roxibella
May 20th, 2011, 05:43 PM
:confused: Seriously, I have an accute case of "NewbieTorture-By-Un-Attainable[thus-far]Clean-10.4.2Install-And-Successful-BIOS-Flashing-Accomplished-On-A-GatewayMT-Series-Laptop." I just would like Ubuntu in my life & the "LTS-deal" that comes with it... I've been Reading/Searching... so many hours (16+) a day - To Do This - For So Many Days in a row - that I Do not think that most people would actually Believe How Much Time I have invested into this ubuntu-endeavor... I found a seemingly Excellent thread with postings by "ciscosurfer" that started in Dec. 2006 - And a Tutorial that seems Great on aptosid.com called "Upgrading the BIOS with FreeDOS" that was linked to in a Feb 5th, 2011 post by "sidzen."
My conundrum is that All of the guidance I have found is missing some Very Basic - Elementary - Steps - Mostly near the beginning - Information that the writers clearly assume the readers to know. Obviously Newbies are not Attempting Bios-Flashing [except for me and perhaps one or 2 others on the planet.] AND I understand the riskiness - and that if it goes awry that the laptop will be a doorstop or a paperweight. But I NEED To Do This... [and find a new life...] as my life got washed up onto something similar to a deserted island... I'm Not just new to Ubuntu - I've never even Actually had my own computer until recently. And most of my limited experience is on "mac osx." I tinkered on Dapper and the Edgy-Ub in 2006-7... for a Few Hours on someone else's computer... I did a clean install for them [and bragged about it to a Newb who was a Newbier Newbie than I...] but couldn't ever get "connected." And I bought a few ubuntu-books that came out around that time...
I know that there are Uber-Geeks out there who are capable of helping me... [Are Any of You reading This?] I am going to do the Hoo-Hah Dance when I Get This, but right now I need a nap - and maybe to cry first. I was reading - searching/reading - all night last night. This is my First-Ever Post in a forum and I hope there's no rules about admitting to crying. And It wasn't all that long ago that I thought that a Mouse was an Adorable, Small Rodent... and that Software must be some Really Comfortable Clothes - like Silk lingerie... So...
The initial clean install on this GatewayMT3700 went well. It's a 32-bit - with [yes] the 32-bit install. Many things Do NOT work out of the box [restarting, hibernating, keyboard buttons... blah-blah-blah] though - Happily - the Wireless Did... I found several articles by people of the opinion that being on something Other Than a Dell or Lenovo - MEANS that it's probably Even More Important to do the BIOS-Flashing - in order to avoid problems down-the-road... and maximize the life of an antique "Ubuntu-fied" laptop.
This GatewayMT3700 was originally purchased in Feb. 2007 and never once had the power-button pushed until 2010 - although it WAS plugged in about twice a year for the benefit of the battery. [And then someone that I Love died... actually.] Of course it WAS Bought to be Put To Good Use Promptly - although that never happened... And now I appreciate having it... The BIOS firmware on it is 83.04 and [on 08/03/2010] Gateway released 83.05. I did buy a factory-new 160 G internal hard-drive recently [the largest IDE they had in the store] It is unformatted and it seemed smart to get a back-up while they are still making them, and since it's only been powered on for a few hours I think it should serve me for at least a year or two... especially since the battery was charged up on regular occasions. It really IS an "Old-New" computer. I'm planning on a lowish-end [read: cheap] external drive, that I don't have yet, to back-up my new life and to use by just syncing with the two - and swapping them out - so that I keep 3 copies of everything important to me, as I finally go digital. [And - yes - i will make one place for back-up an "off-site-for-me" place.]
I've Just spent about 30 Hours [and All Night] trying to put Vista back on just long enough to Do the Bios-Upgrade IN VISTA - as Flashing-While-In-Ubuntu-Directions are ALL Lacking the Beginner-Level-Steps - In The [I Know] Decidedly-Intermediate Task! I have the original "Gateway/Vista OS-Install Disc" and the Product key... And after Receiving help I will pay it Forward.
I Believe That My Ubuntu-Install COMPLETELY Wiped-Out the VISTA-THING-A-MA-JIG - OFF OF My Gateway's THING-A-MA-BOB!! And I'M In danger of Losing my Coolness AND Blowing a Gasket - as I've been under great stress, for quite a long time - and now I'm exhausted as well. And my normal charm is wearing thin. I've got a good internet connection, some blank DVD+R Disks - and I've successfully copied some stuff - but i have no usb thumb drive except an old one [that I inherited and just misplaced and it looks bent - maybe damaged] but I can - possibly - get out to buy a new one [today-?-or] tomorrow.
