[dabigkahuna]

Well, this may have just become a non-issue.

I was given some memory cards by my brother and, since they had more capacity than what I had, I tried to see about installing them on my PC. Found out the 512 card had it's alignment slot SLIGHTLY different and it wouldn't go in so I put back the original memory.

Then I tried to boot the machine. I got the initial Windows screen, then it went blank and STAYED blank. Tried booting to "most recent configuration that worked" and same thing. Tried safe mode and it showed a bunch of text stuff for loading things, but it didn't last long. The display stopped scrolling with this info and couldn't do anything. Tried booting to cd-rom (the Windows restore disk). Got to where I could press "R" for repair and all I had after that was something about checking something but nothing else happened.

Haven't tried booting the ubuntu disk, but I'm assuming the memory card(s) got zapped - or just a bad luck coincidence (unlikely, though I've had weird coincidences before in my time with computers).

Don't really know what else to do. Don't see a good reason to spend money to try more memory and don't know any way to check different elements of the system as it is.

[Evildave]

Good thing Linux can map around bad RAM. Boot the Ubuntu CD and pick 'Test Memory'.

[dabigkahuna]

Well, I was hopeful.

When I first tried (using F12 to temporarily change to boot the CD), I got a screen saying windows had not been properly shut down and giving me various options for booting. But I've done that before and they just don't work. It wouldn't boot the CD. I had to hold the power button long enough to get the computer to shut down again.

So next time I used F2 to make a permanent change in boot order. But when trying to boot, I still had the same problem. So I went to the F2 menu again and told it NOT to boot from the hard drive at all. When I then tried to boot, it said I had NO bootable devices! But, fortunately, having it go ahead and try to boot anyway finally got Ubuntu to start from the CD.

However, when I chose the test memory option, it went to a new screen with various info THAT NEVER CHANGED. I expected to see something showing progress of a memory check, but nothing for "passed" or "error". Only thing changing is at the top left corner where a different color spot says something like MemTest86. Before that is a blinking underline cursor like in old computers and right after the "86" is a blinking plus sign.

That's it, so I assume whatever is wrong kicks in before the test can proceed - or else I don't understand what to do.

Oh, and at the bottom where it has key stroke choices for various things - none of them do a thing. Don't know if that is helpful or actually something that is an incompatibility with my system. I know on the first screen where you have some function keys choices for different things, they never worked.

Just now I tried booting the CD again (got the "no bootable devices" message again, but it still booted when I continued). This time I just tried to run Ubuntu from the CD rather than test memory.

When the Ubuntu loading screen came up - the one where right below the name, there is a segmented bar than swings back and forth - it did that for about 40 seconds and then everything just stopped. Normally, it would do that for awhile and then load with that bar acting like an sideways temperature guage as it loads.

So, I think I'm stuck!

[Evildave]

Well, there's one more thing to try. Open it back up, remove the memory (mind the static) and carefully inspect the pins on your DIMMs and on the board. If they're all 'good', clean the contacts on the dimm with a fresh, new pencil eraser. Blow the sockets out with some canned air. Make sure there's no debris. Then re-insert the memory cards in the computer and make sure they're in 'right'. Then try again.

[dabigkahuna]

It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!

Dang things works again - thanks a LOT.

Couldn't do everything (no canned air handy for one thing), but did the best I could. I assume by "pins" you meant the little plated strips that slide into the computer socket, not the pins on the individual sets of memory on the card (since they are locked in). Didn't see anything wrong, but I ran the erasor over them anyway and reinserted. Reboot attempt came up with a message that memory had changed! Strangely, as I had it continue to reboot, it went into windows instead of the CD. Next reboot went into Ubuntu and I started running the memory test. Long process (over 20 minutes), but I wanted to be thorough.

Then I rebooted to windows again because something odd had happened before. I had deleted a number of programs I knew I wouldn't want (they'll be gone when I reinstall anyway) and some data no longer needed. The weird thing was that I checked the available space in each partition, but after deleting these things and checking my boot drive, it actually had LESS space. So I wanted to see what it showed after a reboot. Didn't make any real difference though which means I have no idea why that was.

