Sunlight Dreamweaver
October 31st, 2010, 03:58 PM
Hallo(w) to All on All Hallo(w)s Evening [HallowE'en]
To who ever it may concern
Dear Sir or Madam
I am a relative newbie to computing having only started just two years ago.
Up until today I have been using Windows Vista, but having come across the refreshing open source, creative commons and free software foundations that are much closer to my heart's way of thinking I decided to download and install Ubuntu as a prerequisite to switching completely away from paid for operating systems and software.
In order to do this I firstly purchased a new 1Gb hard drive and installed it alongside my factory installed 250Gb hard drive with the windows factory image etc on it.
I then partitioned the new drive with 30Gb for Ubuntu, another 300Gb for any future backups (Yes I know it's a lot) from my separate Windows Vista OS 250Gb hard drive, which left 600Gb spare.
I got up early today a Sunday morning at 0500hrs to ensure I had plenty of download speed etc and that all would be done and dusted by the time I needed to be available today for family and community social commitments etc
However nothing has worked out in anyway like I would have expected it to or in anyway like Ubuntu's descriptions project, and I am typing this letter nearly 7 hours later and I have still not got Ubuntu properly installed as a dual boot system alongside my windows vista. In fact I am very surprised at the somewhat illogical and careless approach that the web pages take in explaining how to download and install Ubuntu.
Firstly I arrive at the webpage :
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop
To be greeted with an introduction and a red download button to the right.
I click on this and end up on page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
To be greeted by another red download button that is at least six times larger than the previous one and because it is in exactly the same place on this page as the previous one was on the previous page my mouse is already hovering over it and my brain just wants to click it and start using Ubuntu.
I quickly read the instructions:
Click the big orange button to download the latest version of Ubuntu. You will need to create a CD or USB stick to install Ubuntu
And then I click to download and save/burn the download straight to a CD, which as you may well already realize is "Goodbye CD" because as I have since learned all I was doing was burning an exact copy of an ISO file to the CD that cannot be used for installing or booting from.
After I finally give up trying to get the ISO file to install ubuntu some 30-40 minutes later it's already 7am because it also took 40 minutes to download the file.
Anyway I go back to the download page and read the instructions again including the little paragraphs that are underneath the huge red download button.
Originally my thoughts had been
"These are obviously not that important because they are "below" the download button otherwise if they were of importance these instructions would have been placed above the HUGE Red download button along with any warnings like---
Before you download Ubuntu please check the following:
A. Is this an installation to a PC with ubuntu already installed --- please click here
B. Is this an installation to a PC with Windows Vista/XP/7 installed--please click here
C.Is this an installation to a brand new completely clean PC -- please click here
D. Is this an installation with any other OS installed -- please click here
If these questions/warnings or something similar had been shown ABOVE THE HUGE RED BUTTON POSSIBLY CAPITALIZED AND IN RED then I wouldn't already have wasted so much time as it is.
After clicking on one of these, which in my case would have been B., all the relative steps required to complete the installation should then be listed, WITH FINALLY the download button after all the instructions, so that everyone is aware of what is required FIRST before they download anything.
As it is having read the bit about the windows installer I downloaded that to CD expecting it to download the required software as well only to find all I had was the installer package and not Ubuntu.
So I click the installer and it begins to download the software, but it is NOT the latest version 10.10, it is in fact version 10.04.1.
So I stop the installation because I want the latest version.
You might say here "That is the latest version or it will be once the latest updates have been added or something like that", but I don't know that and having said that I only said it because that might well be so or not!
As it is I have to start again, and this time because I've now got the wubi.exe and the ISO file I think maybe I'm supposed to use the 2 together, and so I try, but as you well know that doesn't work either.
So it is now around 9am and I have already been at this for 4 hours and I still haven't got to the install stage yet.
At this stage you might be thinking that I am a little slow on the uptake, and you could be correct, except that I am an Electronics and Communications Engineer (only not in the PC and computing field) and quite a quick study with anything new..... .......normally,...mostly, ....sometimes, but not today.
So I eventually read the bit about Infra and ISO Recorders, and my inexperienced thoughts are as I do NOT have an Ubuntu Infra file but I do have a Ubuntu ISO file I'll download the ISO Recorder, only to find that I can not find it anywhere on my PC except in my Program Files and there is no .exe file there to run it with, (so how am I supposed to use it I think)
Eventually another 20 - 30 minutes later, my nine year old boy (who has become involved now because I'm supposed to be spending quality time with him) comes up with the idea that somehow clicking on the ISO file itself might start the process and impressively he was right. High five son, well done!
So now I've got the ISO file written to a rewriteable DVD instead of the 2 CDs I've already thrown away.
I open the DVD and lo and behold there is a wubi.exe and all these ubuntu files etc, so we are there and all I have to do is click on the wubi.exe add a little personal information and Ubuntu will install itself to my new "U:Ubuntu" partition on my new Hard Drive and we'll be up and running
Unfortunately NO!
Firstly I choose install, then Install along side other OS's, I change the selection from the 250Gb hard drive to the 1Tb hard drive and it tells me that the current partitions will be wiped out, so I choose to install to the 30Gb partition on the 1TB drive and click continue at which point it says something about no file systems and can not continue.
