ya i know its nice and all..i love it already..but i am on my desktop and using livecd

how can i connect to internet or use programs from xp with livecd..it seems like a trial version that u just play around and whatnot..i felt i havent really got to actually USE it to a certain extent.


im really scared about partioning and all.

can linux from livecd make partition for me??

i dont know much about partition and all that...*whimpers*...scared ....im worried i'll mess something up..

i was told to download partition magic but man im already confused about it...eh..

for now i want to learn how to use linux from livecd. what else can i do with livecd?? i cant connect to internet or use any programs??

anyone care to help me out please?? I really like to learn about linux and its usefulness. if u help me out I can try to learn about it. but not helping me out much is going to affect my decision to like linux.

so how can I use the livecd to its fullest ability? so far I can't access the internet or other programs. please help me out kindly thanx!

running from Live CD---or from any Linux---you will have to put in the basic internet settings. When you install, this is often handled automatically.
Once you are up and running, simply look thru the various menus--especially things like "system" or "settings".

You will need to know specifics of you internet connection--eg is it DHCP or do you have a static IP? Do you have a router? etc.

When you say that you cannot access the other programs---do you mean the programs listed in the menus when the live CD is running?

If you have not already done so, please supply the details on your HW, what OS is already installed, and what distro you are using. (I'll look for this once I close this message)

a Live-CD is something that runs off the cd drive without touching the hard drive...that said you cannot execute windows programs from a live-cd unless somehow WINE is included in the live-cd. You can certainly play around with the programs included in the live-cd (like office software, multimedia software etc).

Live-CD will always be slower than a disc install but then again Live-CD's are primarily to give you a sneak peek on what's to come, they are also a way to find out if you have some exotic hardware that won't work after Linux is installed.

All I can say is if you don't try it you are never going to learn how to do it. So backup your data and have a go at it.

Absolutely...look at gparted or even qtparted included in the live-cd.

Are you using Wireless internet? If yes, then wireless drivers are mostly not included in the live-cd. You'll have to install the drivers after you install your distro. You can certainly use a wired ethernet.

That's what people here have been doing...why not go ahead and partition and actually install the distro. I am sure you'll have a lot more questions than you have now once you install.

well i am on my desktop.

here are the details :
Dell windows xp (service pack 2)
40 gig drive (main xp OS)
240 gig drive ( ntfs )
my dsl is connect in the modem box by cable and through router since my dad has laptop. so i have a router hooked up. it's Belkin

how do i check if i have an static IP or not?

The HW i have installed in the desktop has all the standard HWs, except i have HP printer (which works fine as i have checked the compatibility with linux)

other than that i dont have any high end graphic card or sound card..it just all standard that it comes with the Dell desktop.

when i said that i cannot access the programs in livecd, i do not know if i can access office or aim or anything of that sort. i can play the games and all on livecd, every programs in livecd seems to work fine.

the only part not working is the internet.

another thing is what else shud i expect from livecd?


oh btw, i am using ubuntu livecd.

i am trying to make a go ahead on using the partition for ubuntu dual boot, so i can see how linux works at its best.

so i can use the gparted? is there something about gparted that i should know in advance before using it..like a tip?

most importantly, what should i backup? since i have alot of files and everything, mostly school files and pictures and such. but microsoft office package i have the cd..but if i make a partition..will those be affected?

how should i know that my xp files and programs wont be affected if i do a partition?

i am on my desktop, my internet connected to the ethernet card through the router and dsl modem box.

Hi there, just reading through the thread real quickly.... I don't see that anyone has suggested using VMware Server. Have you heard of this?

With VMware Server you can have your single boot system of Linux and then within that system you can actually run Windows XP. I do this right now and it is awesome. This way, while the Linux OS is loaded you can open VMware and work in Windows at the same time, no PERFORMANCE issues unless your machine is like ancient. The only thing I have not tried yet is gaming with the VMware on Windows, if you game then I would suggest a dual boot system, but if it's just e-mail, pictures and music you should use VMware Server.

The machine I have listed below runs FC5 with VMware Server and within the VMware I run XP Pro, a copy of Ubuntu and FC5.

I would be glad to tell you more if you are interested.

Cheers,
Brendan

no i have not heard of VMware server. i am plainly new to this just yesterday.

i do not gaming or anything. basically just normal stuff like email, pictures, music and net.

how is this possible? what step should i go through to get this? will my windows xp partition will be affected?

please tell me more. thanx!

Which drive you intend to install Ubuntu from the above two? Are both of your hard drives SATA or IDE? The reason I ask that is gparted will show SATA drives starting with letter "s" and IDE drives starting with letter "h". Just a more visual way of identifying what's what. Obviously, it will also show hard drive sizes to help you pick the right drive for partition.

