ubuntu drive & folder files system

[adi06]

Hi all, Some noob questions plz.
Coming from windows, i know my drive names and folder in C:/
But in ubuntu i see the following 3 type of folders.
The places directory is preety explainatery,

1) In Drives section, "Computer" Is this the c drive/windows drive equalant? am i getting it right?
Also what other folder i should be familiar with?

In Gparted you can isee i have 1st C drive for windows 7, 2nd ext4 for ubuntu root /
3rd swap 2gb, and 4rth data drive ntfs

while installing ubuntu, i wanted to make a structure like 10GB for ubuntu OS which i mounted at root /
2GB swap, 8.9 GB Data, which i mounted at home.

2) Did i went okay? but i also see NTFS partinion in Devices section, so did i needed ext4 partition or i could have used my Data drives.
3) How do i rename my ext4 8.9 GB volume?

3) I see unmount option on drives except for windows 7 drive when i right click, what does that mean? i can remove them? and why is such option available, and what if i accidently unmount a drive and want to remount?
4) Thunderbird, if i receive emails, i have to open the app and wait few seconds, then the app reloads and shows new emails and a pop on top right corner., is this normal behavior? can it work like google talk? if not, what can i use?
5) Is google talk available to use in ubuntu? for audio and tet chat and email notifications works well,

6) For got to add an image, In system setting > online accounts. What is purpose of that? how do i use it? i added my gmail and facebok and flickr ids but nothing happend, nor i found any guide or infor, about hw that system works.

7) What about hardware drivers? things looks good everything is working, but do i need to install some latest driver or, all work out of box? i.e my default intel HD-2000 VGA of i3-2100 cpu, and inboard sound and lan.
And i am looking forward for a nvidia 3d card, will i be needing any 3rd part driver or the nvidia provides a driver for linux? asking just to be future safe

*8) i tried to copy a package file from ntfs drive to 8.9GB ext4 but paste is disabled, also new folder option is disabled, why this drive is not access able?

**9) I tried to diasable guest login by editing and saving some config file thoru a post guide, after that ubuntu boot and after the loading dots, screen gets turn off/black.
I re-installed ubuntu and all softs again

***10) how can i backup all installed apps and dependencies as an image/repository, so i can use them to install without internet(for faster working system), i.e in case i mess up ubuntu again.

If any other, things you might want to add for me as tip, tricks, plz do include them.
Thanks in anticipation

[Bashing-om]

adi06; Hi !

A lot of uncertainty on you part is understandable with a lot of questions. I will try and address what I can of them.

Partitions: -> Windows designations of "drive" is actually "partitions" on a single physical device. Thus Windows c/drive is but a single partition on a single hard drive that ubuntu designates as sda1, in this case.
ubuntu renders that representation correctly as:
sda = the first hard drive
sda1 = the first hard drive and the first partition(1) primary, here a Windows ntfs partition;
sda2 = 1st HD, 2nd partition, here Window's 7 ntfs partition;
sda3 = 1st HD, 3rd primary partition; ntfs data partition -> that may be configured to share between both operating systems !
Then sda4 - this is an extended partition, that contains within it a number of "logical: partitions ->
sda5 = 1st HD, 5th partition (logical) is the swap partition, similar to use as Windows swap page;
sda7 = 1st HD, 7th parttion (logical) is the ubuntu operating system "/" ext4
------------
sdb - if you had a 2nd hard drive (b)
sdc - if you had a 3rd hard drive (c)

So, you are configured properly, 4 primary partitions ( the extended partition counts as a primary partition in which any number of "logical" partitions may be made, space permitting). But, you do not have a separate home, your '"/home" is contained with in the root (/) directory. No biggy as of this time. But if you use ubuntu, you will find that 10 gigs is too tight for a full featured installation to allow operating head room. I often see 30 gigs recommended.

File system:
Everything is a file to ubuntu .. everything.. devices, hard drives usb sticks, monitors... everything is a file to ubuntu. At the top of this file structure is "/" the root directory - for the ubuntu operating system - and it contains all the other directories (and files) and all is attached and incorporated under "/". All the system files, bin, boot, etc. lib, ect, ect ;This includes your "/home" directory, that will contain all your own personal stuff and config files fro the applications that you use.

Devices -> data:
As you only have the one single hard drive installed, I expect that "data" is actually "sda3" that yes, may be mounted for read/write access. And as in Windows, (UN)mount -eject-- when a task is completed. Remount is as you surmise, right click on the icon, and select mount. And you have access now to that attached file system. Same goes for the Window's partitions... but exercise extreme caution when mounting the Windows' operating system partitions from ubuntu .. you can unwittingly inflict damage to the Windows' operating system !


Your number 7) ubuntu is well supported - out of the box - with all hardware drivers. If it ain't broke, do not fix it ! If additional attention is required try and stay within the ububtu direct support system to find the solution; primarily the utility "Additional Hardware", next is supported PPA (personal Package Archive) and then if all else fails one may try and down load drivers from the manufacturer, perhaps compile from source, and install manually. Not to be contemplated by the unwary !

your number 8) item. the devices must be mounted before you can access the files thereon.