By now I'm a little fed up with the whole fiasco and choose for it to install to the entire 1Tb hard drive and so what if the partitions are lost, there's no data in there and I can re partition later.
So off it goes and finally around 1130 hrs it says Ubuntu is installed please restart, which is what I do and click restart.
At which point, a load of white writing appears and the DVD is ejected and then instead of restarting I am left with loads of white writing on a black background saying over and over again;
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536412
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536416
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536420 etcetera..........
This leaves me in somewhat of a dilemma because I have no way of shutting my PC down, escape doesn't work, neither does CTRL + ALT + DELETE.
In fact the only option I am left with is to turn off the power which is a bit scary to do as one never really knows what might happen.
Eventually this is what I do do and then reboot with my breath held and fingers crossed to find the PC reboots straight into Windows Vista with NOT a trace of Ubuntu
In actual fact when I check by clicking on "Computer" there is no trace of the 2nd Hard Disk Drive either.
The only way I am able to tell that it is still there is to start up the Partition Master I have which comes up with Disk 2 with 11.72Gbs as the Linux Swap ??
And 919.79 Gbs listed simply as "OTHER" not Ubuntu or Linux, but "other".
I tried installing a second time thinking I had done something wrong and the same thing happened again.
And that is where I am now at 1300hrs, 8 hours after I started and I truly have to ask myself "Is it worth all this hassle to get this installed or should I just carry on with Microsoft?"
CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP?
Plus my next more important question for Canonical is this:
" If I, as a reasonably intelligent human being (not a genius or any where near) who already has a grounding in computing and PC work and I am an Electronics and Communications Engineer, find such difficulty in
A. Firstly understanding the web page instructions:
B. Getting the correct download
And
C. Am unable to get the software to install correctly:
What chance have some of the other people in this world who are not as academically proficient and don't fully understand English but are the 100s of millions who are purchasing PCs with other OS's on them and maybe would like to swap to Ubuntu/Linux????"
Yours respectfully
Sunlight Dreamweaver
Keep hold those dreams so sparkling bright,
Feed them, nurture them, make them right,
And at Day's End, when comes Good Night,
Share them with the comforting quiet.
Once again when comes Good Morn,
Share them with the spreading Dawn,
Should others scoff, be not forlorn,
For from tiny seed ideas are great lives born!
So have faith in yourself, and reach for the sky,
Aim for the stars, no matter how high.
Just follow your dreams, they're waiting for you,
And you're the one who makes them come true.
SunLight Dreamweaver
(FreeRight to copy, but NOT for sale or profit)
To who ever it may concern
Dear Sir or Madam
I am a relative newbie to computing having only started just two years ago.
Up until today I have been using Windows Vista, but having come across the refreshing open source, creative commons and free software foundations that are much closer to my heart's way of thinking I decided to download and install Ubuntu as a prerequisite to switching completely away from paid for operating systems and software.
In order to do this I firstly purchased a new 1Gb hard drive and installed it alongside my factory installed 250Gb hard drive with the windows factory image etc on it.
I then partitioned the new drive with 30Gb for Ubuntu, another 300Gb for any future backups (Yes I know it's a lot) from my separate Windows Vista OS 250Gb hard drive, which left 600Gb spare.
I got up early today a Sunday morning at 0500hrs to ensure I had plenty of download speed etc and that all would be done and dusted by the time I needed to be available today for family and community social commitments etc
However nothing has worked out in anyway like I would have expected it to or in anyway like Ubuntu's descriptions project, and I am typing this letter nearly 7 hours later and I have still not got Ubuntu properly installed as a dual boot system alongside my windows vista. In fact I am very surprised at the somewhat illogical and careless approach that the web pages take in explaining how to download and install Ubuntu.
Firstly I arrive at the webpage :
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop
To be greeted with an introduction and a red download button to the right.
I click on this and end up on page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
To be greeted by another red download button that is at least six times larger than the previous one and because it is in exactly the same place on this page as the previous one was on the previous page my mouse is already hovering over it and my brain just wants to click it and start using Ubuntu.
I quickly read the instructions:
Click the big orange button to download the latest version of Ubuntu. You will need to create a CD or USB stick to install Ubuntu
And then I click to download and save/burn the download straight to a CD, which as you may well already realize is "Goodbye CD" because as I have since learned all I was doing was burning an exact copy of an ISO file to the CD that cannot be used for installing or booting from.
After I finally give up trying to get the ISO file to install ubuntu some 30-40 minutes later it's already 7am because it also took 40 minutes to download the file.
Anyway I go back to the download page and read the instructions again including the little paragraphs that are underneath the huge red download button.
Originally my thoughts had been
"These are obviously not that important because they are "below" the download button otherwise if they were of importance these instructions would have been placed above the HUGE Red download button along with any warnings like---
Before you download Ubuntu please check the following:
A. Is this an installation to a PC with ubuntu already installed --- please click here
B. Is this an installation to a PC with Windows Vista/XP/7 installed--please click here
C.Is this an installation to a brand new completely clean PC -- please click here
D. Is this an installation with any other OS installed -- please click here
If these questions/warnings or something similar had been shown ABOVE THE HUGE RED BUTTON POSSIBLY CAPITALIZED AND IN RED then I wouldn't already have wasted so much time as it is.
