work and I really need to do the task at hand, I will go to the 2nd method, RESEARCH. This will start with any local HELP menu options, followed up with Internet searches, and finally I'll ask others who have more Linux experience than me. (I will try to keep the "ask others" to a minimum). When I use this 2nd method, I will try to document the source of any answers I find.
Since I have set a 30 day limit on this test and want to get the most from this experience, I will only resort to the 2nd method if its something I really need or want to do. (I have a feeling that networking with my MS Windows network and accessing NTFS shares will be one of these and adding a wireless PCI Network card).
Over the weekend I plan on trying various Thumb Drives, removable hard drives, getting a SD card reader working (for photos), and maybe an MP3 Player.
As for now, I am going to power this Linux Box down and try to add another 256mbs of memory. I wonder how this will go.
Add Remove Application / Ratings After 24 Hours Use
Add/Remove Application
Nov 2, 2006, 11:00pm, this post will bring me current (up until now I've just done a bunch of posts to cover everything I did to get this Linux Box running). I have been using Text Editor and OpenOffice.org Word Processor to write these Blog posts and then copy and paste them into this Blog using Firefox as a web browser. (more on this in a minute)
I noticed that there were a few applications that I needed to do some of the things I do. I needed an HTML editor, a password manager, a PDF reader, a FTP client, and some time wasting games. How do you add programs to a Linux Box? Well I was told that Ubuntu had a nice "wizard" like add/remove application feature. Well I found it. It is the last item on the APPLICATIONS Button list (Upper left of desktop). Lets try it. I clicked on it and it told me it was checking for INSTALLED and AVAILABLE APPLICATIONS. After about 20 seconds or so it brought up a nice list of applications available for install. They are even broken down into categories. This looks nice. There is a long list (too many to name) but where are they? I don't have a CD in the drive. After playing with it for a few minutes, I figured it out! The list is generated from applications located on the Internet! Now that is cool. You just go through the list check the programs you want and then click the APPLY button at the bottom of the window. Ubuntu then downloads the selected applications and installs them for you. At the start of the install process you are asked for the ROOT password ONCE and ONLY ONCE!!! A progress bar appears and counts up until everything is done. The things you selected now appear in your APPLICATIONS Menu! So far I have added the following Applications:
NVU HTML Editor
GFTP
Thunderbird Email
Adobe Accorabat
KeePassX
I was never asked to reset or restart, the applications just appeared and worked. This is a nice feature but what if there is an application that I want that is not on the list? We will find out before the month is up. For now I have what I need from this "wizard".
Other things that I've done with little to no trouble.
Two Bad things happened. While setting up EVOLUTIONS EMAIL I had to get some information from the files I put on the Internet file server to complete the setup but while it was waiting for answers it would not let me get to the desktop to start Firefox. I tried to CANCEL the setup but it wouldn't. Then it locked up!!! Nothing worked and I had to HARD REBOOT. The "Now I'm a Full Linux Box" was reset for the first time at 11:10pm on 11-2-2006. That gave it an "up time" of about 29 hours. I've had MS Windows boxes make it that long :-)
The second bad thing was while Blogging all this I started off using OpenOffice.org's Word Processor so that I could spell check and I used it on my MS Windows Laptop and know it. Well every time I would select a section of text that was more than one screen in size it would CRASH!!! It would lose any unsaved data!!! It did it four times before I gave up on it!!! If you can't, tell it made me very mad, mad enough to download AbiWord. Just in case someone that knows Linux better than me reads this the only two programs I was running was OpenOfice.org Word Processor and Firefox and was just copying and pasting. I will add another 256mb of memory and see if that helps.
Day two has passed. So far I'm still on the fence.
Some rating scores I give Ubuntu after one day use
install and setup 8 of 10
(because of the slow mirrors, and time change crash).
