Howto: Install Ubuntu without a CD

[tuxcantfly]

Thanks for such detailed answer. Much appreciated. http://192.168.0.1/ timed out in both Firefox and IE. I'm on windows xp sp2.

But the LAN gave maybe what I need. I'm on fiber LAN connection to a Switch? in basement. ISP or is it a server? It take care of hundreds of users. Each of us have 100/10 meg. So no DSL LAN WAN something.

So maybe the status box give my info?

I test it when the freeze kernel is available? I prefer to use UNetbooin cause that would allow me to delete it without having as much knowledge about MBR and such maybe if I want to test PCLOS later. Being as new as I am to Linux one don't want to lock oneself to just one Distro.

No offense towards all good programmers supporting Ubuntu. I started with Ubuntu cause I trusted that work.

Not exactly sure about that network connection, since it's a static address, you might be able to get a few details from your Windows install (Control Panel -> Network -> Properties?). I believe the comand "ipconfig" in windows also might give you some info. In the worst-case scenario, just wait until Oct 18 and download and burn the Ubuntu 7.10 CD and install from there.

As for the kernel freeze, it will be Oct 4 (details at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyReleaseSchedule ) , but given that the kernel doesn't appear to have been updated since Sept 24, I doubt it will be changing from now to the official Ubuntu 7.10 release on Oct 18. Besides, even if it does change, you can just update the kernel after installing using the update manager, so no need to worry about that; so far, the primary issue with UNetbootin and the changing kernel has been that it can't fetch the install files from the Ubuntu servers after the Ubuntu kernel has changed and before I've updated the kernel in UNetbootin because it's still relying on an outdated version that's no longer on the servers, so in the unlikely case that the Ubuntu kernel happens to get updated right before the kernel freeze, UNetbootin will simply refuse to install and come out with an error along the lines of "was unable to fetch kernel modules" right before starting the actual install and no harm will be done.

As for switching to another distro like PCLinuxOS or deleting Ubuntu, you needn't worry about the MBR; the GRUB installed by PCLinuxOS will simply overwrite that of Ubuntu, and you can overwrite your Ubuntu partition with one for PCLinuxOS. Should you ever screw up the MBR and make your system unbootable, just boot from the Super Grub Disk at http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/ and that'll fix all your bootloader problems, and should you ever want to just remove GRUB in all its entirely and go back to just Windows, just boot a Windows XP recovery disk, press "R", then when you get to the recovery console, enter "fixmbr".

[nooby]

Thanks for all effort you put into this. Much appreciated. As a noob it is safer for me to wait until Gutsy is on UNetbootin. I have the LiveCD with 6.06 to play with and learn basic things so I am prepared when Gutsy or next after that one has fixed the Kernel thing about Shutdown.

I tested the Ubuntu Live CD distro version 6.06 and that one shut down correctly. Surprising. But I must have done somthing wrong cause I failed to log in to the forum. Gave wrong password so now I am back on laptop with windows so I know the psw.

LiveCD are two noisy for me. I should learn to use the USB memory pin instead or do a Frugal install maybe. So much to learn. I tested an old Knoppix I had kept. Much less noisy due to then spinning less fast. From 2004 so they didn't try to spin as fast as the modern DVD are able to. But knoppix had a GUI me not used to and the LAN didn't activate automatically which Ubuntu did.

[tuxcantfly]

when Gutsy or next after that one has fixed the Kernel thing about Shutdown.

That's very strange, you're having shutdown issues? Is it an actual error you're having, after you've installed Ubuntu, or was it simply something you had heard about? What version of Ubuntu did you install (7.04 or 7.10), and what method did you use (LiveCD, Alternate CD, UNetbootin, or Wubi)? Are there any error messages, or does it just hang? Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by kernel freeze; it's not a freeze as in a crash, rather simply a date in the development cycle of Ubuntu 7.10, and it doesn't prevent users from installing or using Ubuntu 7.10 using UNetbootin; the version available for download at http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=243411 works fine.

