Jump to content
Science Forums

Vista owners beware


Recommended Posts

But why did it refuse to boot from all sources? And how do you fix it if the dang computer just spits up a bunch of text then freezes before opening anything you can use (beyond bios stuff which was no help)?

 

And please don't tell me it was a stupid little thing that I could have even with my verrry limited knowlege fixed quickly and easily......pleeeease don't tell me that! (reloading everything took forever!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, it depends on what it spit out, generally upon boot (and you can press like F2 or F12 if you have a splash screen to have kernel messages display, or disable splash in grub), there are commonly previous versions of the kernel kept in your boot directory, so just-in-case you can boot to them (granted you upgraded the kernel).

 

You can fix most linux problems using live cds too, you can chroot into your ubuntu installation from any one of them, and then be working in your installed os environment through a live cd, well in command line.

 

general procedure for chrooting:

boot to live cd

 

make a directory in /mnt

ex: mkdir /mnt/ubuntu

 

mount your / partition there

ex: mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/ubuntu

 

if you have multiple partitions, mount them after that

ex: mount /dev/hda5 /mnt/ubuntu/var

or

ex: mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/ubuntu/boot

 

link your resources

ex: mount -t 0 proc none

ex: mount -o bind /dev /mnt/ubuntu/dev

 

chroot to that installation

ex: chroot /mnt/ubuntu /bin/bash

 

source your bashrc file :cheer:

ex: source /etc/profile

or

ex: source /home/username/.bashrc

 

some distros also ask you to update your environment variables

ex: env-update

 

and you are done and can start fixing things in the installation :phones:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Ubutastic!!! It's been two full months since Windows has been run anywhere in my house! Since I set up our good computer as a dual H.D. dual boot I've been unintentionally forcing Sweetie to try Ubu. (For whatever reason she never managed to understand that rebooting to Win. is VERY easy....I've walked her through it many times....apparently learning how to use the various goodies I've been adding was easier. :))

 

She's also slowly (grudgingly) coming to grips that Ubu. is a lot faster than Win. XP

and that Firefox is reeeeeally really awesome (especially with the add ons) also a hell of a LOT faster than her old browser.

 

Anyway with a few notable exceptions this has been the longest stretch trouble free computing ever...no viruses, no spyware, no BS for the sake of BS....life is good.

 

The main gripes...Wine refuses to do what I want it to.

Realplayer for Nux (helix?) and Win. refuses to work.

Gaming sucks without my controller (calibration software works but games fail to recognize it's existence). (WTF didn't the folks at Ubu. feel the need to make this easier to set up.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll answer if you promise not to laugh at my aging ghetto gear;)

Or my feeble choice of game...

Whusses? :confused:

 

To be honest the last time I was really involved with gaming on a pc 386/66's were state of the art...so I'm just a bit behind the times.

 

Lately I've been playing Alien Arena (found it while looking for various old school games in synaptic). Loads of fun but a pain using mouse and keyboard.

My controler is a cheapy PS/PS2 knockoff made by G.F. and worked fine with Windows and functions within the calibration software I've got for Ubu. but doesn't want to work anywhere else.

 

Will look up VLC....Will it play the vids I've collected using real?

 

As for Wine is it's refusal to function due to it's outdated Win version? Or? Any other options to wine that will work with XP? (preferably on the super cheap as I'm very much broke:()

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wine has a configuration agent that allows you to tweak how you run your program

 

also WHY IN THE NAME OF THAT SUPREME BEING THINGY are you running Alien Arena in Wine? Alien Arena, as in the CodeRED Alien Arena? or a different one?

I AIN'T runnin it in wine!:confused:

 

I am however trying to sort out which goodies I have for Win. that I can run with wine (or perhaps another program) in Ubu. Corel for example.

 

Perhaps my understanding of what exactly Wine is is wrong but I thought it was for running various Win. dependant programs in nux type OS's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wine is a program that provides windows API to a windows program. It stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator, but in simplest of terms to describe, it is.

 

Hmm, corel, go to the main wine site, and see the list of confirmed and compatible software.... Btw Gimp does well, and so does InkScape if you do vector...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...