Many newbie Q's. NVIDIA Display Drivers, Dash, Unity bugs, general use

[spazz2]

oldrocker ! Thank you for all those suggestions and stuff for me to consider and try out (: Mutiny does have a nice ring to it (:

[oldos2er]

Please post the error messages you're seeing.

[spazz2]

Please post the error messages you're seeing.

Hi oldos2er.

It has a variable boot problem.
Sometimes it boots and goes onto a large terminal screen , and it just hangs there and won't boot into ubuntu.
(I have taken a photo of this screen and attached this).

It then needs a hard reboot.
This happened 3 times in a row just when I was trying to find the error message for you.

When it boots in , I get a sort of generic error message which doesn't really provide any information.
I didn't note it down the other day, but the next time I get it, I will make note of it (though I suspect it will not be very informative).

Thank you for the help .

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

Hmm . . wow. Methinks you're well on the road to a Linux BSOD (Black Screen of Despair) . . . from which there is "no return" (just kidding - kinda) . .

So for what it's worth, I have a friend (longtime Windows user) in our local computer club that just installed Ubuntu Studio with default DE (xfce) - and this is what I would/will suggest to him:

> For your first Linux NOOB install . . . don't make the mistake of trying to admin Ubuntu like you would a Windows or even Mac PC,
> Setup a stable VANILLA install and don't experiment (test) with it by adding, removing excess software, themes etc. (for now),
> Instead, set up some partitions on your drives (single drive or multiple drives or external drives (like external portable usbv3 SSD's)),
> On those additional partitions or drives, install Ubuntu again and use those installs as your TEST environments

Then you can do all the kind of changes you've been experimenting with so far. Remember to keep your default stable install as your PROD (production) OS. After a few months, you'll know enough to do some safe changes to PROD using only approved repositories. Later will come other software sources like PPA's, stand-alone deb files, etc.

IF you have any important data yet on this unstable install, best to copy off that data asap (can use the actual install media (usb-stick or dvd) for that).

Google or use youtube to research more on multiple boot systems - see known authors like Joe Collins or Average Linux User for decent and correct content.

PS . . almost forgot . . . best odds of fixing this mess is a full re-install. That would be faster than trying many patches which have a low rate of success.

[spazz2]

Gday Geoffrey !
The suggestion about the separate partition is awesome !
Why didn't I think of that ?
The only "small" thing is :
Does that require a full separate install of Ubuntu on the separate partition?
(I would imagine it would)
.....or is there a way to make the test partition "speak" to the same OS partition, while only making the big changes within it's own partition?
(I suspect I'm just wishfully thinking there, and talking complete nonsense)
Obviously to install a separate OS on a separate partition just as an OS tester is a bit of a space-drain --
but would be worth it to save headaches like this.
(can't remember how big installed Ubuntu Studio is, but between 2 and 4 gb? )


Yes, I'm suspecting it's looking like a full clean install may be in order to be on the safe side.
*sigh* -- growing pains / learning curves.
That said, I learned about this awesome function in terminal which dumps a text list of all installed apps,
and then on a fresh install, you can just auto-reinstall applications through terminal through by using that dump-list,
which is just astoundingly cool to me.
Reinstalling programs was the main worry (and I spent a lot of time after installing ubuntu just installing tons of interesting looking things thru software portal).


I may make a separate posts in these forums on just this same issue,
to see if anybody else has any input that is as interesting as what you've given me.
Thanks for the recommendations on Joe Collins and Avg Linux User !
I'm going to try and do some reading on Linux as I get time through the years.


Unless anybody has anything to add to this thread,
I think I will start separate threads on all my questions at this point, as I think my initial post was a bit convoluted !!


Thank you all for your input and clues !