Most of my apps are on the D partition but you know how windows is - still puts part on C so it should have gained free space - certainly not lost it! I have about 13.7 gb on C and less than 444 mb free space!

Well, hopefully reinstalling will get things under control. There were lots of things in the program list I didn't even know what they were!

Okay back to Ubuntu. Since this is all new to me, would you recommend I install and give it its partition or do you think I'd be better off using Virtualbox? If virtual box, how should I do the partitions? When installing Ubuntu, we were going to have, after Ubuntu installed inself, three partitions (Windows and windows programs, Linux and linux programs, and data.

[Evildave]

Excellent! I'm glad you brought it back to life. Do your homework when you are dealing with memory modules. There are a lot of them, and not all will work with your computer, even if they 'fit' in the slot.

If you booted Ubuntu, and found it connects to your network, your wireless works without any hitches, and you have video and sound, I'd just install it. Since it will be the 'last' partition, if you decide you hate it later, you can always delete the partition and grow the data partition over it.

VirtualBox is superb for test cases, and development scenarios (i.e. I have three different versions of Adobe CS installed in different virtual machines) but it will never work as well as native. Super handy if you just want to 'try' an ISO you downloaded.

VirtualBox doesn't work with partitions. It makes 'virtual drives' as
files. Then you can partition it, format it, play with it, etc. The VMs are easy to back up, since they're just big files. You can 'share' your local drive data with it through a virtual network connection. This is another point where we point out that FAT32 has file size restrictions that suck for doing VMs, as virtual (especially Windoze) virtual drives tend to be huge.

I would install VirtualBox in Windoze AND in Linux. You can mount up the same VM living on your data partition on either side. It's not TOO hard to do so. That way, if you install your 'must have' windoze apps in the VM, they can be run from either side without duplicating the install in wine. Also, if you have to dump your physical Windoze setup, your VM setup is safely backed up and can be moved to another machine, which is super convenient if you need to upgrade.

Virtualization is too cool not to use, unless you don't have much hard drive space or RAM, since it gobbles up both.

[dabigkahuna]

I'm thinking about boosting the memory from 512 to a gig, even though it is strictly a backup machine. Looking for prices online, it doesn't look cheap. I think I found one that gave a pair for around $30 (which is okay), but most seem to be offering just one card for $30 or more - which isn't okay.

But I can manage without it. I've also thought about a new HD (both bigger than my 30 gb which is pathetic as well as faster - 5400 instead of 4200). That will probably cost more, but if it is a decent drive, I could always use it as an external drive for my regular system later with one of those USB boxes.

I'm sorting out what the old computer will be needed for and decided that it needs windows simply to give me a solid base for Office 2000. I'm getting away from that program, using Numbers and Pages, but I want access to it just in case. Besides, I have stuff in Access I have not been able to move to a mac program yet.

But any regular use of it will probably be Ubuntu so I can simply learn more about Linux - maybe even find some free games to kill time. It would be nice to be knowlegable about all three major OSes. Having both makes me a bit uneasy abou the small HD size though I know it is not terrible. I worry about about XPs tendency to just keep growing. I presently use 13 gb and most of my programs are on another partition!

I hope when I reinstall, it will be MUCH smaller.

Regarding your comments.

Right now I don't have a network. I plan to get Time Capsule before much longer though. If the PC doesn't connect, it's not a big deal. In fact, I'm not planning on even going on the web with it (as long as the Mac works). I assume anything I may want to download for it, I can download on the mac and move it over with a thumb drive or something.

> I'd
just install it. Since it will be the 'last' partition <

I thought you said I should leave space for Ubuntu to create its partition in the middle of my other two partitions (C and data)?

As for deleting Ubuntu later, what about the reverse? That is, if I decide I simply don't need Windows. Can I delete the C partion and use its space for Ubuntu and data?

