Ubuntu 13.10 on dell dimension 2350 Problems

[WinXpRefugee]

I have never installed any distribution of linux
With the impending farewell of xp I was looking for a cheap alternitive (like free) to the Microsoft upgrade path. I have been doing computer service since the early 90's but only in the M$ relm so I am really comfortable tweaking Microsoft software.
I Installed zorin and had graphical problems with it as well
I just installed ubuntu 13.10 I saw no problems durring install
The system post's and boots to the default desktop picture only!
I can change it with R-click
I created a folder and it is on the desktop.
I can open a term Ctrl-Alt-T
I went online and figured out how to launch firefox
this is what it said

$ firefox
(process:3095): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed

but the window came up that is how I am posting
I did this

gksu lshw-gtk

It said I did not have gksu and how to install it so I did that.

I really don't know what I am doing but i am patient and can read English (lol)
I noticed when I closed the Term window that the program that I launched goes bye bye so I asume that is how linux works it is just hidden form the end user.
here is the data from gksu lshw-gtk

Desktop Computer
product: Dimension 2350
vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
version: A02
serial: 4HWC231
width: 32 bits
capabilities:
    SMBIOS version 2.3,
    DMI version 2.3,
    SMP specification v1.4,
    Symmetric Multi-Processing
configuration:
    boot: normal
    chassis: desktop
    cpus: 1
    uuid: 44454C4C-4800-1057-8043-B4C04F323331

I also got this after reading the absolute begginer forum sticky since I fugure it it some kind of video problem since both Zorin and 13.10 had issues.
Zorin did show a GUI menu but it was incomplete no Max Min Close buttons

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 
82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)

I know there is a intel video driver I have not tried anything with that
since it is not working without the driver and when I installed it in Zorin it did not help.
(or maybe it did not install?)

I hope some one can help me I will try anything since I am a noob.
I have no data on this machine other than the ubuntu os so if it toast'ed no biggie
I have run ubuntu 13.10 from the cd on my normal computer and it is way fast compared to my xp,vist,7 OS's
So I am at your mercy but I learn fast and would help other's once I learn stuff.

[WinXpRefugee]

did all the stuff in this forum
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2183298
still no go
--
Dont know what this means
--
"OK, it seems to work fine under Linux 3.8.0-32-generic"?

"I type this from Xubuntu, and it works! ^_^
Xubuntu is just as good as Ubuntu, maybe even better for my PC because is lighter."?

[DuckHook]

Hi Bill and welcome to Ubuntu and the forums.

Though I hope to help with your technical issues, a few words first about the adventure on which you are embarking:

1. Although various Linux distros are indeed "free" (as in beer) you will find that they all have a learning curve and, not being mainstream and therefore automatically supported by HW vendors, there are times when certain HW needs some tweaking before it runs with certain distros.

2. I highly encourage you to read this and this. The first explains the differences between Windows and Linux. The second is a great intro to how Linux works.

3. Although Zorin is derived from Ubuntu, it is not associated with Ubuntu and has its own support site. There are Zorin-specific issues that the members of this site are unlikely to be able to help with. In any case, the Zorin installed base is very small. If you are considering it for its resemblance to the MS world, then as a seasoned user of both Linux and Windows, I should alert you to the fact that the resemblance is superficial and therefore misleading. In the end, Linux is a very different beast from Windows. Papering over those differences with a familiar GUI will only create nasty surprises when you find yourself having to deal with those differences.

4. If your old HW was running XP, then it is possible that it is not quite powerful enough to run Ubuntu. The 'buntu family comes in four flavours for exactly this reason—to accommodate HW of differing capacities. If you would like a better idea of which flavour would work best on your HW, then please post your HW details to this thread. For old XP machines, I would recommend Xubuntu or Lubuntu depending on just how old they really are.

On to your technical issues:

1. I don't understand what you mean by

...boots to the default desktop picture only

...isn't this what you want? What desktop background were you expecting if not the default?

2. Rather than gksu lshw-gtk, please do the command-line-only

sudo lshw -sanitize

The resulting code is easier to copy and paste back into this thread.

3. In Linux, when you launch a program from a terminal session, the program is created as a child process to the terminal session and will die if you close the parent terminal session. It is not necessary to tie a GUI program to a terminal session, but you would need to launch the program using its GUI launcher and not from a terminal session.

**EDIT**

Did not see your second post. It seems that you have resolved many issues with Xubuntu. As per my above note, I suspected that this was the best distro for you in the first place. If you are happy, please mark thread solved. If you would still like to discuss other distros, please provide output of lshw command above.