The add/remove application "wizard" 9.5 of 10
(I like the Internet list and no reset and only having to type the password once)
Application reliability 5 of 10
(evolutions cause a hard reboot, OpenOffice lost data, Firefox is noticeably slower)
Application usability 7.5 of 10
(the applications have a good interface and menus have a logical layout)
Nov 2, 2006, 11:00pm, this post will bring me current (up until now I've just done a bunch of posts to cover everything I did to get this Linux Box running). I have been using Text Editor and OpenOffice.org Word Processor to write these Blog posts and then copy and paste them into this Blog using Firefox as a web browser. (more on this in a minute)
I noticed that there were a few applications that I needed to do some of the things I do. I needed an HTML editor, a password manager, a PDF reader, a FTP client, and some time wasting games. How do you add programs to a Linux Box? Well I was told that Ubuntu had a nice "wizard" like add/remove application feature. Well I found it. It is the last item on the APPLICATIONS Button list (Upper left of desktop). Lets try it. I clicked on it and it told me it was checking for INSTALLED and AVAILABLE APPLICATIONS. After about 20 seconds or so it brought up a nice list of applications available for install. They are even broken down into categories. This looks nice. There is a long list (too many to name) but where are they? I don't have a CD in the drive. After playing with it for a few minutes, I figured it out! The list is generated from applications located on the Internet! Now that is cool. You just go through the list check the programs you want and then click the APPLY button at the bottom of the window. Ubuntu then downloads the selected applications and installs them for you. At the start of the install process you are asked for the ROOT password ONCE and ONLY ONCE!!! A progress bar appears and counts up until everything is done. The things you selected now appear in your APPLICATIONS Menu! So far I have added the following Applications:
NVU HTML Editor
GFTP
Thunderbird Email
Adobe Accorabat
KeePassX
I was never asked to reset or restart, the applications just appeared and worked. This is a nice feature but what if there is an application that I want that is not on the list? We will find out before the month is up. For now I have what I need from this "wizard".
Other things that I've done with little to no trouble.
- Setup GFTP to get to my websites
- Setup and imported my passwords to KeepassX (had MS WIndows version)
- Imported my Favorites into FIreFox
- Learned that PLACES (menu bar) then HOME DIRECTORY is kinda like MS Windows "My Documents" Folder
- Learned that PLACES (menu bar) COMPUTER is like clicking on "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" in MS Windows.
Two Bad things happened. While setting up EVOLUTIONS EMAIL I had to get some information from the files I put on the Internet file server to complete the setup but while it was waiting for answers it would not let me get to the desktop to start Firefox. I tried to CANCEL the setup but it wouldn't. Then it locked up!!! Nothing worked and I had to HARD REBOOT. The "Now I'm a Full Linux Box" was reset for the first time at 11:10pm on 11-2-2006. That gave it an "up time" of about 29 hours. I've had MS Windows boxes make it that long :-)
The second bad thing was while Blogging all this I started off using OpenOffice.org's Word Processor so that I could spell check and I used it on my MS Windows Laptop and know it. Well every time I would select a section of text that was more than one screen in size it would CRASH!!! It would lose any unsaved data!!! It did it four times before I gave up on it!!! If you can't, tell it made me very mad, mad enough to download AbiWord. Just in case someone that knows Linux better than me reads this the only two programs I was running was OpenOfice.org Word Processor and Firefox and was just copying and pasting. I will add another 256mb of memory and see if that helps.
Day two has passed. So far I'm still on the fence.
Some rating scores I give Ubuntu after one day use
install and setup 8 of 10
(because of the slow mirrors, and time change crash).
The add/remove application "wizard" 9.5 of 10
(I like the Internet list and no reset and only having to type the password once)
Application reliability 5 of 10
(evolutions cause a hard reboot, OpenOffice lost data, Firefox is noticeably slower)
Application usability 7.5 of 10
(the applications have a good interface and menus have a logical layout)
Taking Inventory
Nov 1, 2006, 6:00pm, I found that I could right click on the desktop and get a MS Windows like screen setup for color changes and background images. To get to other things like resolution, background image, themes, font, sounds and color settings Click on the SYSTEM button top left side of your desktop on the menu bar. All of these items seem easy to use but you will probably have to add your own pictures, wavs, mp3, themes, to have any real choices. (with everything that did come with this single CD install I did not expect to find much in themes and backgrounds).