Anyway, I think this setup will be easier for me to understand and I am limited in both Ram and HD space. Even if I buy a new HD, it won't be a real big one. With Linux being brand new to me, might as well keep it simple for now. If I had reason to want to switch back and forth quickly, that would be different, but Windows is something I hope I DON'T use again.

Now, might be different on the mac. If I like Ubuntu or have some games I really want easy access too, I might put it on the mac too and then decide what to use to let that work (Parallels, VM Ware, Visualbox). At one time I thought about putting windows on the mac, but I don't think you can take the Dell version and do that and I don't want to buy a new XP. Plus I just have 160 gb for the HD. I intend to get a 320 someday, but right now, space is an issue there too.

I'll try to use Partition Magic to get the C drive to NTS - maybe even go ahead and bite the bullet and erase and reinstall windows.

[Evildave]

Partition: Windoze, DATA, UBUNTU

If you delete 'Windoze', 'Data' can grow to eat that, too using either Partition Magic or GParted.

I highly recommend you try OpenOffice.org. Works the same on ALL THREE platforms, and it SHOULD be able to import your M$ Access data.

OpenOffice comes installed in Ubuntu already. Even runs from the 'live' CD. You'd just have to 'add' the database part of the package after you install Ubuntu. Then you can download the Windoze and Mac OSX versions.

http://download.open...ther.html#en-US

I've been using OpenOffice since Sun started giving it away as StarOffice. Gave away my (new) Office 2000 CDs that day. It's been out forever, and is a very mature product.

Yeah, it's different. As if being the 'same' as a M$ product would be a 'good thing'. Save most of your documents as PDF to send to people, and they never know the difference. The biggest 'issues' have to do with reading poorly formatted Office documents with different fonts that what you have installed. It's easy to just grab windoze fonts and stuff them into Linux. Most of them are also available from Add/Remove...

[dabigkahuna]

I started the following before you last post - it's taking a lot of time before I sent it because I've had so many hassles I've been trying to deal with. Anyway, here is what I already wrote:

Things are getting just ridiculous!

I had windows clean up the boot partition to give me some room for changing all the partition sizes with Partition Magic. Then I ran partition magic and just had it shrink the boot partition (the plan was to do that then adjust the rest to leave room for Ubuntu. Well, it had to do a reboot, of course, to work on the boot partition, but just after it got to the place where it should start to actually do the work, it gave a message about not being able to "Lock" the drive. Never saw that before, but the thing is, it would not proceed further. I went through this a number of times without success.

Oh, when I tried to get back to the windows desktop, I got a text message that the volume was "dirty". Took a long time for it to do whatever was necessary to let me back to the windows desktop. Afterwards, I still ran into the same problem with Partition Magic, though no more messages about "dirty" drives.

So I figured I might as well boot the Ubuntu CD and maybe try doing everything from that - but it wouldn't boot. I even tried removing the HD from the bootable list but rather than boot from the CD, it would say no bootable devices were found - and I could press F1 to try again.

I'd seen that before and every time I pressed F1, it would go ahead and boot the CD. Not this time. Tried several times to open and close the CD tray, but no luck. I can, if I reset to boot from the HD, get back to windows, but I don't know what I need to do to get these partitions fixed and do the reinstall of windows and add Ubuntu.

Went back to booting from the HD and put in the Windows restore CD (which auto-started). Tried to just install over top of what I had. It rebooted and loaded the install files (I had it replace what was on the HD) and then it went to something that asked for the SP3 CD. Well, that was supposed to be what I had on the restore disk (I had slipstreamed it some time back). It apparently wasn't reading it, or it was not done right. When I clicked the "X" box to give up, I got back to booting and was surprised when it said it was going to "Setup" again.

I repeated the process and this time it didn't ask for the CD (I assume it read it that time). So I've finally reinstalled (not repaired) XP. I think this barebones install took about 6.3 GB - but I hadn't deleted what was on the partition in advance so I don't know if the reinstallation actually eliminated everything that was there before or just the OS. It did leave me a couple more free GB than I had before. And it certainly boots faster but I don't have my anti-virus on it right now (may leave that off if I'm not planning on going online anyway).