[WinXpRefugee]

Duckhook,
Thank you for responding
I have not solved the problem those are Quotes from another post I dont understand what they mean
Linux 3.8.0-32-generic
I dont know what this means but it seems that something was left out of the distribution what ever that means?
I dont know what Xubuntu is
You may be right this tower may not have the juice to run the os
result from sudo lshw -sanitize

computer                  
    description: Desktop Computer
    product: Dimension 2350
    vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
    version: A02
    serial: [REMOVED]
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3 smp-1.4 smp
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=1 uuid=[REMOVED]
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: 07W080
       vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
       physical id: 0
       version: A00
       serial: [REMOVED]
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Mitac International
          physical id: 1
          version: A02
          date: 03/24/2003
          size: 128KiB
          capacity: 192KiB
          capabilities: pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.20GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 5
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 15.2.7
          slot: Socket 478
          size: 2200MHz
          capacity: 2800MHz
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 400MHz
          capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid
          configuration: id=0
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 9
             slot: Internal Cache
             size: 8KiB
             capacity: 8KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: a
             slot: External Cache
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: synchronous external write-back unified
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 20
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 1GiB
          capacity: 2GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 0
             serial: [REMOVED]
             slot: A0
             size: 512MiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 1
             serial: [REMOVED]
             slot: A1
             size: 512MiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 03
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel
          resources: irq:0 memory:e8000000-ebffffff
        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:e0000000-e7ffffff memory:ee000000-ee07ffff
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:16 ioport:d800(size=32)
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:19 ioport:d000(size=32)
        *-usb:2
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:d400(size=32)
        *-usb:3
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=0
             resources: irq:23 memory:ee080000-ee0803ff
        *-pci
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801 PCI Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: 82
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master
             resources: ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:ec000000-edffffff memory:40000000-400fffff
           *-communication
                description: Modem
                product: BCM4212 v.90 56k modem
                vendor: Broadcom Corporation
                physical id: 4
                bus info: pci@0000:01:04.0
                version: 02
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm generic bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=serial latency=32
                resources: irq:16 memory:ed002000-ed002fff ioport:c000(size=16)
           *-network
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: BCM4401 100Base-T
                vendor: Broadcom Corporation
                physical id: 9
                bus info: pci@0000:01:09.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 01
                serial: [REMOVED]
                size: 100Mbit/s
                capacity: 100Mbit/s
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=[REMOVED] latency=32 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
                resources: irq:17 memory:ed000000-ed001fff memory:40000000-40003fff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Interface Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: driver=lpc_ich latency=0
             resources: irq:0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: 82801DB (ICH4) IDE Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ide bus_master
             configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:f000(size=16) memory:40100000-401003ff
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: ioport:500(size=32)
        *-multimedia
             description: Multimedia audio controller
             product: 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.5
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.5
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_intel8x0 latency=0
             resources: irq:17 ioport:e000(size=256) ioport:e400(size=64) memory:ee081000-ee0811ff memory:ee082000-ee0820ff
     *-scsi:0
          physical id: 0
          logical name: scsi0
          capabilities: emulated
        *-disk
             description: ATA Disk
             product: WDC WD800JB-00JJ
             vendor: Western Digital
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/sda
             version: 05.0
             serial: [REMOVED]
             size: 74GiB (80GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=000b0f0b
           *-volume:0
                description: Linux filesystem partition
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sda1
                logical name: /boot
                version: 1.0
                serial: [REMOVED]
                size: 243MiB
                capacity: 243MiB
                capabilities: primary bootable extended_attributes ext2 initialized
                configuration: filesystem=ext2 modified=2014-01-17 17:17:11 mount.fstype=ext2 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=continue,user_xattr,acl state=mounted
           *-volume:1
                description: Extended partition
                physical id: 2
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
                logical name: /dev/sda2
                size: 74GiB
                capacity: 74GiB
                capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
              *-logicalvolume
                   description: Linux LVM Physical Volume partition
                   physical id: 5
                   logical name: /dev/sda5
                   serial: [REMOVED]
                   size: 74GiB
                   capacity: 74GiB
                   capabilities: multi lvm2
     *-scsi:1
          physical id: 2
          logical name: scsi1
          capabilities: emulated
        *-cdrom:0
             description: DVD-RAM writer
             product: iHAP222   W
             vendor: ATAPI
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/cdrom
             logical name: /dev/sr0
             version: 7L05
             capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
             configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
        *-cdrom:1
             description: CD-R/CD-RW writer
             product: CD-RW  CRX216E
             vendor: SONY
             physical id: 0.1.0
             bus info: scsi@1:0.1.0
             logical name: /dev/sr1
             version: PD01
             capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw
             configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

I keep reading posts and I have tried so many things that I don't know up from down
but it seems to be somthing related to something called
unity

[WinXpRefugee]

Duckhook,
in repsonce to
1. I don't understand what you mean by ...boots to the default desktop picture only



...isn't this what you want? What desktop background were you expecting if not the default?