As to what you get, here is a list (You access the programs by clicking on the APPLICATIONS button on menu bar on the upper left corner of your desktop)
ACCESSORIES
Archive Manager
Calculator
Character Mapper
Dictionary
Disk Usage Analyzer
Take Screenshot
Terminal
Text Editor
GAMES
(there are about 12 basic games)
GRAPHICS
F-Spot Photo Manager
Gimp Image Editor
Gthumb Image Viewer
Xsane Image Scanner
INTERNET
Ekiga Softphone
Firefox 2
Gaim Instant Messenger
Terminal Server Client
OFFICE
Evolutions (email)
Open Office II (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database)
PROGRAMING
(none)
SOUND&VIDEO
Movie Player
Rythembox Music Player
Serpentine Audio CD Creator
Sound Juicer CD Extractor
Sound Recorder
Under the SYSTEM BUTTON on the menu bar (upper left) there are two important sub menus, they are PREFERENCES and ADMINISTRATION. From what I can tell so far, ADMINISTRATION is like MS Windows Control Panel or "Manage Computer". PREFERENCES is like right clicking on a MS Windows desktop but adds "mouse" and "sound" items. Basically I'm thinking PREFERENCES controls how Ubuntu Linux looks and feels. ADMINISTRATION looks to be more of a hardware manager, system monitor, network setup and user manager.
Ok enough of what's here. I'm off to start using this thing. I'm going to go and create this Blog to document my struggle. (I haven't even thought about my MS Windows machine for at lest 20 seconds now)
Next - Add/Removing Applications
As to what you get, here is a list (You access the programs by clicking on the APPLICATIONS button on menu bar on the upper left corner of your desktop)
ACCESSORIES
Archive Manager
Calculator
Character Mapper
Dictionary
Disk Usage Analyzer
Take Screenshot
Terminal
Text Editor
GAMES
(there are about 12 basic games)
GRAPHICS
F-Spot Photo Manager
Gimp Image Editor
Gthumb Image Viewer
Xsane Image Scanner
INTERNET
Ekiga Softphone
Firefox 2
Gaim Instant Messenger
Terminal Server Client
OFFICE
Evolutions (email)
Open Office II (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database)
PROGRAMING
(none)
SOUND&VIDEO
Movie Player
Rythembox Music Player
Serpentine Audio CD Creator
Sound Juicer CD Extractor
Sound Recorder
Under the SYSTEM BUTTON on the menu bar (upper left) there are two important sub menus, they are PREFERENCES and ADMINISTRATION. From what I can tell so far, ADMINISTRATION is like MS Windows Control Panel or "Manage Computer". PREFERENCES is like right clicking on a MS Windows desktop but adds "mouse" and "sound" items. Basically I'm thinking PREFERENCES controls how Ubuntu Linux looks and feels. ADMINISTRATION looks to be more of a hardware manager, system monitor, network setup and user manager.