My program connections are no longer there, of course. I should have the Partition Magic CD around here and, of course Office 2000. But Partition Magic may still not work - I can't even try until tomorrow (way past my bedtime even here in Hawaii).

Still couldn't boot the Ubuntu CD after the reinstall. I had tried to boot the windows restore disk before the reinstall. It didn't want to boot either, so I'd say it isn't a disk problem. But I can read both once I'm in windows so it doesn't seem to be a failure of the hardware to read the disk.

Now, to respond to your last post:

> Partition: Windoze, DATA, UBUNTU <

Okay (coulda sworn you originally said leave the open space in the middle, but no matter).

> Partition Magic or GParted. <

I'm not clear about something you said before. I thought GParted would wipe out whatever was on the disk, but you said it was like PM. So, can I access Ubuntu from the CD after being in Windows, run GParted, and change the partition sizes without destroying the info on them? If so, then I could just skip the Partition Magic approach. Actually, it only would matter if it messed up the C partition stuff. The other two don't have anything on that matters anyway.

I already have three partitions - just have to adjust the sizes maybe. Here are what they are now:

C: 13.7 (I think you said to have 12, so that's pretty close)

D: 8.31 (This was where I used to put my programs so it will be empty when I delete those old programs that no longer would be recognized)

E: 5:87 (This was for my data - but it's all been copied to my Mac. That's close to the 6 GB you recommended for Ubuntu, but wouldn't include the 2 GB swap partition so actually small and D is pretty big for the little bit of data I'd have on the PC.

I don't know what options Ubuntu comes up with when you install it, but either I need to change those partition sizes or put Ubuntu on D (if it lets you choose and will take 2 GB from D for the swap partition.

I have Open Office. Had it a short time on my PC but at the time it simply couldn't handle a very important formula I needed. Now it does. I got it for the Mac too, but am not using it right now. I'm trying to get as much of my stuff as possible to convert to Numbers and Pages - so far it's going pretty well.

I can't recall all te stuff about Open Office that bothered me. I do remember that visually, it just didn't look as nice. While working on conversition to the iWorks programs, I was often using Cross-over Mac to run Windows 2000 without having to actually have Windows! Pretty neat and got me over the hump (I got it for free because the company ran a special before Christmas and you could download it for free). But it has a number of problem - especially with printing some special needs I have. I even had it fail to print out several words in a row of a simple Word page! Missed the same words twice! But it printed fine when I pulled the file into Open Office. So I'm trying not to use Cross-over Mac any more except for a couple special cases.

The main thing with Access is that I had some stuff with some pretty elaborateVBA code and nothing else runs that. Fortunately, I rarely need it - but that's what the PC will be for.

> You'd just have to 'add' the database part of the package after you install Ubuntu. <

I'm a little confused by that. Why would it not all be there at once? As I recall, that's what happened when I installed it on my PC and Mac.

> Save most of your documents as PDF to send to people, and they never know the difference. <

Ah, but can't edit them.

> It's easy to just grab windoze fonts and stuff them into Linux. <

Not familiar with the process so, if I need it, I may be asking for instructions!

I have to deal a little with this on the Mac. I got a powerpoint presentation and put into Mac's Keynote - it reported some fonts that Mac did not have. As a result, some text doesn't show up properly with the substitutions.

I'll make a list for the next time I have a lesson at the apple store and find out how to get them.

[Evildave]

GParted == Partition Magic. Almost look identical, too. It should move around partitions just fine. The command line tool that WIPES things is 'shred'.

Ubuntu will fit in 6GB just fine. It's only installing what fits on a CD. 8GB just gives it lots of elbow room to grow. 6GB should still be plenty to play with if you don't fill the partition with extraneous stuff. You can always shrink one partition to grow another if you eventually run short. You might even end up shrinking the Ubuntu partition.

>> You'd just have to 'add' the database part of the package after you install Ubuntu. <
>I'm a little confused by that. Why would it not all be there at once?

