Ubuntu
 

In an attempt to familiarize myself with linux, I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 6.06. Installed it and it works just fine, but for one thing. I can't get any, and I mean any, programs to run at all. So to you linux gurus out there, am I overlooking something? This OS seems very promising, once I can get it to work correctly. I also am unable to access any drive but the partition the OS has created, says I don't have the permissions to do that. Any input/suggestions are welcome.

What do you mean by you can't get "any" programs to run.

As for the other drives, they should initialize and be mounted from the start, but look around in the Disks Manager under System -> Administration -> Disks, and see if they're given a mount path and enabled.

If you want any help at all you're going to have to be more specific about your problems. What are you trying to run and what happens when you try to run it?

By any programs, I mean programs that I have downloaded, such as ZSNES and Google Earth. The programs that came with the OS work fine, I meant programs not preinstalled simply do not work. On occasion, it may say they are opening on the bar at the bottom. Now that I am on a faster connection, here are some screenshots of errors I get. All drives show up as they should. But when I try to access the main one I get an error. I have tried to change the path that it uses but it will not save the change for some reason.

You're not trying to run *.exe files, are you?
Those won't run, due to some major differences between Linux and Windows. It is possible in theory (see Wine) but for now you'll want to get familiar with the package management system that comes with Ubuntu (apt). If it's not already installed, get Synaptic, an easy to use frontend for apt.

You can do this by typing into the terminal (it'll ask for your password). If this does not work, post the content of the file /etc/apt/sources.list here (or PM me) and I'll help you edit it for use with Ubuntu's FTP servers. From then on installing new software will be as smooth as you can imagine.

Edit:
There might be a problem with the configuration in /etc/fstab that causes the access issues. Again, post it here so that the Linux folks here can take a look at it. :)

Telling him to install Synaptic is redundant because Synaptic comes with Ubuntu by default and is the preferred way to install software.

He's also very silly to think his Windows software will work in Linux like nothing. That's why it's called "Linux" and not "Windows."

Taking a closer look at the programs I have downloaded, they are classified as executables. Now, before the flame wars begin, I have a simple question. If Linux cannot run executables, then why the fuck are the Linux specific versions executables?

It is silly to try to run a Linux version of a program that has been ported from Windows? I know Linux is not Windows, but to say that the program runs on Linux and in reality it does not is just a tad bit misleading, don't you think?

deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe main restricted
# deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/...ll/Packages.gz

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hdb5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

In Synaptic, choose "Settings" and then "Repositories". There you deactivate the CD sources and enable every source that says "deb" at the beginning. deb-src is for downloading source-code, obviously. (Note: This is an equvivalent to editing the sources.list file I mentioned before.)

Exit this dialogue with "Ok" and then click on "Reload". It should fetch the infromation for available packages from the Ubuntu servers. Use the the search function (CTRL+F) to look for whatever software you might want. If anything you need isn't featured there ask here or on the Ubuntu forums.

Btw, "Mark All Upgrades" queues security fixes and updates for installation (they're downloaded and installed once you press "Apply", just like anything else you've selected). You might want to do this from time to time.


Edit:
Hm, according to your fstab, only the root (hdb2) and the swap partitions (hdb5) are mounted upon boot. Could you post the output of "sudo fdisk -l" ?

Well I do notice 1 problem. Line 33 of sources.list does not have the # deb in front of the website. But I apparently am not the owner because I do not have the permissions to edit it.

Disk /dev/hda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 24320 195350368+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 4303 34563816 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2 * 4304 4837 4289355 83 Linux
/dev/hdb3 4838 4865 224910 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 4838 4865 224878+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I am guessing it is not mounting this drive because I do not have the permission to access it. The owner seems to be the "root" account. I don't see how I can take ownership. I put my account in the same group as root (hey figured it was worth trying). Now, nothing works of course.

Update: resetted to previous settings. So I guess what will answer most of my problems is, how do I gain ownership? Under Users and Groups I have full privileges.

Try adding to your fstab. You can edit it by entering "sudo nano /etc/fstab" in the command line. You might have to create the necessary mount points (folders where those partitions are integrated into your file system) with the mkdir command. Just reboot the system after that.


Edit: Those partitions will be read only since NTFS support in Linux is still somewhat shaky. Creating an FAT32 partition might be a good idea to move date between both operating systems.

Or he could install ext2 IFS in Windows which will add ext2/3 partition support in Windows.

That's what I do, and as far as I can tell, it works just fine.