Ok enough of what's here. I'm off to start using this thing. I'm going to go and create this Blog to document my struggle. (I haven't even thought about my MS Windows machine for at lest 20 seconds now)
Next - Add/Removing Applications
First Boot
Nov 1, 2006, 5:24pm, It's Alive!!!, I am presented with a USER NAME BOX. I type in my user name I gave it earlier and it asks me for my password. I give it and Ubuntu 6.1 Linux starts for the first on my new Look At Me I'm Running Linux Box. Everything looks just like I described it earlier except there are no Icons on the desktop. My USB Logitec Mouse is working and so is the PS2 Mouse. The PS2 Keyboard is working and the screen resolution is set to 1280 by 1024 and looks to be in 32bit color (it must have found the NVidia driver). The Sound Blaster Live is good too. Hey its now telling me that there are UPDATES available for download. Did it find the Realtek Network card and DCHP my Linksys router? Lets see. I was told to CLICK ON NOTIFICATION BUTTON to get the updates but could not find it and had to hunt for it (it was an orange and white button upper right beside date). I Clicked on the NOTIFICATION BUTTON and Bam! it's goes to the internet and downloads the updates. It runs the updates and STOP! It wants an ADMINISTRATOR password (I know ROOT not admin). The problem is I did not tell it nor did it ask for a ROOT password during the setup. Now What? Well I try the MS Windows default of "leave it blank". Nope, that didn't work. Hmm...Alright how about root or ROOT? REJECTED.. lets try my password. It worked! But wait a minute, does that mean I'm the ROOT? I thought that was a no no on Linux/Unix. Well the updates ran and installed just fine now. Lets see what's here. First thing find a "device manager" and make sure all the hardware is working. Where would that live? SYSTEM/ADMINISTRATION/DEVICE MANAGER easy, got it on the first try. Man what a list! This will take some time to go through so screw it, lets see if the Internet is working. I clicked on the FIREFOX Icon and, and, and, yes we have Internet. Firefox seems a little sluggish, this is a 2ghz machine, not state of the art but not bad either.
It's now 5:30pm and this machine is up and running, the hardware seems to be working and I have Internet access. I will now use my MS Windows machine for the last time this month. I log onto my MS Windows Laptop and copy all my email contacts, needed files, favorites, and a few play files (mp3, AVIs, ect) to an Internet storage server and to a thumb drive and a removable USB Hard drive 300gb. I then power the MS Windows Laptop down and remove his battery. I give it one last look and put it in its carrying bag. I have decided to live or die with Linux for the next 30 days.
Next - Taking Inventory
It's now 5:30pm and this machine is up and running, the hardware seems to be working and I have Internet access. I will now use my MS Windows machine for the last time this month. I log onto my MS Windows Laptop and copy all my email contacts, needed files, favorites, and a few play files (mp3, AVIs, ect) to an Internet storage server and to a thumb drive and a removable USB Hard drive 300gb. I then power the MS Windows Laptop down and remove his battery. I give it one last look and put it in its carrying bag. I have decided to live or die with Linux for the next 30 days.
Next - Taking Inventory
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Installation Take Two
Nov 1, 2006, 4:40pm, the computer is rebooting and nothing was installed to the hard drive because it would not reboot without the CD in. When rebooting I noticed that Ubuntu asked me to remove the CD but wouldn't boot from the hard drive but that is understandable considering that the install crashed (well powered off by me).
Alright once again I get the menu and select option one (1) Start or Install Ubuntu. I then get the “sorta like MS Windows” screen and I once again double click on the INSTALL Icon. I get the pop up window one of six asking me to pick a language. ENGLISH, I say and click “next”. Screen two of six wants to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I select “New York” and even though the time is wrong, I leave it alone and click the “next” button....
BINGO!!! window three of six wants to know what my keyboard layout is. I pick ENGLISH KEYBOARD and click “next”.
Window four of six wants to know my name, logon name, password, and computer name. I fill them in and click the “next” button.
Window five of six wants me to pick a hard drive and how I want to partition it and where to install Ubuntu. Well I am wiping this whole hard drive and just putting Linux only on it (no duel boot) so my choice is easy ERASE ENTIRE DRIVE. (This screen could be confusing if you are duel booting or need to install Linux to a single partition on a multi-partitioned hard drive) I then clicked “next”
Window six of six says it's READY TO INSTALL and gives me a list of all my choices and wants to make sure they are what I wanted. There are a few things here I don't understand:
1. I got a notice that “GRUB” will be installed on “hd0”.
2. A message that Partation Table Changes IDE Master is “hda”
3. Partition #1 is IDE1 master hda as “ext3”
4. Partition #5 is IDE1 master hda as “swap”
Ok, What is a GRUB, a boot loader? I assume that “hd0” refers to my primary hard drive and I thought “hda” referred to the first partition on that hard drive but then I see partition #5 is also “hda”? I don't understand. What is an “ext3” and how big a partition did it get? What about the “swap”, I assume it's the same as a MS Windows “swap file” but is on it's own partition but how big is it? And if its partition #5 and partition #1 is a “ext3” What are and how big are partition #2, #3, and #4.