It's 'optional', as most people only need the word processor and spreadsheet. Go to Applications->Add/Remove... and type 'openoffice' into the search box, and it will be in the list. It'll download and install automagically. Also, they had to make it all fit onto a CD, so they couldn't stuff infinite content on it.

>> Save most of your documents as PDF to send to people, and they never know the difference. <
>Ah, but can't edit them.

True, but you CAN save as a Microsoft Office format, as well as open them. It should read all of the 'newest' M$ formats. 99% of the time, you don't WANT anyone to edit your documents. Annotate or comment, yes, but 'edit' is usually a bad thing. Just take care not to 'trust' text to always break or flow as you typed it (insert breaks yourself). The worst compatibility case is where someone abuses the word processor and tries to use it as a desktop publisher. You have SEVERAL free open source desktop publishers to choose from.

BTW, there's a 'pdf editor' tool in the Ubuntu 'Add/Remove...' repository you should see... as well as another one called flpsed that'll let you type on top of PDF documents. Super handy little gadgets. So you CAN edit PDF content. OpenOffice 3 even has an experimental plug-in that'll open a PDF as a document and EDIT. Unfortunately, OOo 3 came out too soon compared to the Ubuntu 8.10 release, so Ubuntu comes with a 2.x version. OOo 3 can be installed. It just takes a couple of extra steps.

OpenOffice has a NATIVE port to Intel or PPC Mac. No need for a VM (that's all cross-over is) anymore. All tightly integrated with the Mac look & feel, so I understand.


Now before you get too attached to me answering all your questions forever, you need to start learning to get SOME of your own help.

Pop open Google and do web searches relative to Ubuntu or OpenOffice. I don't personally use the OOo database, myself, so the only help I could give you is 'playing telephone' with your questions (especially debugging your specific computer and hardware), typing them into google for you. You should be able to compose good web search queries that give you an answer right away. It's a useful skill to develop. Once you realize that most questions have already been asked AND answered, you can be a guru, too!

Here are a few examples of queries.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Ubuntu8.10DellInspiron5100
http://www.google.co...ice+VisualBasic
http://www.google.co...ch?q=OpenOfficeImportAccess+Database
http://www.google.com/search?q=UbuntuInstallOpenOffice+3
http://www.google.co...ch?q=OpenOfficePDFedit

The Ubuntu forums are chock full of Ubuntu people who can help, too.
http://ubuntuforums.org/

I'm CONFIDENT that OOo can be made to run your database thing, even with the VisualBasic stuff, but I won't promise it's 'trivial'.
http://support.openoffice.org/

[dabigkahuna]

Oh, I've been looking online for info on this and other things too. The problem is three-fold. One is that often I just don't follow the jargon they are using - have the same problem with some Mac changes. Then there is the problem that I'm trying to deal with some many things (basic Mac stuff - had months of issues just with their mail before stumbling on the solution, learning how to use specific programs to replace PC stuff, do things I never did with a PC, etc), and finally add a new OS.

It is magnified when I run into the hardware problems - not booting at all and then not booting a CD. Most of my time last night was spent trying to get the darn Ubuntu CD to boot (unsuccessfully), constantly rebooting back to windows, and then trying to just go ahead and reinstall windows. So many things and so little time - I just posts lots of questions in between other efforts. But the big stuff is, I hope, just about done. Then I can take my time finding how to handle the smaller issues.

That remaning issue is just getting Ubuntu installed, which I won't have time to even try until late tonight or maybe tomorrow. From what you write, I gather I can just install it on the partitions as they now stand and then use GParted to change the size of each of them. Never having seen how Ubuntu does the installing, I just had a concern that I do it right. If it asks what partition to use (which I assume it does), then that last one is kinda small if it is also going to take 2 GB for a swap partition! Might be of no issue if everything fits to start and then I can use GPARTED to fix them afterwards, but I worry a bit about starting an operation and screwing something up because the space is lacking. From what you wrote today, I guess it is enough space just to get it on the hard drive so I'll do that tonight or tomorrow if I can find it okay.