I might be back in an Hour - Or TWELVE - OR SO - if I can get some much-needed sleep... to see if Any of You who are Brilliant Uber-Geeks have had the Patience to read all of this - and also Compassion Enough to Help me through the parts that I'm missing. There are not words to express how much I will Appreciate an End to this emotional trauma - and a New Beginning with Freedomy-Softwear... I read some suggestion that not using the private messages or email means really helping more people. So I'll maintain a willingness to keep researching [doing "due-diligence"] before I ask "well-thought-out-yet-sadly-still-ignorant" questions right-out-in-the-open for the benefit of others. Please help... Thank You.
My conundrum is that All of the guidance I have found is missing some Very Basic - Elementary - Steps - Mostly near the beginning - Information that the writers clearly assume the readers to know. Obviously Newbies are not Attempting Bios-Flashing [except for me and perhaps one or 2 others on the planet.] AND I understand the riskiness - and that if it goes awry that the laptop will be a doorstop or a paperweight. But I NEED To Do This... [and find a new life...] as my life got washed up onto something similar to a deserted island... I'm Not just new to Ubuntu - I've never even Actually had my own computer until recently. And most of my limited experience is on "mac osx." I tinkered on Dapper and the Edgy-Ub in 2006-7... for a Few Hours on someone else's computer... I did a clean install for them [and bragged about it to a Newb who was a Newbier Newbie than I...] but couldn't ever get "connected." And I bought a few ubuntu-books that came out around that time...
I know that there are Uber-Geeks out there who are capable of helping me... [Are Any of You reading This?] I am going to do the Hoo-Hah Dance when I Get This, but right now I need a nap - and maybe to cry first. I was reading - searching/reading - all night last night. This is my First-Ever Post in a forum and I hope there's no rules about admitting to crying. And It wasn't all that long ago that I thought that a Mouse was an Adorable, Small Rodent... and that Software must be some Really Comfortable Clothes - like Silk lingerie... So...
The initial clean install on this GatewayMT3700 went well. It's a 32-bit - with [yes] the 32-bit install. Many things Do NOT work out of the box [restarting, hibernating, keyboard buttons... blah-blah-blah] though - Happily - the Wireless Did... I found several articles by people of the opinion that being on something Other Than a Dell or Lenovo - MEANS that it's probably Even More Important to do the BIOS-Flashing - in order to avoid problems down-the-road... and maximize the life of an antique "Ubuntu-fied" laptop.
This GatewayMT3700 was originally purchased in Feb. 2007 and never once had the power-button pushed until 2010 - although it WAS plugged in about twice a year for the benefit of the battery. [And then someone that I Love died... actually.] Of course it WAS Bought to be Put To Good Use Promptly - although that never happened... And now I appreciate having it... The BIOS firmware on it is 83.04 and [on 08/03/2010] Gateway released 83.05. I did buy a factory-new 160 G internal hard-drive recently [the largest IDE they had in the store] It is unformatted and it seemed smart to get a back-up while they are still making them, and since it's only been powered on for a few hours I think it should serve me for at least a year or two... especially since the battery was charged up on regular occasions. It really IS an "Old-New" computer. I'm planning on a lowish-end [read: cheap] external drive, that I don't have yet, to back-up my new life and to use by just syncing with the two - and swapping them out - so that I keep 3 copies of everything important to me, as I finally go digital. [And - yes - i will make one place for back-up an "off-site-for-me" place.]
I've Just spent about 30 Hours [and All Night] trying to put Vista back on just long enough to Do the Bios-Upgrade IN VISTA - as Flashing-While-In-Ubuntu-Directions are ALL Lacking the Beginner-Level-Steps - In The [I Know] Decidedly-Intermediate Task! I have the original "Gateway/Vista OS-Install Disc" and the Product key... And after Receiving help I will pay it Forward.
I Believe That My Ubuntu-Install COMPLETELY Wiped-Out the VISTA-THING-A-MA-JIG - OFF OF My Gateway's THING-A-MA-BOB!! And I'M In danger of Losing my Coolness AND Blowing a Gasket - as I've been under great stress, for quite a long time - and now I'm exhausted as well. And my normal charm is wearing thin. I've got a good internet connection, some blank DVD+R Disks - and I've successfully copied some stuff - but i have no usb thumb drive except an old one [that I inherited and just misplaced and it looks bent - maybe damaged] but I can - possibly - get out to buy a new one [today-?-or] tomorrow.
I might be back in an Hour - Or TWELVE - OR SO - if I can get some much-needed sleep... to see if Any of You who are Brilliant Uber-Geeks have had the Patience to read all of this - and also Compassion Enough to Help me through the parts that I'm missing. There are not words to express how much I will Appreciate an End to this emotional trauma - and a New Beginning with Freedomy-Softwear... I read some suggestion that not using the private messages or email means really helping more people. So I'll maintain a willingness to keep researching [doing "due-diligence"] before I ask "well-thought-out-yet-sadly-still-ignorant" questions right-out-in-the-open for the benefit of others. Please help... Thank You.