Even with these questions, I assumed that Ubuntu knew best and I click “INSTALL” accepting these settings.
At 4:55pm, after clicking the INSTALL on window six of six, I got a progress bar that told me it was doing what I asked it too and told me it was “creating ext3 file system for / in partition #1 of IDE1 master” and then began working my hard drive.
Ubuntu did not ask any more questions, it just moved the progress bar and kept telling me what it was doing and what was being installed. It was kinda like a MS Windows install without as many questions.
At 5:21pm, Ubuntu informed me that it was done with the installation and I could either reboot and start Linux from my hard drive or continue to use the “live CD”. I crossed my fingers and chose the Reboot option. Ubuntu told me to remove my CD from the drive and I did. The screen flashed and my BIOS flash screen appeared. I was booting a Linux box for the first time. The Install process took 26 minutes if you don't could the 4 hour download and the first install crashing :-)
(I reached over to my MS Windows Laptop and patted him and told him that he was a “good boy” and that it would be ok).
Next - First Boot
Alright once again I get the menu and select option one (1) Start or Install Ubuntu. I then get the “sorta like MS Windows” screen and I once again double click on the INSTALL Icon. I get the pop up window one of six asking me to pick a language. ENGLISH, I say and click “next”. Screen two of six wants to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I select “New York” and even though the time is wrong, I leave it alone and click the “next” button....
BINGO!!! window three of six wants to know what my keyboard layout is. I pick ENGLISH KEYBOARD and click “next”.
Window four of six wants to know my name, logon name, password, and computer name. I fill them in and click the “next” button.
Window five of six wants me to pick a hard drive and how I want to partition it and where to install Ubuntu. Well I am wiping this whole hard drive and just putting Linux only on it (no duel boot) so my choice is easy ERASE ENTIRE DRIVE. (This screen could be confusing if you are duel booting or need to install Linux to a single partition on a multi-partitioned hard drive) I then clicked “next”
Window six of six says it's READY TO INSTALL and gives me a list of all my choices and wants to make sure they are what I wanted. There are a few things here I don't understand:
1. I got a notice that “GRUB” will be installed on “hd0”.
2. A message that Partation Table Changes IDE Master is “hda”
3. Partition #1 is IDE1 master hda as “ext3”
4. Partition #5 is IDE1 master hda as “swap”
Ok, What is a GRUB, a boot loader? I assume that “hd0” refers to my primary hard drive and I thought “hda” referred to the first partition on that hard drive but then I see partition #5 is also “hda”? I don't understand. What is an “ext3” and how big a partition did it get? What about the “swap”, I assume it's the same as a MS Windows “swap file” but is on it's own partition but how big is it? And if its partition #5 and partition #1 is a “ext3” What are and how big are partition #2, #3, and #4.
Even with these questions, I assumed that Ubuntu knew best and I click “INSTALL” accepting these settings.
At 4:55pm, after clicking the INSTALL on window six of six, I got a progress bar that told me it was doing what I asked it too and told me it was “creating ext3 file system for / in partition #1 of IDE1 master” and then began working my hard drive.
Ubuntu did not ask any more questions, it just moved the progress bar and kept telling me what it was doing and what was being installed. It was kinda like a MS Windows install without as many questions.
At 5:21pm, Ubuntu informed me that it was done with the installation and I could either reboot and start Linux from my hard drive or continue to use the “live CD”. I crossed my fingers and chose the Reboot option. Ubuntu told me to remove my CD from the drive and I did. The screen flashed and my BIOS flash screen appeared. I was booting a Linux box for the first time. The Install process took 26 minutes if you don't could the 4 hour download and the first install crashing :-)
(I reached over to my MS Windows Laptop and patted him and told him that he was a “good boy” and that it would be ok).