Nice to have a PDF editor! That will come in handy. And I'll go ahead and download the latest OOO for Linux.

I can see by the titles of some of your links that they'll be very handy once I get this thing loaded!

Thanks much.

[Evildave]

Not recognizing bootable CDs can have a couple of causes. Remember, wipe from the center straight outward, not in circles. You're more likely to wreck a CD that way than clean it. If you clean up the CD and drive and all else fails, burn it again.

[dabigkahuna]

Just a quick note then I'm off to work until night.

The CD's (both the restore disk and the Ubuntu disk) seem to be consistently readable once I've booted into windows. It is booting from them that seems to be the only problem. probably isn't connected, but the CD tray often won't open with the normal button either. Sometimes it will and other times it won't. Even when in Windows, sometimes I have to go to My Computer and choose "eject disk".

Not to concerned about that - as long as I can ever get things to work long enough to install Ubuntu. Shouldn't need the CD at all after that since all my main work would be on the mac.

Wish I had time now to work on this - I feel so close to finally getting it done - but it just will have to wait till I get home.

[vwbond]

I've been running Fedora 9 on a Dell D600 for a few months now without any issues.

You shouldn't have any problems, I got it off ebay especially to run Linux.

Microsoft's systems requirement are just stupid.

What can't Linux do- is the question? What want to use the laptop for?

[dabigkahuna]

The laptop will serve two purposes.

1. Backup in case my mac system goes down (and access to MS Office if I desperately need it).

2. System for learning Linux. I want to be fairly proficient an Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

Still having trouble getting Linux installed. When I finally got home, I tried booting to the CD again and it actually booted finally, but when I chose the option to install, it couldn't find the disk again. Numerous attempts failed. Booting back to windows and trying to read the disk from there didn't work either (that's the first time that happened).

Put the CD into my mac and it could read it just fine. I have a feeling my CD unit in the PC may be breaking down but I'll need to put in other disks to be sure. It's just too late tonight to mess with it any more.

I guess I need to look for a Ubuntu file I can download to the Mac (don't want to go online with the PC), copy to a thumb drive, copy to the PC, and install Ubuntu that way. I'm sure there must be a way to do it that way. I just haven't had time to look yet and I need to get to bed. I'll start looking tomorrow.

[dabigkahuna]

Well, in spite of a busy day without enough sleep, I finally got Ubuntu installed, but there seems to be a few issues.
To get it to install, I finally too the Ubuntu disk I had created on my PC that would no longer be found on the PC and put in the Mac and duplicated it. The new copy worked.

I couldn't figure out how to install Ubuntu at the end - the automatic installation showed it was going to put in on the second partition instead of the third and looking at the "manual" option, I really didn't understand it so I went back and just went with the automatic selection - it's a bigger partition anyway (just over 8 gb). I don't consider this a big deal.

After the installation was done, I was going to check on using GParted to make some further size adjustments, but first I booted into Windows to see how the partitions looked with software I'm familiar with.

I was shocked to see that while the C and E partitions were the same size as before, the D partition (where Ubuntu should be), only showed a size a bit over a gigabyte and only a couple hundred megabytes free. So I went into Ubuntu and found something that seemed to give similar info (though I have no idea what this business is of MOUNTING the partitions to examine them).

But Ubuntu showed one other thing on the list. Something called "File System" with a disk icon like the others. Here is the breakdown of what MyComputer showed compared to Ubuntu:

Windows first: (Edited UPDATE - the info I entered didn't all show up properly. I can tell you that the first number is the free space and the second is the total).

Part Free Total

C 6.22gb
-----
13.7gb
D 293Mb
-----
1.25gb
E 5.81gb
-----
5.87gb
Ubuntu

Part Free Used Total

C 6.3gb 7.4gb 13.7gb

D 293.1Mb 993.3Mb 1.3gb

E 5.8gb 56,7gb 5.9gb

And, finally the File System stuff which Windows doesn't show at all:

FS 4.2gb 7.3gb 11.5

Note that while I only show one set of numbers for the file system, I actually got two different results with different ways I tried to get the info (it has to go through the files, counting them, and updating the space used as it goes). The above is the smaller number and the computer mentioned that some couldn't be read. The other approach I took showed about 4 more GB used and thus about 4 more GB total.

