Installing Ubuntu

MrVestek

As of late SuSe has been my favourite Linux OS of choice but I wanna try out Ubuntu and see what all the fuss is about. I've downloaded Kubuntu Drapper Drake 6.06 but whenever I try to Install Kubuntu from the CD after the boot prompt and the init text finished my monitor goes off saying 'Frequency Out Of Range'.

Kubuntu goes into some weird 700x600 resolution and my monitor just can't seem to handle such a weird resolution. So, aside from using another monitor (which I don't have) is there any way to perhaps specify from the boot prompt that I want the resolution after this point to be say, 640x480?

Cheers In Advance.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

It's the frequency not the resolution that is out of range.

MrVestek

Fair enough so... how do I increase or decrease the frequency? This happened ages ago when I tried to install Ubuntu but I had a spare CRT monitor to hand then... I don't now.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

I've never had to adjust the frequency settings before, but there should be an entry in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

There might even be a script to do it for you, possibly "xconfig" or "xorgconfig" or "xf86config" or something along those lines. Sorry I can't be more helpful, I haven't used Kubuntu before

niallb

I think the problem is coming up much earlier than that.
Select "Install in text mode" from the menu,
and see does it get you any further.
If you don't have that option on screen,#
there is an "alternative install" disk available for ubuntu.
Use it instead if you can download it.

ubuntu, kubuntu and edubuntu are basically the same,
just a different set of package choices on the CD.

If you want kde, you can type apt-get install kubuntu-desktop after
you have ubuntu up and running.

NiallB

generalmiaow

Yeah, the normal (K)Ubuntu CD will try to boot you into a LiveCD. Press f2 (I think, it will say it somewhere) at the boot prompt to get to the text mode installer, if it's there. You could indeed edit the xorg.conf file on the ISO before you burn it, but that's a lot of messing.

//edit: There's some advice here as well but it's for 5.10... though I'm sure it would work just as well. Might be more useful after you've installed everything (through the text mode installer)

ethernet

niallb wrote:

I think the problem is coming up much earlier than that.
Select "Install in text mode" from the menu,
and see does it get you any further.
If you don't have that option on screen,#
there is an "alternative install" disk available for ubuntu.
Use it instead if you can download it.
...

NiallB

I installed Ubuntu onto a 500 MHz machine with 64 MB RAM using that particular alternate disk [from the Linux Format coverdisk this month]. It installed okay after about three attemps -- kernel didn't install first two times until I manally selected which one to install.

My problem is that I cannot get X running. I've only been using Linux for about a year, but I think this is what I need for a GUI. I ran the command '/usr/X11/bin/X' but got an error about fonts.

What am I missing here? I already set up another user and delected the default OEM user with sudo privileges the first time. Repeated this for the second install. Still no GUI. I'd expect it to struggle with 64 MB RAM alright [and a swap partition created].

Any tips welcome. Thanks.

generalmiaow

try

[PHP]startx[/PHP]

if that doesn't work, try
[PHP]sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop[/PHP]

it should hopefully install the required stuff

and also, show us the errors

additionally, I would suggest Xubuntu for a machine of that caibre. It's a lot less graphics intensive and runs fine on an even older machine I have

ethernet

generalmiaow wrote:

try

[php]startx[/php]
if that doesn't work, try
[php]sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop[/php]
it should hopefully install the required stuff

and also, show us the errors

additionally, I would suggest Xubuntu for a machine of that caibre. It's a lot less graphics intensive and runs fine on an even older machine I have

Many thanks. I was trying all varients of the letter 'x', but not 'startx'. When I get home, I'll try that.

Xubuntu was the very reason I intended to install it -- I received a DVD with three varients of Ubuntu on one -- with GNOME, KDE and Xubuntu. When I chanced my arm [with so little RAM] in booting it live and then double-clicking an icon on the desktop to commit to disk, I only ever got as far as "Power Management", before switching back to the initial boot message, in the lines of "Uncompressing Linux kernel ... ok, booting system" and there it would hold until the end of time.

It turns out I happened to have a stick of SD-RAM at home from an old upgrade, so just installed that today and booted into Windows 98. It's being recognised, so now I have 192 MB RAM [10 MB shared graphics].

generalmiaow

I have that DVD too actually, from the magazine. I haven't tried using (since I already have Ubuntu installed ) it so I don't know how to install Xubuntu from it. I imagine it's not too hard though.

192MB should be fine, definitely. I have a 300 Mhz Pentium II with 96MB of ram or so, which used to be a cash register (I found it in a skip), which flies through Xubuntu at 1024x768. I've run Ubuntu 5.10 with GNOME on a 64MB pentium II laptop (can't remember the CPU) and it ran a bit on the slow side.

ethernet

The command 'startx' was not found, so I installed the Ubuntu desktop using the command you suggested. Took over two hours to unpack and install [well over 400 packages and saw plenty related to the X window system], but I finally got the "brown is beautiful" GNOME GUI. Bliss! Many thanks for your help.

Regarding the LXF DVD, I think they've just integrated the choice for KDE, GNOME or Xfce into the logon screen [a menu] where you can choose your desktop environment for Kubuntu, Ubuntu and Xubuntu respectively.

I won't ask you, generalmiaow, what you were doing going through a skip, but good catch.

Performance is acceptable on my install too. Just a dogdy resolution: 640x480 at 60 Hz. No drop-down to change it to 800x600 [the same issue Achilles had?]. Had a look at the xorg.conf file. Lots of entries for resolution, all listing the same three resolutions at 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480, except at different depths. Time to splash out on an O'Reilly title on running Linux. Can't figure out what to do here -- remove lines, modify or add?

generalmiaow

Hmm.. I'm not sure how to fix that, but I've experienced it before. I just usually did an all out assault on every setting, with generous helpings of
[PHP]sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg[/PHP]
thrown in. By the way, it seems that 90% of the time that happens, it's your monitor settings that are at fault. Don't ask me why, but sometimes you have to tell the system you have a larger monitor in order for larger resolutions to work. And keep an eye on the refresh rate.

And you'd be surprised with what people throw out! Even now that it's illegal to throw computers out.

ethernet

generalmiaow wrote:

Hmm.. I'm not sure how to fix that, but I've experienced it before. I just usually did an all out assault on every setting, with generous helpings of
[php]sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg[/php] thrown in. By the way, it seems that 90% of the time that happens, it's your monitor settings that are at fault. Don't ask me why, but sometimes you have to tell the system you have a larger monitor in order for larger resolutions to work. And keep an eye on the refresh rate.

And you'd be surprised with what people throw out! Even now that it's illegal to throw computers out.

Yet again, your advice has worked. Lots of questions in that reconfiguration, but well worth it. All running perfectly.

Many thanks