Next - First Boot
Installation Take One
Nov 1, 2006, 4:20pm, Installation has begun. The first thing that you see is a screen asking what you want to do.
1 Start or Install Ubuntu.
2 Start Ubuntu in Safe Graphic Mode.
3 Check CD for Errors.
4 Memory Test.
5 Boot from First Hard Drive
Well I'm planning on installing Ubuntu and using this whole 80gb hard drive for it (no duel boot) so I picked option one (Start or Install Ubuntu). I pick it and wait. It took about two minutes and a MS Windows like screen appears. The screen looks enough like windows that I'll be able to get around easily. The screen has a brown and tan background and the task bar (windows talk) is at the top of the screen, the clock/calender and the SHUTDOWN/LOGOFF button is in the upper right corner and the “Start Button” labeled “APPLICATIONS” is in the upper left corner. There are two other menu buttons on this task bar, PLACES and SYSTEM. There is a “quick launch bar” beside these menu buttons and I know them, they are the icons for FireFox and Evolutions email. The third icon is a question mark and is “help”. There are two Icons on the desktop, they are INSTALL and EXAMPLES. There is a bar at the bottom and on its left side is a small button that says “Click here to hide all windows” when you mouse over it. On the bottom right side there is a little “trash can” and to squares, one gray and one orange and say “switch between workspaces” when moused over. Hmm... Looks cool in a different from MS Windows kinda way. Lots of stuff I don't know yet and some I want to play with, but I'm here to INSTALL it, so I double click on the INSTALL Icon on the desktop.
NOTE: you can just play with Ubumtu at this point without hurting anything on your MS Windows hard drive so I'm told. Kind of a test drive if you will.
Ok, I've double clicked on the INSTALL Icon and a window pops up and says it's one of six. It wants to know what language I want. I pick ENGLISH.
Screen two or six want to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I pick NEW YORK (closest choice) but the time is wrong so I click on it to set it. I adjust it and click on the “next” button. NOTHING HAPPENS. Now what? I try clicking “next” again, NOTHING. I click a few more times (crazy) and still NOTHING. I try ESC. NOPE. I try the good old windows “three finger salute” NO GO. My mouse moves but the change time windows will not leave. Fine! I hit the power button on the Linux Wanna Be Box and “hard reboot”. This could be bad. Not a good start (I look longingly at my MS Windows Laptop just two feet away).
Next - Installation Take Two.
1 Start or Install Ubuntu.
2 Start Ubuntu in Safe Graphic Mode.
3 Check CD for Errors.
4 Memory Test.
5 Boot from First Hard Drive
Well I'm planning on installing Ubuntu and using this whole 80gb hard drive for it (no duel boot) so I picked option one (Start or Install Ubuntu). I pick it and wait. It took about two minutes and a MS Windows like screen appears. The screen looks enough like windows that I'll be able to get around easily. The screen has a brown and tan background and the task bar (windows talk) is at the top of the screen, the clock/calender and the SHUTDOWN/LOGOFF button is in the upper right corner and the “Start Button” labeled “APPLICATIONS” is in the upper left corner. There are two other menu buttons on this task bar, PLACES and SYSTEM. There is a “quick launch bar” beside these menu buttons and I know them, they are the icons for FireFox and Evolutions email. The third icon is a question mark and is “help”. There are two Icons on the desktop, they are INSTALL and EXAMPLES. There is a bar at the bottom and on its left side is a small button that says “Click here to hide all windows” when you mouse over it. On the bottom right side there is a little “trash can” and to squares, one gray and one orange and say “switch between workspaces” when moused over. Hmm... Looks cool in a different from MS Windows kinda way. Lots of stuff I don't know yet and some I want to play with, but I'm here to INSTALL it, so I double click on the INSTALL Icon on the desktop.
NOTE: you can just play with Ubumtu at this point without hurting anything on your MS Windows hard drive so I'm told. Kind of a test drive if you will.
Ok, I've double clicked on the INSTALL Icon and a window pops up and says it's one of six. It wants to know what language I want. I pick ENGLISH.