So, what gives? Is "File System" actually the Ubuntu partition and D a 1.3 GB swap file?

My whole drive is only 30 GB so there are some serious addition problems here.

Basically, we had C, D and E which would total 20.9 GB.

If you add "File System" to it, you come up with either 32.4gb or maybe more like 36 depending on which numbers you use. Either way, it is too big!

Oh, and shortly after first booting to Windows, I got a "Low memory" message (I think it was Low DISK Memory, but I was too quick to move on). Don't see how it could be low disk memory since the C partition has more free space than I've ever had!

Anyway, anyone able to clarify this stuff? Also tried to find GParted, but the list of programs on the system didn't seem to include it. Then I tried "Add/Remove" programs. My list isn't up to date because I haven't connected to the internet - not even sure if I can do so - but it said gparted wasn't compatible with my system (and said it was an i386, whatever that is. My computer has a 2.4 ghz pentium 4 chip as I recall.

I was hoping to avoid going online with the old computer. Is it possible to download Linux programs on my mac and then transfer the files via a thumb drive to the PC? Or does it have to all be done within the machine Ubuntu is on?

I guess I can see about installing Partition Magic on Windows again and change things with it, but since I don't understand the results I presently have, I don't know if I recognize what I see!

I do some more work on this tomorrow. Right now I've got to catch up on some sleep!

[dabigkahuna]

Update.

I woke up and worked on the issues some more - went ahead and got online and updated everything as well as added some applications. One weird thing about updating programs is when I was done (and had marked Open office spreadsheet, database, and word processor, when I launch them, it still says version 2.4!

The big issue was figuring out my partition situation and, if necessary, being able to get and use GParted. I did mark that and got no message about incompatibility. Had a time finding where it was though (I was looking under the Applications, but it was under the System. Launched it and it came up fine. But while it seemed a bit clearer than what I was seeing in the other listings of partitions in Windows and Linux, I still don't get it.

It shows a small partition (ska1) which, I think, is hidden in Windows and holds some special stuff as a Dell computer. It's just 39.1 MiB.

It shows the main partition (C on windows): Dev/ska2 on Ubuntu. 13.72 GiB

Then it shows the extended partition which holds the logical partitions (Dev/ska3) 14.19 GiB

So far, I understand that EXCEPT that the NTFS partitions are marked as being unable to read the contents! This was unexpected. Not sure if it matters. I mean, if it is just GParted that can't read the contents, I guess that doesn't matter as long as the contents are not messed up when changing partition sizes.

Okay, then within that Extended partition, we have the logical ones, with some surprises.

First there is a small 1.26 NTFS. I have no idea where that came from! Seems to be empty. It's SKA5.

Then there is a partition listed as being an EXT3 format. 6.70 GiB and is SKA7. This seems to be where Ubuntu was put.

Next is a partition listed as Linux-Swap (SKA8). But it is just 360.8 MiB. You had mentioned the swap partition being 2 GB so this is pretty small. Is this a problem?

Finally is a 5.88 GiB partition (SKA6). Don't know why this one is out of order for the SKA names.

Near as I can tell, the partitions SKA2, 7 and 8 correspond to what I used to have as my C,D,E partitions before installing Ubuntu.

Anybody see any problems with this (notably the small swap file)?

If it is fine, then I'll probably erase the C partition and install Windows one more time, being sure that I won't have extraneous stuff on it, install the basic Office stuff, probably Open Office too just to have it on all three OS systems. Then see how much I can shrink it.

Then move the Extended Partition to fill up the free space, and make Ubuntu and the data space a bit bigger (and the swap partition???).

If I can get these last steps done, I'm pretty well set from what I've seen in my experimenting so far.