[nooby]

I used WUBI and it it's Fiesty Fawn7.04 as I remember and not 7.1 from the official site for it. The install was fast and great and worked like a charm. Until I unfortunately did an update. At first I didn't want to do the update cause from Win XP I know that updates could create problems of incompatibility.

So I postponed the prompt to update for a day or two. During these hours I had no problem with shut down at all. But after the update I have every time.

It looks as if all is going well but the hardware doesn't shut down. Only the Ubuntu does. No error message.

I tried to look in Bios to make the ACPI compatible but being a noob it is not easy to know what they talk about there.

I use that computer now but using win xp sp2.

It is an Aopen XC Cube Mini with intel chipset 915. Small like a box for shoes. Very quite and with lots of features.
Just two years old. As I remember the model name is like MDZ915-M or very similar name.

It has a SATA HDD 160GB 512MB DDR2 1600GHertz processor.

win xp shuts it down every time for two years now, haven't missed one time so no problem with hardware.

thanks for caring about my problem.

Wouldn't UNetbootin solve it?

When I use an old Ubuntu Edgy 6.06 version Live CD and that one could shut down the hardware. As I remember. Not motivated to try again cause the DVD Rom didn't like the CD it wobbled too much. Could self destruct maybe. I tested a live Knoppix CD also and that one spinned quietly compared to Ubuntu.

I've read about "frugal" installation and maybe that could make a live Cd more quite?

As you realize I am so much noob on all this computer stuff that it is a miracle I get anything going.

I read on the net using google that the shutdown incompatibility has gone on for years now in the Kernel. Even latest tribe of Gutsy seems to still have it. So maybe it is futile for me to wait for it. I have to find a Linux that use another kernel not having the incompatibility?

Others who have searched for a solution seems to have given up to find it or they have forgotten to tell us that they now have a solution.

I have to read more about the kernel. Is it true that all Linux use the incompatible version? Could there be old distros that are compatible.

Could one borrow a module from that old one and repair the newest one for us having this problem.

I don't want to give up on using Linux. Sooner or later that is the sole OS that will be available. Have not heard of anything else coming.

Best regards

Nooby

PS I go to bed now, has to go up early next morning. It is 22.40 PM here locally

[tuxcantfly]

I used WUBI and it it's Fiesty Fawn7.04 as I remember and not 7.1 from the official site for it. The install was fast and great and worked like a charm. Until I unfortunately did an update. At first I didn't want to do the update cause from Win XP I know that updates could create problems of incompatibility.

So I postponed the prompt to update for a day or two. During these hours I had no problem with shut down at all. But after the update I have every time.

It looks as if all is going well but the hardware doesn't shut down. Only the Ubuntu does. No error message.

I tried to look in Bios to make the ACPI compatible but being a noob it is not easy to know what they talk about there.

I use that computer now but using win xp sp2.

It is an Aopen XC Cube Mini with intel chipset 915. Small like a box for shoes. Very quite and with lots of features.
Just two years old. As I remember the model name is like MDZ915-M or very similar name.

It has a SATA HDD 160GB 512MB DDR2 1600GHertz processor.

win xp shuts it down every time for two years now, haven't missed one time so no problem with hardware.

thanks for caring about my problem.

Wouldn't UNetbootin solve it?

When I use an old Ubuntu Edgy 6.06 version Live CD and that one could shut down the hardware. As I remember. Not motivated to try again cause the DVD Rom didn't like the CD it wobbled too much. Could self destruct maybe. I tested a live Knoppix CD also and that one spinned quietly compared to Ubuntu.

I've read about "frugal" installation and maybe that could make a live Cd more quite?

As you realize I am so much noob on all this computer stuff that it is a miracle I get anything going.

I read on the net using google that the shutdown incompatibility has gone on for years now in the Kernel. Even latest tribe of Gutsy seems to still have it. So maybe it is futile for me to wait for it. I have to find a Linux that use another kernel not having the incompatibility?

Others who have searched for a solution seems to have given up to find it or they have forgotten to tell us that they now have a solution.

I have to read more about the kernel. Is it true that all Linux use the incompatible version? Could there be old distros that are compatible.