Screen two or six want to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I pick NEW YORK (closest choice) but the time is wrong so I click on it to set it. I adjust it and click on the “next” button. NOTHING HAPPENS. Now what? I try clicking “next” again, NOTHING. I click a few more times (crazy) and still NOTHING. I try ESC. NOPE. I try the good old windows “three finger salute” NO GO. My mouse moves but the change time windows will not leave. Fine! I hit the power button on the Linux Wanna Be Box and “hard reboot”. This could be bad. Not a good start (I look longingly at my MS Windows Laptop just two feet away).
Next - Installation Take Two.
Picking and Getting your Distro
The first thing to do is get a Linix Distro or Flavor. This is basically the team or organization who packages the installation disk(s) that you will be using. Some are easier to use than others so you should visit the DISTROWATCH link on my links menu and read about the differences before you get one. For me UBUNTU version 6.1 (newest) seemed to be the way to go. This distro was recommended to me by a friend and is supposed to have an easy to use program install "wizard".
After you pick your Distro, you have to get it. I went to UBUNTU's web site and selected the desktop version. This took me to their download page which had several links to choose from. Most were .EDU sites. UBUNTU is about 700mbs and all the sites were slow. The best I could do was about 60K/sec so it took me about an hour and a half to get it (the slowness is because of the mirror sites not my connection so be prepared to wait).
When I finally got the ISO file downloaded, I had to create an installation CD out of this single large file. I used the freeware program IMGBURN to do this. Once you install IMGBURN all you have to do is RIGHT CLICK on the UBUNTU-6.10-desktop-i386.ISO file and select BURN WITH IMGBURN option and it will create a bootable CD ROM for you (you have to have a blank CD in your CD Writer too).
On November 1, 2006, at 1:00pm, I started my download from one of the mirror sites. At 2:30pm, I had the 700mb ISO file. Five minutes later I had a burnt CD that looked just fine. I got no errors downloading and none when burning. I put this CD into my soon to be Linux box and turned on the power. The CD started to spin. Then I looked at the screen to see what was happening. I then saw the ERROR message "CHECK SUM DOES NOT MATCH. SORRY". Nothing. Stopped. So I powered down and tried again. I got the same ERROR. I repeated this several time and kept getting the ERROR (Definition of crazy - repeating the same action expecting a different results on each repeat). Ok now I'm mad and two hours into this project. I went back to my Windows machine and did a google search and found no answers except that I could have a bad CD. I started to burn a new CD and try again but I had to leave. So I went to a different Mirror site and started the download again. Two hours later I had another ISO file and this one was 6 bytes bigger than the first. What the crap? I put in a new CD and burnt the second ISO. It burnt just fine but so did the first one. I took this new CD and put it in my soon to be Linux box and powered it on again. This time it worked. No ERROR message. I was on my way and it had only taken about four hours to get this far (to be fair it was not UBUNTU fault, it could have been mine, my ISPs, or the mirror sites, who knows but it almost stopped me).
Next the Installation Process.
After you pick your Distro, you have to get it. I went to UBUNTU's web site and selected the desktop version. This took me to their download page which had several links to choose from. Most were .EDU sites. UBUNTU is about 700mbs and all the sites were slow. The best I could do was about 60K/sec so it took me about an hour and a half to get it (the slowness is because of the mirror sites not my connection so be prepared to wait).
When I finally got the ISO file downloaded, I had to create an installation CD out of this single large file. I used the freeware program IMGBURN to do this. Once you install IMGBURN all you have to do is RIGHT CLICK on the UBUNTU-6.10-desktop-i386.ISO file and select BURN WITH IMGBURN option and it will create a bootable CD ROM for you (you have to have a blank CD in your CD Writer too).