Your number 9), No way to tell what happened, editing only a guest .config file should not have effected your user files. Pleased you were able to (re)install and back up and running.

Your number 10) Backup procedures are as diverse as there are users, there are a number of backup utilities available in addition to what is provided in the install .. As you now know a (re)install is quick and painless .. I personally only make backups of my personal data and a few config files that would be a trial to rebuild. My personal experience with my knowledge and how I use my system, I can completely (re-)install from scratch and be back up fully at the point I was in 20 minutes. However, I have written scripts to backup those files, and scripts to restore them to the new install. That capability will come to you also if you want that ability. There is no direct need to backup system files, they are all available on the install.

The other questions I can not address as I have no experience with those applications.

Be patient, use your ubuntu operating system and in time all your questions will be answered.

Welcome again to what, in my opinion is ->

the greatest operating system the world has ever known

[jamesisin]

Welcome to Ubuntu. Bashing-om's comment is pretty comprehensive. If you still have questions, let us know and we'll work to fill in the gaps.

[oldfred]

To add a little.

Linux partitions have ownership & permissions. It is a multiuser system so you can set files with different owners and permissions. You probably have not given yourself ownership & permissions to use your ext4 data partition. That partition is not your /home as it is not mounted that way.
Understanding fstab
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/mountlinux
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab


You probably did not need a separate Linux data partition if using a NTFS data partition. I still have my NTFS shared data partition with my Firefox & Thunderbird profiles, so I can share with Windows & Linux. Then all bookmarks & emails are the same in both systems.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder
http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile

You have a little red icon next to your Windows 7. That says your system partition cannot be mounted. Does it need chkdsk or is it hibernated? Best not to hibernate when dual booting. And best not to write (read ok) into Windows system partition, but use shared NTFS data partition for read/write sharing.

Ubuntu has recent nVidia drivers in its repository. You may have to use nomodeset to boot, but then just install the nVidia drivers from within Ubuntu. Post back when that time comes, or search forum as there are many threads on that very issue.

[adi06]

@bashing-Om you explanation of drives, i don't have much words to say how much i appreciate it. i'm a noob Computer science student, and one of my specialty was windows partitioning, But on linux, i was blank. but now i know a lot, with ur guide. Thanks a lot.
And your remaining points are awesome. thanks
Only one thing from ur reply is left unresolved, point 10 backup utility. you said fresh install is easy, i agree and that is what i'll do, takes me 8 mins.
but the apps i install takes 20+ mins, i.e, flash, gparted, gimp, codacks, vlc, skype, variety wall changer, kdenlive, etc..
If you can explain or forward me to some guide, so i can make:
1) A backup of the installed apps, and use them as a source to choose from in software center, (on non internet pc)
2) Make a script so install all the apps in the image created by step 1, so suo apt-run-script install_all_apps_in_script_source_is_img1

As u can see i joined ubuntu forum in 2009, that was the 1st time i installed ubuntu, 8.02 something. but bcoz of wireless adapter driver and many other issues was just not my cup of coffee. so i left, now 2013 and its way better then before. I totally want to migrate from windows to linux(Ubuntu i prefer).

On;y thing left is: 3) VPN like hotspot, youtube is blocked in my country & i need it. as i'm a noob, some gui based or one time setting would be preferred. you can see my post about it, a guy suggested some but those didn't worked well.

4) where are the apps get installed, what is equivalent of program files in ubuntu, is it opt folder?
i have a execute able file for a text editor, sublime text 2, i was wondering where to put it. Also how can i make it default editor for all file type or when i click edit.
how do i replace it with gedit? bcoz its a standalone execute able, i don't have clue how i can do it.
besides is it advisable to replace gedit with that editor? or should i use that only for my development/production time, which i mostly do simply by running from dash.

@oldfred, your post is awesome, i used that information, 10 mins google search and i understood what u explained about user rights and ownership.
using that knowledge i am able to rename the drive and also changed the ownership from root to my logged in username. everything is beautiful now.
Now what is bothering me is, when i created the ext4 during installation of OS, then it i suppose by default assigned it to root user, but during installation, user have to create an account, which in my case was bsienn, so do i always have to get through the mess of assigning right back from root to bsienn?
i understand its only 1 time process mostly, during OS install which wont happen a lot, but it should have been obvious and by default the administrator user should have ownership of the created partition. IMO

here is the stuff i used, but not sure what they are.
gksu nautilus
Alt+F2

i know nautilus is the explorer for ubuntu
i know sudo, gksg is i guess same thing but whats the difference? i didn't had this on system, terminal gave me intrusction to download it, and i did sudo apt-install gksu
2ndly what is Alt+F2

3rdy, i tried to change permission of my windows 7 drive for root and owner from read & write to list only, but when i change the drop down, it get back to default read&write.
why is that? maybe bcoz thats my primary OS and linked with dual booting or something like that?
What i want is not access windows 7 drive in ubuntu for security reason. accidental read/write for all users.

i never use OS partition for storing data, so windows 7's my documents and pics/download folder are always empty, same goes for Ubuntu, i'll no use home directory for anything.