Could one borrow a module from that old one and repair the newest one for us having this problem.

I don't want to give up on using Linux. Sooner or later that is the sole OS that will be available. Have not heard of anything else coming.

Best regards

Nooby

PS I go to bed now, has to go up early next morning. It is 22.40 PM here locally

Oh sorry, didn't occur to me that your shutdown issues came from a Wubi-generated install; that changes the context of the issue entirely. Anyhow, Wubi and UNetbootin are different projects (though I also happen to be a developer of Wubi as well); the website for UNetbootin is at http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html while Wubi's is at http://wubi.sourceforge.net/ I believe you may be confusing the two (this is the UNetbootin forum thread not the Wubi one); Wubi installs Ubuntu into a file, while UNetbootin installs a standard, full-fledged Ubuntu install to a partition like Ubuntu normally would, only it does it without a CD.

The shutdown error you had with Wubi was likely due because it installs to a file not a partition, and the patches it uses don't cope too well with upgrades and updates(which explains why shutdown stopped working after the update). That error is Wubi-specific, and doesn't occur on standard Ubuntu installs like those installed by the Ubuntu CD or UNetbootin; the accounts of shutdown errors you were reading about on google were likely very rare cases (probably due to some obscure hardware); a standard Ubuntu install using the CD or UNetbootin won't have any such shutdown errors, since it worked fine for you with the Ubuntu 6.06 CD, so it isn't a hardware issue nor an Ubuntu issue, it's a Wubi-specific issue. Of course if I read that wrong, and if you did try a standard (CD or UNetbootin, not Wubi) install of Ubuntu, and the shutdown doesn't work, then that would be an Ubuntu bug, but I think it's much more likely, based on that account, that shutdown will work fine if you install using the CD or UNetbootin, and that the shutdown issue you had was a Wubi-speicific issue.

[nooby]

Ooops I've done it again, being in wrong forum. I apology


I guess the reason I am in the wrong forum is due to me liking the concept of unetbootin very much so I searched for threads to see if that bug occur in such set up too. I must have forgotten me in wrong forum.

the reason me still have not tried out unetbootin is that I wait for the official release of gutsy and I am still unsure of if I need to defrag first before using unetbootin.

I also must learn more about the following.

When I have used ubuntu 7,1 for a while and want to test other distros.

Is it easy for a noob like me to delete the U and install anothrr distro?

[tuxcantfly]

Ooops I've done it again, being in wrong forum. I apology


I guess the reason I am in the wrong forum is due to me liking the concept of unetbootin very much so I searched for threads to see if that bug occur in such set up too. I must have forgotten me in wrong forum.

the reason me still have not tried out unetbootin is that I wait for the official release of gutsy and I am still unsure of if I need to defrag first before using unetbootin.

I also must learn more about the following.

When I have used ubuntu 7,1 for a while and want to test other distros.

Is it easy for a noob like me to delete the U and install anothrr distro?

Defragging is not necessary, though if your hard drive is almost full (70% disk usage or above) it may be helpful.

As for deleting Ubuntu and installing another distro, just go into "Manual Partitioning" in the installer of the other distribution, and tell it to format the ext3 partition (on which Ubuntu is installed), that'll delete Ubuntu and overwrite it with the new distro.

[nooby]

Yes the HDD is 160GB so it could have both Win XP and a Linux partition no problem I guess. Plenty of space.

But I don't want to use the DVD burner to deal with iso so a unetbootin would be ideal.

So thanks for your work on that one. I maybe give unetbotin gutsy a chance then in November 2007.

If I remember correctly. The shutdown error will go away when I have a real install and not a wubi install?

[tuxcantfly]

I see that HowtoForge has posted a nice tutorial of installing Ubuntu or Fedora using UNetbootin at http://www.howtoforge.com/unetbootin..._ubuntu_fedora so you might want to check it out if you need more details.

[nooby]

Yes that one was really good. Thanks. I do plan to use unetbootin, I would be really surprised me wouldn't within a month or so.