On November 1, 2006, at 1:00pm, I started my download from one of the mirror sites. At 2:30pm, I had the 700mb ISO file. Five minutes later I had a burnt CD that looked just fine. I got no errors downloading and none when burning. I put this CD into my soon to be Linux box and turned on the power. The CD started to spin. Then I looked at the screen to see what was happening. I then saw the ERROR message "CHECK SUM DOES NOT MATCH. SORRY". Nothing. Stopped. So I powered down and tried again. I got the same ERROR. I repeated this several time and kept getting the ERROR (Definition of crazy - repeating the same action expecting a different results on each repeat). Ok now I'm mad and two hours into this project. I went back to my Windows machine and did a google search and found no answers except that I could have a bad CD. I started to burn a new CD and try again but I had to leave. So I went to a different Mirror site and started the download again. Two hours later I had another ISO file and this one was 6 bytes bigger than the first. What the crap? I put in a new CD and burnt the second ISO. It burnt just fine but so did the first one. I took this new CD and put it in my soon to be Linux box and powered it on again. This time it worked. No ERROR message. I was on my way and it had only taken about four hours to get this far (to be fair it was not UBUNTU fault, it could have been mine, my ISPs, or the mirror sites, who knows but it almost stopped me).
Next the Installation Process.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The Hardware
Here is the equipment I'll be using:
Dell 4500 2.0 Ghz P4
256Mb DDR 266 ram
80Gb Maxator Hard Drive
16X +/- RW LiteOn DVD
16X DVD ROM Sony
Sound Blaster Live Audio
RealTek 10/100 Network Card
Nvidia MX 4 420 AGP Video
Logitec Mouse USB
19 Inch LCD
Note: I removed a 40Gb HD from this machine and put it up because it has an XP Home install with MS Office 2003 Pro fully licensed. This is just in case this experiment doesn't work out. Some will say this just shows I'm not committed to Linux yet and they are right. I think of this drive as a backup plan and besides why waste the $600 in software. I read something about WINE (an app that lets windows software run on Linux?) so maybe if it does work out I can use WINE and move the Office 2003 over to the Linux box.
Dell 4500 2.0 Ghz P4
256Mb DDR 266 ram
80Gb Maxator Hard Drive
16X +/- RW LiteOn DVD
16X DVD ROM Sony
Sound Blaster Live Audio
RealTek 10/100 Network Card
Nvidia MX 4 420 AGP Video
Logitec Mouse USB
19 Inch LCD
Note: I removed a 40Gb HD from this machine and put it up because it has an XP Home install with MS Office 2003 Pro fully licensed. This is just in case this experiment doesn't work out. Some will say this just shows I'm not committed to Linux yet and they are right. I think of this drive as a backup plan and besides why waste the $600 in software. I read something about WINE (an app that lets windows software run on Linux?) so maybe if it does work out I can use WINE and move the Office 2003 over to the Linux box.
The Adventure Begins
On November 1, 2006, I decided to give Linux (Ubuntu 6.1) a chance. I am a long time Microsoft user, clear back to DOS days (I still have a boxed copy of DOS 2.X with manuals). I currently own several machines running everything from Windows 3.1 through XP Pro and I help manage a large MS XP/2000 network spanning several locations and supporting remote users. I don't know everything about Windows and networking but I do know enough to be comfortable using and administrating it.Why tell you this? It's not to boast, it's just to let you know where my experience lies. Now to the point. One of my friends is a devoted Linux user and after talking to him, he convinced me to give it a try. I have never used any Linux "flavor" before so this is all new to me. To give Linux a fair chance, I've decided to give up all access to my windows machines for 30 days. Now that "all access to windows" isn't exactly true, everything at work is still MS Windows based and I'll have to use it there (unless I figure out how to manage Active Directories with Linux).
The other reason to do this is just to document my experiences "switching over" in the hopes that it might help someone else who has been sitting on the fence and just needs a little help from someone who is going through the process too.
So with theses reasons in mind, this will probably turn out to be a technical blog. I plan on going into detail on what I've done and how I did it. In addition I will be giving my opinion how things differ in Linux compared to MS Windows.
As a side note this is the first time I have ever Blogged anything and I thought this would be as good a topic as any.
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