Gutsy Gibbon install: help me with the steps!!

[shady_inc]

Greetings!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I successfully managed to install Gutsy Gibbon on my PC.Yay!!
.The installation was a real breeze.It took just 25-30 minutes to get it running.Thanks to everyone for helping out a linux newbie like me.!!Thanks to the wonderful Open Source community here.!!

Now, I wanted to know whether the swap partition is working properly or not.I did allocate 500 mb space to it while installation.But how can I be sure that the 500 mb swap is indeed there and doing it's job.??

Also,I have heard about something called "Beryl" which lets you have cool effects on linux.Will it be worthwhile to get it.??

Once again,Thanks
and regards,
shady_inc

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

First of all congrats.I told You its the easiest OS install ever.

forget beryl get compiz fusion.Read dark stars guide to ubuntu customization.

Buddy just forget about swap!!Just forget.Its working fine.lol.

And welcome to the 'elite' club.

 

[QwertyManiac]

Check RAM/Swap usage in System Monitor to know its current status. Your swap won't be used unless your RAM is 80% or so full and after some app demands RAM over that.

Beryl merged with Compiz to form Compiz-Fusion. Its integrated in Gutsy. Check Desktop Effects under Appearance properties.

 

[Rahim]

DOnt forget to install compizconfig-settings-manager as it will give a better control over the effects.
Swap: Systems>Administration>System Monitor

 

[praka123]

"free -m" in terminal will show swap usage

 

[shady_inc]

Hi all!!

After playing around in linux yesterday,I decided to check out the status of XP today.But when I tried to boot into XP,I was greeted with the following error:

"Windows could not load because the following file is missing or corrupt:
hal.dll."...something on similiar lines.So I did some research on it and found out that my boot.ini is corrupted and I will need XP CD to rebuild it.Guess this is one of the caveats of dual-booting...one OS always cries foul when it finds another OS installed on same PC.

Also...Why can't I write any data to my NTFS partition (D:\ drive) from linux.I tried copying the contents of a video CD to the NTFS partition but none of the files could be copied..

And Gutsy won't even play that video CD.It worked perfectly fine in my DVD player.Guess it's some codec issue.

Did you guys also face such issues after installing linux or is it just me??

Oh, and by the way....I am really enjoying the download speeds I get in linux.In XP,I hardly managed speeds of above 25-30 kbps.But in linux I get a cool 250-270 kbps D/L speed.Woohoo!!

 

[src2206]

Linux by default does not support NTFS writing because of its proprietorial nature. Get Automatix as it is the easiest way to enable NTFS RW Mode in Ubuntu without manually editing the system file (fstab).

 

[praka123]

linux supports write in ntfs using ntfs-3g which is free software(OSS).
and reg @shady_inc's dobut:
edit ur boot.ini in xp.it fixes!.same problem is fixed by editing C:\>boot.ini in XP by another guy here in this section.
see below:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74575

*support.space-kerala.org/wiki/index.php/School_GNU_Linux_FAQ

*ittly.wetpaint.com/page/LINUX+PROBLEMS?t=anon

 

[shady_inc]

Hey...changing partition number from 2 to 3 in boot.ini worked.!!Thanks parka123!!

Hey...changing partition number from 2 to 3 in boot.ini worked.!!Thanks praka123!!

shadyEDIT: Is there an all-inclusive codec pack available for Ubuntu??Like the equivalent K-lite mega codec pack for windows..which includes all codecs and plugins.??I can't listen to any mp3s and the codec finder has not worked for me..

 

[Rahim]

Search for gstreamer in Synaptic and download all the codecs.There are a lot of options though.
Download VLC to play VCDs. Its in the repo

 

[src2206]

That is why I suggested Automatix. It will install all the necessary codecs, both Proprietary as well as free. Its very easy to use and the latest version is very stable. Apart from that Automatix will take care of your display driver update too. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

 

[Rahim]

Honestly Automatix should be avoided at all cost.
People discourage its use as it is a little buggy

 

[shady_inc]

Search for gstreamer in Synaptic and download all the codecs.There are a lot of options though.
Download VLC to play VCDs. Its in the repo

ok..will do that.By the way..what do you mean by "it's in the repo".??

Also..I downloaded thunderbird for linux and I got a .tar.gz file.I extracted the contents,but there is no installer file provided.!!So I went through this link.But got stuck at step 2.Where do I type that thing.??.

 

[praka123]

repo means repository.they are listed in /etc/apt/sources.list .from where the packages are downloaded and installed by apt and dpkg.
dont search www for softwares everything is listed in synaptic manager in menu system>admin>synaptic.when internet is ON,press "reload" button.
dont search for getting .tar or .bz2 etc files they are all source code files.instead use synaptic.
source files are tough to compile for a newbie and tough to uninstall too.

 

[Rahim]

"Its" refer to both gstreamer and VLC. Thunderbird is in the repo. I dont know much about installing from tar. Install thunderbird through Synaptic.
Prakash has explained it nicely.

 

[aditya_v]

for codecs, simply install the rapper package : ubuntu-restricted-extras

 

[gary4gar]

to install codecs,java,flash & many other things click: ubuntu-restricted-extras

for Thunderbird click Install Thunderbird


wait for about 3-4 sec after clicking.In both cases you will get a box, asking YES or NO

this packages(softwares) requires to add extra repositories(repo in short)
its is a one time procedure & do this if you haven't already done so
*ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy#How_to_add_extra_repositories

 

[Rahim]

ya enable extra repo from medubuntu as it has all the multimedia codecs.

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

@shady:do as gary has posted to add repos,then fire up Applications--->add\remove programs---->update it if necessary,there are hundreds of program there,install which ever you need.It doesn't get simple than this.

 

[src2206]

Honestly Automatix should be avoided at all cost.
People discourage its use as it is a little buggy

Did you try the latest version? I suggest you give it a try my friend. The developers have improved a lot. Had it been for version 6.01 of Ubuntu, I would not have suggested. I have followed the development of Automatix for quite some time, and the latest versions are really good.