Installation help

[ypapado]

Hi everybody,
I am a Phd history student, with limited Unix knowledge but with good will. I have convinced some fellow students to switch to Linux and I am about to start by installing Kubuntu to my Sony Vaio VGN-FS21S. I know that I am the Xth newbie bothering everybody but I hope you will have the patience to hear me. I have the following questions

1.In the forum I found that I must create at least 4 partitions in my hard disk (Boot, /Root, Swap, Home). In the installation senaria links I havent found any reference to boot partition. Is it an alternative point where Grub boot loader should be installed?
2.My computer model is not in the list of the laptop computers.
3.It has already two partitions in the Hard Disc both NTFS. Can I install Kubuntu in the second one (D or it won't be recognized as a partition by the installer?
4.I understood that beforehand I have to download and burn Linux System Rescue CD just in case.
5.With the live Cd it functionned properly but It didn't recognize the modem.The modem model is CXT, HDAUDIO SoftV92 Data Fax Modem with smart CP but I found that I will have to wait until I install KUBUNTU to verify through scanmodem utility if it is supported. Is there any other alternative?
6.Shall I install the latest Dapper Fly cd or Breezy or shall I wait for the release of Dapper?
I would be gratefull for any other suggestions
Thanks in advance
Yannis

[chscag]

Re: Installation help

Welcome to the forum and to Kubuntu. I'll try to answer your questions one by one....

1. The creation of partitions is optional. You actually only need one partition to install Kubuntu, and that is the ROOT partition. Some folks like to keep their data separate on another partition - HOME, however, it's not necessary. Likewise with the SWAP partition which is used as virtual memory. If you have enough system memory, you probably don't need a SWAP partition. This is not like XP where you always need a pagefile. There is no BOOT partition unless you're using a third party boot loader. GRUB can be installed to the Hard Drive MBR or your ROOT partition.

2. If your Sony is not on the list of notebook computers about the only thing you can do is run the live CD to see if everything works. (as you already have done so)

3. You can not install any distro of Linux to a NTFS or FAT-32 partition. You must create space and format it to a file system that Linux can be installed on. Ext3 and ReiserFS are the two most popular file systems used. Kubuntu can read and write from a FAT-32 partition and read only from NTFS (at least for now).

4. If you download and burn the Kubuntu DVD, it will contain both the LIVE and INSTALL versions of Kubuntu 5.10. You don't need a rescure disk since the DVD or CD is also a rescue disk. Note that the CD download is two downloads: One for LIVE, and another for INSTALL whereas the DVD image contains both.

5. If you ran the LIVE version and it didn't recognize your modem you may or may not ever get it to work since it appears to be a win modem. There are issues with win modems and Linux in general; some work, some don't. Most are troublesome. The alternative is DSL through your network card, or, a PCMCIA hardware modem that's supported.

6. If you already ran the live version of Breezy, you should have a pretty good idea of what will work and what won't. If there are problems with certain things such as your modem, the same problem will exist if you install. Off hand, I can't tell you what will be added to Dapper. You can always download one of the Live beta installs of Dapper and give it a try.

Regards.

[Rog131]

Re: Installation help

Installing kubuntu:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php > General > Documentation > Installing Kubuntu, step by step

direct link: http://whoiam55.at.preempted.net/?p=18


Modem + Linux:

a) Check http://www.linmodems.org/

b)Use google
example with HDAUDIO SoftV92 Data Fax Modem linux gives:
Linmodems Mailing list Archives (http://archives.linmodems.org/21523)

Dapper (Ubuntu 6.04) final is coming in April. But if 5.10 is working fine there is no hurry to uppgrage. There is people using 5.04 version. So it is up to you.

[ypapado]

Re: Partition-Modem-External Disks-Display

Thanks for the advice,
I tried again the live KUBUNTU cd.
1. It didn't recognize neither the modem nor the wireless card. Now I am pretty sure it won't work. I read in a post that there is a possibility to buy drivers for linux online.
2. Moreover this time with Kubuntu parts of the screen became and remained white when it opened the menu bar or any window. Does it mean that there is a problem with NVIDIA Geforce card.
3. I plugged an external WD disk and a flash disk, formatted FAT 32. System failed to recognize them.
I tried again UBUNTU (gnome)live cd and problems 2 and 3 didn't appear.
4. I tried Q parted and recognized D: as hda2. I guess therefore that I can format it as Ext3 and leave Windows in Hda without resizing.
5. My question about the need to create a boot partition was based in some posts I read about fail of the system to boot if Grub was installed in the primary Hda1 partition. As I only have a computer at home it would be fatal.
Thanks again
Yannis

[DrShecky]

Re: Installation help

you should give Mepis a try. I am pretty sure it works with your hardware. Since the installer is a Live CD you will know right away. It is quite similar to Kubuntu but is fully compatible with Debian and uses debian repositories.

Mepis.org
MepisLovers.org

DrShecky.org