I mean I get the picture and a mouse cursor nothing else no menu's icons nothing just the background image
sorry about the confusion and again thank you for helping

[Roger Cook]

Bill, welcome to the new world of linux, when you get the right distro for your setup you will probably never go back. Let me suggest that you try one of the Mint flavors of linux
they are much easier to get going for a noob especially with old hardware. Mint Mate and xfce are both lightweight distros but kde from mint will probably run well on your rig.

There is not the display problems that you are having with mint!

[WinXpRefugee]

Roger Cook,
Thanks for your reply.
I have just looked in to xubuntu and Lubuntu as they were named previously in this post.
The thing that I think I would like about them is the Ubuntu One seems analogus to android market.
What I am really looking for is an all purpose distrobution. (if it exists)
That I could recomend to freinds and family to install on their xp machines, (I will have to install it on my multiboot machine as well as I do computer support as a hobby)
Something that could handle similar tasks of the XPOSs.

I have good friend that has a small buisness with 6 machines all running xp. He has "mission critcal software, (some design software and some intuit products) " that were designed for Win98/2K/XP.
His machines are all Core2Duo's 3.0Ghz with 4GB Ram GefForce 9800 1Gb GTX and 500GB hard drives.

Is that enough juice to handle Ubuntu 13.10 ?
I have seen people mention WINE how well does that work?

I may have to geek out on two distributions to meet the needs of my hobby.

I also want to set up a RAID NAS if I can get a good enough background in linux
So that would probably be 3 distributions.

In short I feel like I am late to the party.
I want to learn to trouble shoot linux and work with it as adeptly as windows 3.1/3.11/95/98/suckyMe/Vista/7.
I figure it will be alittle like learning a new language but I want too.

I apriciate any guidance (or even a beat down if I can learn something LOL)

[wildmanne39]

Please use code tags - if you are using New Reply button - highlight text and use the # button in the text box header.

If using Quick Reply then [code] at the beginning and [/code] at the end.

[WinXpRefugee]

Wild Man
Thanks for your reply.

 I was not sure if I should put the "sudo lshw -sanitize" Output in a code box and did not know how to 
Ps i hope this is not considered abuse i am just testing it out

I was thinking Mint 16 Mate

It says some stuf about 3rd party software.
download's with and with out since I live in the USA do I have to get with out in order to install.
I am just going to use it on my personal computer.
Or does it mater?

[DuckHook]

...I get the picture and a mouse cursor nothing else no menu's icons nothing just the background image...

Ah. Okay. Got it.

Your HW specs are barely enough to run Ubuntu, and I doubt that you will enjoy the experience. Yours is a Pentium 4 with 1 GB RAM and an integrated Intel video chipset. This is not high-powered HW by today's standards and Ubuntu/Kubuntu is designed to run on multi-core CPUs with minimum 2GB RAM and more powerful graphics.

Ubuntu comes in different flavours. The two high-powered flavours are Ubuntu and Kubuntu. They use different desktop environments, but both are high-end and resource hungry. The next level down is Xubuntu, which is designed for HW of about your power. The lightest flavour is Lubuntu, which is pretty plain to look at, but runs like stink on even relatively old HW. There are limits. Really ancient dinosaur HW won't run any of these distros because they are all still graphics-based, but if XP will run on it, then chances are that Lubuntu will do just fine.

Aside from the above four official flavours, there are many other derivative distros that are "based" on Ubuntu, but are actually independent. Bodhi is one such and a very interesting one at that. It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, is just awesome. Zorin is another. The Mint family is a third. I have all of these running as Virtual Machines on my box, and Mint has proven to be the most ornery and problematic. Its claim to fame is that it already comes with the proprietary drivers for AMD and nVidia chipsets that often cause problems in the Ubuntu flavours, but since your chipset is an Intel, Mint is unlikely going to be of any benefit when it comes to video.

I would recommend that you download both Xubuntu and Lubuntu in their Live DVD/CD/USB form, burn them and try them out. If you wish, try Mint as well. Linux is about choice, and you may find that you strongly prefer one over another. However, with your equipment, stay away from Ubuntu or Kubuntu.