Added all of that stuff in. Now, it says it can't mount the drives due to the following errors:

error: device /dev/hda1 is not removable

error: could not execute pmount

Double Post:
Did that. The partitions now show in Windows, but says they need to be formatted.

Could you please post the contents of your fstab file? Either copy/paste it from a terminal or just upload the file. Uh, I guess it'd also help to see what's currently mounted and where. Bring up a terminal window and type the following:

For running applications, what are you doing? Are you downloading source code and compiling it? Are you downloading binaries? Unfortunately, I've never used Ubuntu (and I hated Debian) so I can't really help if it's an issue with their packaging system, but if your system is set up properly then there's no reason you shouldn't just be able to compile and run ZSNES.

btw, Gentoo's website is a pretty good resource for Linux information in general, although a lot of the documentation deals strictly with their "packaging system" called Portage. The nice thing about Gentoo, however, is that it mostly consists of scripts. I think I probably learned more about Linux just by installing Gentoo than I did from reading Linux for Dummies or from training courses in school. It may seem a little more complicated than Ubuntu, but I think you'll find it a learning experience. Just stay away from their graphical installer, as it's not quite ready yet.

There's no need to compile ZSNES oneself under Ubuntu--it's actually an available package. This site is a good way to find out if something is available under Ubuntu's primary repository.

Make sure you have the Multiverse repositories enabled (Ubuntu's wiki covers what this means, but you're looking to make sure "multiverse" is on an enabled repository line in sources.list) on the main Ubuntu repository. Synaptic should be able to help you do this.

Once done, install zsnes through Synaptic, Aptitude, or your favoured package manager (there's a few of them for the apt system). The simple way would be to update apt's sources and then run the below with proper rights:
You misunderstood Merv. Linux programs are NOT exe, dll, et al files; they would simply have +x permissions (executable bit). A real good way to know you've downloaded a Linux program is if the thing comes with something named "README", and it mentions cc, gcc, or anything of that sort. Of course, that's not a universal rule.

Text:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdb2 4.1G 2.0G 1.9G 53% /
varrun 503M 80K 503M 1% /var/run
varlock 503M 4.0K 503M 1% /var/lock
udev 503M 120K 503M 1% /dev
devshm 503M 0 503M 0% /dev/shm
lrm 503M 22M 482M 5% /lib/modules/2.6.15-23-amd64-generic/volatile
/dev/hdc 4.2G 4.2G 0 100% /media/cdrom0

And yes, the files I am trying to run are binaries.

UPDATE: Windows finally recognizes the partitions. As such, I went in and edited the files and now I have full access to the drives. One problem down.

And....your fstab?

I'm not sure wether you still need this but I wrote up a sources.list that should give you the maximum Ubuntu omph:


And here's an fstab, that'll let you read your NTFS drives on Linux as well:

Be sure to leave an empty line at the end of those files when you save them. Some config files require this.

Just wanted to emphasize the read. Don't try to write to them from Linux. That's just hazardous.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

#

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

/dev/hdb2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

/dev/hdb5 none swap sw 0 0

/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0

/dev/hda1 /media/hda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

/dev/hdb1 /media/hdb1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

I've been using Captive NTFS for about a year now without difficulties. It basically runs Windows' NTFS drivers through a WINE-like layer.

@ dragon_87
How is it going?
Did you get some software installed with apt/Synaptic? Are your NTFS partitions showing up all right in /media/hda1 and /media/hdb1 ?

Well, yes and no. The main thing I am trying to run atm is wine. The link given to install the package gives me a 404 error. So I went and downloaded it somewhere else. Now I have a wine-0.9.15.tar.bz2 sitting on the desktop. So I open it and extract the folder. I am lost from here as to how to get it working. The NTFS partitions are working fine.

Why bother with that tar.bz2 file, Wine's available through apt. What exactly did you do with your /etc/apt/sources.list so far?

The reason why I am bothering with the tar.bz2 file is because when I use the site given at winehq to install the program using Synaptic, I get a 404 not found error.

Hm, those sources work fine for me. Guess there's still something wrong with your sources.list.

Btw, I wouldn't bother with Wine at your level of experience anyway. It takes some time to set up, results tend to be unrewarding and it really distracts from the most obvious task at hand: Finding real (read: Linux native) replacements for your Windows software. Wine's nice to get that one tool to run which just doesen't seem to have a Linux equivalent in a million years. (Strangely enough, Avidemux became very usable by the time I got VirtualDubMod running with Wine).

Anyway, I'd really move Wine way down on your to-do list.