Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
well.. now ive got Ubuntu 12.10 on this server and the media PC...
Thought id try to fiddle around a bit, see if i can get these connected over the network... and start small and easy.
First bugger.... ive got a disk attatched... 1tb disk, formatted in fat32ex file...
how do i format this?
the system is reading my 500gig media disk in NTFS (by defalut)
But thought id backup to the other disk also..so if one fails.. i have a spare one.
So how do i format the fat32ex disk?
Other tips for EASY network is appritiated.
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
Whilst all the above advice is good, I think you would do well to settle on one Distribution for a start. There is an Ubuntu Server version. I don't know exactly how it is different from standard Ubuntu, but I know you can install a Desktop Environment onto it without a problem. This might be an option for you until you learn what you need.
On the other hand, just using the machine as a media server doesn't warrant, I think, a "hard core" server install. From your descriptions, I assume that the usual work it will be doing is having maybe 2 or 3 computers pulling films or music off it. That should not be too much of a bother for a standard Ubuntu install, I imagine. If there is anything missing there that the server edition would have had, it can be installed from the software center. In short, I'm inclined to suggest a standard Ubuntu on all of the machines, and take it from there. You chances of getting the entire set-up exactly right and never wanting to do anything different are pretty minimal, so don't bother your head about doing things wrong too much. Just go at it, and see how it developes. )
As far as your data goes, you are on the right track. If you install Ubuntu on the machine, you will be able to copy your data across to the new drive without a bother. Incidentally, the advice from an earlier poster about doing a backup immediately is good. Having valuable stuff on only one drive is always risky. I don't have a good backup habit, but I do keep stuff I can't replace spread around on several drives and machines. Anyway, Ubuntu can read ntfs. You don't need to install anything extra.
Now that I think about it, I would be inclined to boot the machine into the live environment and work from there. You could use gparted from there to partition the new 1TB drive as you want it, and copy your files across once you have that done. While you are at it, you might like to get a hold of an external drive and make a copy of them to there too, just for safe keeping. Once all that is done, you can install, format the ntfs drive during the install, and mount the 1TB to the install during the install.
As far as the difficulties with the various guides go, I know exactly what you mean, It is hard to give general advice, but you can nearly always get help hear. Post a question with an approriate title, a link to the guide you are trying to follow, and what it is you don't understand. A lot of the time someone will even chime in with an easier way... ;)
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
Open up the software centre and install gparted. You can format the disc with that.
Easy networking. Press Ctrl-Alt-T to open a terminal.
Code:
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
on both machines.
Then on machine A
Code:
ssh-keygen
ssh-copy-id user@host
user@host would be the user name of your account on the other machine @ it's ipaddress
eg bob@192.168.0.2
accept the connection
Type the password from your account on the other machine
Then open your file browser and in the menu go File > Connect to server
Choose ssh, fill in the boxes (no password needed because you just did that bit)
You can now add the other machine as a bookmark in the file browser.
Go to machine B and do the same thing.
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
heh..did search from dashboard and "disks" did randomly appear...
And that did the desired job, so the fat32ex is now formatted to ntfs, and up and running.
Copying pictures now....
Ive got a question:
On the computer set for livingroom, the Plasma starts to "flicker".
It turns black for a half sec, then normal a sec or 3....
anyone know what this is?
I tried to install Nvidia drivers for it, but ended up loosing my desctop.
(just had the background, but no icons or anything)
if i right click, i get the desktop adjustment. so i ended up with reinstalling : P
But anyone know what is the easiest way to fix this problem? Dunno if it is the Nvidia GF560TI causing it, but think i had similar problem with a earlier install with another computer.
(might be my old hitachi plasma....)
Thank you for all replies btw.
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
You are not using Linux unless you learn the command line. All this GUI fluff? Might as well be Windows or Apple.
Well no. I don't know why, but Ubuntu graphics are better than Windows graphics on the same machine. Even using a VM.
But yes. As others have suggested, learn the command line. It is often much faster than clicking through some 'wizard' that often restricts your choices more tightly than the command line. GUI developers don't have the time to cover all of the options so they give you what they think are going to be the most popular.
Get into the command line!
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DeathByDigital
Trouble on moust guides for linux, is that they say... open "somethig" or start "something", but i have no clue what or how to start... so i really need basic step by step guides for kids.....
On Ubuntu you can launch apps or open files the same way you'd search for them. Click on the Ubuntu icon on the launcher, or hit the Windows key. The you can either start typing the name of what you want, or navigate through the icons.
Quote:
Therefore i need some help for what distro to use on the server, and what to use on my media senter. it might work great with same distro on both... but i dont know...
Ubuntu has a server version, and is well documented. If it's just serving up some files though any Linux distro will work fine.
For the media centre I would recommend XBMC. There's a release of it called XBMCbuntu that is the XBMC media centre software prepackaged with the underlying Ubuntu OS, which makes setup pretty straightforward.
Quote:
it would be great if i could reach my media on server from android phones/tab, and if i did boot one computer in windows7.
No probs. If the server runs SAMBA then you can serve your files up in the Windows networking protocol (SMB/CIFS), which is understood by a wide variety of stuff. There are plenty of SMB browsers for Android
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
im so new to this, that im still unshure if commandline is the same as terminal?
its like driving a car... its easy if you know how, but if you never have seen one before, its hard to know what the shifter, or break pedal is.......even the easiest basics have to be learned......
and for me... i have copied alot of lines into terminal..but still dont understand what...
im starting to thinking i know what a few words are... but still i dont think i can manage to intuitive set up a sambashare from command line yet :)
still- anyone know what the flicker on my tv is?
IS it my tv, graphics card, or sw that makes the picture go black.. its just off for 0,25 secs. every 10 sec. still annoying
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The Cog
Starting programs should be easy in any distro (although I wouldn't know how to start a program in Unity - I hear that they have removed the start menu, so I would have to use a command prompt).
The difficult part is knowing which programs you need to run to achieve different tasks. There is no easy way round this. You have learned over the years which programs you would use in windows, but they all have different names (and sometimes different capabilities) in Linux. Your best bet is to use these forums when you need to know how to do a new task.
You should try the live CDs of the different distros to get an idea which one feels most comfortable.
AS for your pictures, Linux can read NTFS, but by the sound of it, you don't have a backup. Make one now. Today. Before the hard disk fails. I lost all mine once because I didn't keep backups, and the disk gave no warning that it was going to fail.
...and there's the beauty of unity dash.
You don't have to know the actual name of the application.
You can type in something related to the task you want to perform.
I find it strange that someone on the ubuntu forums staff hasn't even looked at unity out of curiosity.
:confused:
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DeathByDigital
im so new to this, that im still unshure if commandline is the same as terminal?
A terminal is something that can display the command line. The terminology goes back to mainframe days, these days the actual terminal is software instead of an actual box with a monitor and keyboard.
However the distinction is unimportant, essentially they're the same thing.
Re: after 24 years with MS, its time to move on?
> Ubuntu forums
> Asks people whether they should move on
...seems legit. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeathByDigital
At least i will be dual booting my bedroom computer to be able to play BF3 once in a while...... (reading something about steam+linux..som there might be hope one day)
Don't play DRM'd/commercial/proprietary games (BF3 isn't even natively available for Linux anyway, and while we're at it BF3 sucks).