After clicking on one of these, which in my case would have been B., all the relative steps required to complete the installation should then be listed, WITH FINALLY the download button after all the instructions, so that everyone is aware of what is required FIRST before they download anything.
As it is having read the bit about the windows installer I downloaded that to CD expecting it to download the required software as well only to find all I had was the installer package and not Ubuntu.
So I click the installer and it begins to download the software, but it is NOT the latest version 10.10, it is in fact version 10.04.1.
So I stop the installation because I want the latest version.
You might say here "That is the latest version or it will be once the latest updates have been added or something like that", but I don't know that and having said that I only said it because that might well be so or not!
As it is I have to start again, and this time because I've now got the wubi.exe and the ISO file I think maybe I'm supposed to use the 2 together, and so I try, but as you well know that doesn't work either.
So it is now around 9am and I have already been at this for 4 hours and I still haven't got to the install stage yet.
At this stage you might be thinking that I am a little slow on the uptake, and you could be correct, except that I am an Electronics and Communications Engineer (only not in the PC and computing field) and quite a quick study with anything new..... .......normally,...mostly, ....sometimes, but not today.
So I eventually read the bit about Infra and ISO Recorders, and my inexperienced thoughts are as I do NOT have an Ubuntu Infra file but I do have a Ubuntu ISO file I'll download the ISO Recorder, only to find that I can not find it anywhere on my PC except in my Program Files and there is no .exe file there to run it with, (so how am I supposed to use it I think)
Eventually another 20 - 30 minutes later, my nine year old boy (who has become involved now because I'm supposed to be spending quality time with him) comes up with the idea that somehow clicking on the ISO file itself might start the process and impressively he was right. High five son, well done!
So now I've got the ISO file written to a rewriteable DVD instead of the 2 CDs I've already thrown away.
I open the DVD and lo and behold there is a wubi.exe and all these ubuntu files etc, so we are there and all I have to do is click on the wubi.exe add a little personal information and Ubuntu will install itself to my new "U:Ubuntu" partition on my new Hard Drive and we'll be up and running
Unfortunately NO!
Firstly I choose install, then Install along side other OS's, I change the selection from the 250Gb hard drive to the 1Tb hard drive and it tells me that the current partitions will be wiped out, so I choose to install to the 30Gb partition on the 1TB drive and click continue at which point it says something about no file systems and can not continue.
By now I'm a little fed up with the whole fiasco and choose for it to install to the entire 1Tb hard drive and so what if the partitions are lost, there's no data in there and I can re partition later.
So off it goes and finally around 1130 hrs it says Ubuntu is installed please restart, which is what I do and click restart.
At which point, a load of white writing appears and the DVD is ejected and then instead of restarting I am left with loads of white writing on a black background saying over and over again;
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536412
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536416
[ 1408.0786121 end_request:I/O error, dev sr0, sector 536420 etcetera..........
This leaves me in somewhat of a dilemma because I have no way of shutting my PC down, escape doesn't work, neither does CTRL + ALT + DELETE.
In fact the only option I am left with is to turn off the power which is a bit scary to do as one never really knows what might happen.
Eventually this is what I do do and then reboot with my breath held and fingers crossed to find the PC reboots straight into Windows Vista with NOT a trace of Ubuntu
In actual fact when I check by clicking on "Computer" there is no trace of the 2nd Hard Disk Drive either.
The only way I am able to tell that it is still there is to start up the Partition Master I have which comes up with Disk 2 with 11.72Gbs as the Linux Swap ??
And 919.79 Gbs listed simply as "OTHER" not Ubuntu or Linux, but "other".
I tried installing a second time thinking I had done something wrong and the same thing happened again.
And that is where I am now at 1300hrs, 8 hours after I started and I truly have to ask myself "Is it worth all this hassle to get this installed or should I just carry on with Microsoft?"
CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP?
Plus my next more important question for Canonical is this:
" If I, as a reasonably intelligent human being (not a genius or any where near) who already has a grounding in computing and PC work and I am an Electronics and Communications Engineer, find such difficulty in
A. Firstly understanding the web page instructions:
B. Getting the correct download
And
C. Am unable to get the software to install correctly:
What chance have some of the other people in this world who are not as academically proficient and don't fully understand English but are the 100s of millions who are purchasing PCs with other OS's on them and maybe would like to swap to Ubuntu/Linux????"
Yours respectfully
Sunlight Dreamweaver
Keep hold those dreams so sparkling bright,
Feed them, nurture them, make them right,
And at Day's End, when comes Good Night,
Share them with the comforting quiet.
Once again when comes Good Morn,
Share them with the spreading Dawn,
Should others scoff, be not forlorn,
For from tiny seed ideas are great lives born!
So have faith in yourself, and reach for the sky,
Aim for the stars, no matter how high.
Just follow your dreams, they're waiting for you,
And you're the one who makes them come true.
SunLight Dreamweaver
(FreeRight to copy, but NOT for sale or profit)