[piyushsingh]

things got messed up a bit when you used the automatic partitioning during ubuntu install. I always prefer the custom option as it shows exactly what will be changed and options can be easily set. You original D: partition was shrinked and space for both the ext3 ubuntu partition and the swap partition was taken from it. This resulted in a 1.25 gigs D: left as NTFS.
The earlier different sizes of filesystem is due to different drives mounted.

Anyways. Gparted does detect ntfs but not out of the box. Install a package ntfsprogs and then it will do. You need to unmount the partitions which you want to edit. Its better to use the Gparted LIVE CD , boot from it and then do all the resizing. Either search for ntfsprogs in synaptic or just enter this in terminal.

>sudo aptitude install ntfsprogs

Then gparted will resize ntfs also.

Another thing i noticed in your previous post is the large swap partition. You have only 512 MB RAM. don't make the swap larger than 1.5 gigs.

[Evildave]

If Ubuntu thinks it only needs 319MB, then let it be. You can always make it bigger later.

1.26 MB or GB NTFS? What are you viewing the partitions with? Gparted or Partition Magic?

Ubuntu comes with the ntfs stuff pre-configured. You shouldn't need to touch anything to see 'em.

Windoze setup has a nasty habit of stomping on Linux boot managers whenever it installs (for some reason).

https://help.ubuntu....stallingWindows

You may also be able to use another windoze bootloader, like the one that came with your PartitionMagic to boot Ubuntu.

http://ubuntuforums....p/t-155809.html

[dabigkahuna]

I wanted to do the custom item, but frankly, wasn't sure about what I was seeing, thus went back to automatic. So, let me see if I understand the present situation:

1. The tiny 1.25 NTFS partition shouldn't have happened (probably should have been included in the swap partion). Is that correct?

2. But there is nothing actually harmful in how it is set up - maybe just not as fast because of the small swap partition. Is that correct?

If this is the case, then at least, I don't have to panic about fixing things - everything should work. But I will want to correct the setup soon.

I don't understand the filesystem stuff, other than by guessing that it counts the space taken inside all the MOUNTED drives. But then, I'm not really clear on drives being mounted or unmounted and why I do one and not the other. Just not something I dealt with on PCs.

Looked for ntfsprogs under synaptics. Couldn't find it, even after I went online and reloaded the menu. Don't know even how to get to terminal, but if it isn't listed in synaptics, maybe that wouldn't make any difference. So how do I get it?
Or should I get this: ntfs_3g

That was listed, with some others, when I just entered "ntfs" in the search box. If I entered "ntfsp", it didn't find anything.

Meanwhile, if that isn't it and I can't get the one you suggested, does it make any difference in using gparted to change partition size? Or will it erase my data if that isn't added?

If I can safely go ahead an resize without ntfsprog, let me make another list of things:

1. I started gparted and right-clicked each of the partitions. Most had "unmount" grayed out so I assume they aren't mounted now and thus safe to change. Right?

2. I can't use gparted from the CD. While the new disk I made yesterday worked to get Ubuntu installed, once again today I can't get it to boot! I think it is haunted (grin). So, is it okay to use it from the installed version like I can with partition magic (higher risk, but normally works fine)?

Now, if everything I have asked about is correct, then one final list on the proper steps (one at a time even if it will handle multiple steps like partition magic - just to be safer):

1. First delete the 1.25 logical partition.

2. Then move the EXT partition down to fill that space.

3. Then expand the swap partition to fill the new empty space after EXT - this should be pretty much the 1.5 GB you suggested. I assume, if I ever boosted the memory to 1 gb that the swap partition should be 3 gb?

If that is all correct, I'll be pretty well set, I hope. I will, after erasing the C drive and reinstalling windows again, maybe shrink that partition, then make the extended partition fill that space and adjust the logical partitions accordingly, but that can wait.

Dang, I'll be glad when these steps are done. I think I can figure out most other things through experimentation on my own, but I sure don't want to screw up the system when partitioning!

Thanks.