So i'm back on my 1st question, partition. as bashing-Om said, everything is in / root, than what is the purpose of the following pic, where i assigned the 8.9GB volume ext4 partition in /home and the ubuntu OS drive to /

and what about the other options in the pic?


@jamesisin Thanks for your support

[oldfred]

My first install of Redhat 5 back 15 years ago (not more current version), was more a server type install. And then you created partitions for just about every system folder. With servers often still done to provide for different requirements. But not needed for most desktops.

All these are really the same thing on Linux standard base or file structure.
Explanation of file structure
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesys...archy_Standard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Standard_Base
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_directory_structure
Linux Standard Base details
http://refspecs.linux-foundation.org...ric/book1.html


A master thread on learning/books/terminal/bash/Linux etc
Linux Command Line Learning Resources - cortman
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommandLineResources
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1909108

[Petro Dawg]

4) where are the apps get installed, what is equivalent of program files in ubuntu, is it opt folder?

You might look here for some general information regarding the Linux file system.

As a "guideline" the following convention is used for file system organization, however, it is not set in stone...

Table 3-2. Subdirectories of the root directory

Directory	Content
/bin	Common programs, shared by the system, the system administrator and the users.
/boot	The startup files and the kernel, vmlinuz. In some recent distributions also grub data. Grub is the GRand Unified Boot loader and is an attempt to get rid of the many different boot-loaders we know today.
/dev	Contains references to all the CPU peripheral hardware, which are represented as files with special properties.
/etc	Most important system configuration files are in /etc, this directory contains data similar to those in the Control Panel in Windows
/home	Home directories of the common users.
/initrd	(on some distributions) Information for booting. Do not remove!
/lib	Library files, includes files for all kinds of programs needed by the system and the users.
/lost+found	Every partition has a lost+found in its upper directory. Files that were saved during failures are here.
/misc	For miscellaneous purposes.
/mnt	Standard mount point for external file systems, e.g. a CD-ROM or a digital camera.
/net	Standard mount point for entire remote file systems
/opt	Typically contains extra and third party software.
/proc	A virtual file system containing information about system resources. More information about the meaning of the files in proc is obtained by entering the command man proc in a terminal window. The file proc.txt discusses the virtual file system in detail.
/root	The administrative user's home directory. Mind the difference between /, the root directory and /root, the home directory of the root user.
/sbin	Programs for use by the system and the system administrator.
/tmp	Temporary space for use by the system, cleaned upon reboot, so don't use this for saving any work!
/usr	Programs, libraries, documentation etc. for all user-related programs.
/var	Storage for all variable files and temporary files created by users, such as log files, the mail queue, the print spooler area, space for temporary storage of files downloaded from the Internet, or to keep an image of a CD before burning it.

[Bashing-om]

adi06; Hey,
Backups, here is one thought as the package manager in ubuntu is a wonder to behold and even greater to use:
How about a system generated file of all installed apps and a means to automatic-ly (re)install them ?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...75&postcount=5
http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techbl...selectupgrade/

Basically:
From the old install

dpkg --get-selections > ~/my-packages

Save that file along with other data files you want restored.
In the new install:

sudo dpkg --set-selections < my-packages
sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade

Making a back up script, I leave as an exercise for the student. Only you can know what and where your files are - I will provide you what I have if ya want, merely as a template/example . But I assure you, specific to what I have and do, not much use to you.

VPN I do not use, so know nothing about it..Tunneling can be done, ssh and such but is beyond my current experience to set it up, documentation abounds !

Now comes some confusion in respect to the root account. By default on ubuntu it does not exist (initially) What one has is the "sudo" mechanisum
for administration of the system. The 1st user created at install may and does exercise administrative authority. Precede any command that requires that access by the term -sudo- and provide authentication by entering your password (you set this at install ).


See this for an explanation of sudo/gksudo and the wherof/why !
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/graphicalsudo
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1841457&page=5


NTFS access and permissions are set at the mount point:
see these most excellent tutorial/template:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1983336
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1604251

So i'm back on my 1st question, partition. as bashing-Om said, everything is in / root, that what is the purpose of the following pic, where i assigned the 8.9GB volume ext4 partition in /home

Can't say other than the change to the partition table was not "applied".. a quick way to see what is current on you system:

sudo fdisk -lu
sudo blkid
df -h

as you can tell I think more CLI that GUI !

We will have you setting pretty, and glowing at your ubuntu ! - in no time

[adi06]

Petro Dawg
Superb details, thanks for it

We will have you setting pretty, and glowing at your ubuntu ! - in no time

hehehe, loved it!

Its 5am here and i am studying about linux from awesome fellows like u.
In single post i have got a lot of material to study, thanks for ur great time.
I'll keep reading it in morning, till then. Good night ^_^

[jamesisin]

New users may appreciate this brief guide I wrote outlining how I create new machines for people.

http://jamesisin.com/a_high-tech_ble...buntu-machine/