(Full system details at bottom)
I'm trying to install Kubuntu 14.04 to replace a side installation of antiX 13.2 64-bit (testing repos) which is failing to accomplish what I need from it, which is give me a system that lets me use the same browser for both Flash and Java, and won't require a clean reinstall every couple years. I thought the rolling nature of testing repos would do that, but it's keeping me from being able to install Wine, hence Pipelight, which appears to be the only currently available solution to making a current Flash version available in a Linux browser that can also use Java. With Ubuntu (and hence Kubuntu) offering upgrades with major version changes, the time required when the old version starts to get too arthritic will be greatly reduced (compared to a clean install and reinstalling all packages and recreating all settings).
Where the question arises is this: I ran into the bug in which the Kubuntu installer hangs at the "Prepare" step, which my reading suggests is due to taking a huge amount of time to examine the dozen or so partitions on two internal hard disks (my two external drives are powered down, so not detected, else this would be even worse). I found the work around is to ensure all the partitions I won't be clearing for / or using for swap and /home are mounted in the live session before starting the installer, so I started Kubuntu Live and opened kparted -- only to find that the drive designators (sda1, sdb1) are swapped from what my existing Linux installations (and existing Legacy GRUB) use. Complicating this is the fact that, in order to get my almost six year old MSI P6NGML motherboard to boot from the IDE drive with Linux partitions on it while the SATA drive with Windows XP is present, I have the BIOS/CMOS set to swap the drives, and use MAP in menu.lst to reswap when I want to boot to Windows (which I haven't done since mid-2013, and don't expect to do in future). So, I'm finding kparted in Kubuntu Live is unswapping my drives.
I think I can go ahead with the install (clearing the partition currently containing antiX, reusing my existing swap, and creating a new user folder in the existing partition where I have all my /home folders -- which last has worked well in the past when upgrading Mepis 11 from 32- to 64-bit and when installing antiX 13.2 64-bit) and depend on manually editing the existing GRUB menu.lst to find the new Kubuntu, but I'm concerned that the Kubuntu install will become confused about what drive designator it's on and potentially overwrite stuff stored in one of my Windows partitions -- which would be disastrous, since it'd be confusing EXT4 with NTFS if that were to occur.
Am I okay with this, or will I need to use MAP in menu.lst to reswap the drives the way I already have set up for the Windows launch?
Also, since this is mainly about being able to use Pipelight, do I need to stick with 32-bit Kubuntu to have that work smoothly, or would 64-bit work equally well? I have 4 GiB RAM installed, but I've done a PAE kernel upgrade once before when using Mepis 11 32-bit, and expect it could be managed in Kubuntu if needed; however, if 64-bit has no disadvantages relative to Pipelight and Wine, I'd rather install that version to start with.
System info:
Kubuntu 14.04 32-bit, currently live (trying to install as multi-boot alongside WinXP and Mepis 11 64-bit)
KDE 4.13.0
Legacy GRUB 0.97-64, but I'm not started with GRUB yet; booted to Kubuntu Live USB via unetbootin.
System has WinXP 32-bit, Mepis 11 64-bit, and I'm trying to replace antiX 13.2 64-bit (testing) with Kubuntu.
Desktop system
Intel Core2Quad 2.7 GHz (Q9440, I think) -- 64-bit, 4-core, w/ 3 MiB Level 2 cache
nVidia GT520, currently on default Live session drivers, will have nVidia drivers installed via sgfxi
4 GiB RAM installed
2 HDDs -- one SATA 1 TB, less than a year old, 7 NTFS partitions; one IDE 120 GB, 7-8 years old (six partitions including the one that's to receive Kubuntu; also contains other Linux, shared /home with separate user folders, and swap) both read clean with S.M.A.R.T. monitor
1 CD-RW 40x
I'm trying to install Kubuntu 14.04 to replace a side installation of antiX 13.2 64-bit (testing repos) which is failing to accomplish what I need from it, which is give me a system that lets me use the same browser for both Flash and Java, and won't require a clean reinstall every couple years. I thought the rolling nature of testing repos would do that, but it's keeping me from being able to install Wine, hence Pipelight, which appears to be the only currently available solution to making a current Flash version available in a Linux browser that can also use Java. With Ubuntu (and hence Kubuntu) offering upgrades with major version changes, the time required when the old version starts to get too arthritic will be greatly reduced (compared to a clean install and reinstalling all packages and recreating all settings).
Where the question arises is this: I ran into the bug in which the Kubuntu installer hangs at the "Prepare" step, which my reading suggests is due to taking a huge amount of time to examine the dozen or so partitions on two internal hard disks (my two external drives are powered down, so not detected, else this would be even worse). I found the work around is to ensure all the partitions I won't be clearing for / or using for swap and /home are mounted in the live session before starting the installer, so I started Kubuntu Live and opened kparted -- only to find that the drive designators (sda1, sdb1) are swapped from what my existing Linux installations (and existing Legacy GRUB) use. Complicating this is the fact that, in order to get my almost six year old MSI P6NGML motherboard to boot from the IDE drive with Linux partitions on it while the SATA drive with Windows XP is present, I have the BIOS/CMOS set to swap the drives, and use MAP in menu.lst to reswap when I want to boot to Windows (which I haven't done since mid-2013, and don't expect to do in future). So, I'm finding kparted in Kubuntu Live is unswapping my drives.
I think I can go ahead with the install (clearing the partition currently containing antiX, reusing my existing swap, and creating a new user folder in the existing partition where I have all my /home folders -- which last has worked well in the past when upgrading Mepis 11 from 32- to 64-bit and when installing antiX 13.2 64-bit) and depend on manually editing the existing GRUB menu.lst to find the new Kubuntu, but I'm concerned that the Kubuntu install will become confused about what drive designator it's on and potentially overwrite stuff stored in one of my Windows partitions -- which would be disastrous, since it'd be confusing EXT4 with NTFS if that were to occur.
Am I okay with this, or will I need to use MAP in menu.lst to reswap the drives the way I already have set up for the Windows launch?
Also, since this is mainly about being able to use Pipelight, do I need to stick with 32-bit Kubuntu to have that work smoothly, or would 64-bit work equally well? I have 4 GiB RAM installed, but I've done a PAE kernel upgrade once before when using Mepis 11 32-bit, and expect it could be managed in Kubuntu if needed; however, if 64-bit has no disadvantages relative to Pipelight and Wine, I'd rather install that version to start with.
System info:
Kubuntu 14.04 32-bit, currently live (trying to install as multi-boot alongside WinXP and Mepis 11 64-bit)
KDE 4.13.0
Legacy GRUB 0.97-64, but I'm not started with GRUB yet; booted to Kubuntu Live USB via unetbootin.
System has WinXP 32-bit, Mepis 11 64-bit, and I'm trying to replace antiX 13.2 64-bit (testing) with Kubuntu.
Desktop system
Intel Core2Quad 2.7 GHz (Q9440, I think) -- 64-bit, 4-core, w/ 3 MiB Level 2 cache
nVidia GT520, currently on default Live session drivers, will have nVidia drivers installed via sgfxi
4 GiB RAM installed
2 HDDs -- one SATA 1 TB, less than a year old, 7 NTFS partitions; one IDE 120 GB, 7-8 years old (six partitions including the one that's to receive Kubuntu; also contains other Linux, shared /home with separate user folders, and swap) both read clean with S.M.A.R.T. monitor
1 CD-RW 40x
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