GParted gui is very intuitive by itself. Look at gparted docs.

Check your router configuration page, you'll be able see if you have static IP. If you have static IP, you'll have to configure your network card in live-cd with that info or else you won't be able to access internet.

As I said, primary purpose of a Live-CD is to give you a sneak peek. You can also use it to create/change/move partitions, troubleshoot your linux system, do password recovery, re-install grub etc or even reinstall the OS.

Not that i can think of, only thing is that you should be careful about the changes you make...you won't be able to undo them.

Backup any/all files you feel are important. Pictures, documents, music, movies, bookmarks, software. Everything that you can think of that would be hard to replace.

I am assuming you want to install Ubuntu along side XP on your 40GB hard drive. In order to do that, you'll have to resize your existing XP partition (again assuming you just have one big 40GB partition). Also don't forget run disc cleanup and defrag the hard drive before you attempt to resize the partition.

They should be and they will keep working as they are but should something go wrong, you'll be able to restore it from the backup. That's why everybody here keeps stressing the word "backup".

ya i am planning to put linux ubuntu on my 40gb harddrive since my 240 gb harddrive is basically use for storage purpose for my movies and whatnots.

how do i know if my 40 gb drive is SATA or IDE? ..im lost in this one..

Okay, I haven't read the full thread (maybe I should) BUT what I did see is that you have a 40GB HD for your OS/software and then you have a 240GB HD for files (ie: mp3z, jpeg, etc). If this is the case then I would make the 40GB HD your Linux OS.... the 240GB can still be your "media" drive if you will. How full is your 240GB HD?

--> Go to this link for VMware: http://www.vmware.com/
Now you should read up on VMware a little bit before we really get into this.

--> As well I noticed you haven't chosen a distro yet? GO here to find out what is best for you: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php

I would think that something like Ubuntu would be good for you, however that is a shot in the dark because I do not know what kind of computer user you are, besides Windows and Windows is mostly point and click.

Once you have figure out which Distro you would like to use then we can look at the VMware Requirements for that distro... I had to do a few different things for my Distro, Fedora Core 5, not hard but not easy, I don't want to scare you but because there are so many different version of Linux out there it can be tough to get the answers you need.

Let me know once you have done the distro test.

Cheers,
B

You don't have to worry about SATA or IDE. If you know you want to partition 40 GB disc then just select that disc in gparted and work on it. GParted will actually ask for confirmation before making changes permanent so you'll have a chance to not go forward with those changes.

Agree totally with tuxrules....

If I were you my layout would look something like this on your system:

[brendan@SDM ~]$ df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
119029908 33062328 79823580 30% /
/dev/sda1 101086 14962 80905 16% /boot
tmpfs 513256 0 513256 0% /dev/shm
/dev/mapper/VolGroup01-LogVol00
302497928 4312208 282571768 2% /home (this HOME drive would be the 240GB HD)
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol01
983960 21612 911560 3% /tmp

The above is my partition layout.... might be a little confusing now...

Check out this link for some info on your partition layout:
http://www.hccfl.edu/pollock/AUnix1/Partitioning.htm

I can also post a link to a page from my site which a friend helped me with... I think its really good info... go to this link: http://www.sdmsite.com/linux_partition_help.html

Cheers,
B

i have done the distro test, and ubuntu was one of the choices given to me. So basically i was right about using Ubuntu all along.

i'm thinking, is it a good idea to transfer all my important files from the 40 gb harddrive to the 240 gb harddrive instead of doing a backup to a dvd, or cd or usb? since i am going to partition my 40 gb, is there something i should know about before installing a ubuntu distro since i have no clue on how to make the internet connection work in livecd?

since my desktop has router and dsl modem box and all, what if i am having trouble connecting to internet on desktop after installing ubtunto distro, will the laptop (with no distro..only xp) have a trouble connecting to internet as well?

btw, i hope i dont have to open my computer and unplug the 240 gb harddrive....i dont know how to do that. im hoping that transferring the important data to that harddrive will not be affected during the partition process...?

oh ya one more thing, i found out about PClinuxOS...how's that?? the screenshots from google on that pclinuxos is amazing!..but what do you think? ubuntu or pclinux os doesnt really matter to me as long it is stable, really fast, and easy to use and environment friendly.

Cool glad Ubuntu was the one of the right choices. I haven't read to much about PClLinuxOS but I did look at it today and it looks cool, I have not read on it yet so I can not give my opinion on it - if they say its good for people who are new then giver a try. Personally I would do the Ubuntu with VMware Server and run the VM XP machine (VMware Server is supported on the Ubuntu OS).

Internet issues with LIVE CD could be because DHCP on your router is turned off????? The LIVE CD should work fine on your system, as long as it can acquire an IP address from the router you should have the internet.

I am trying to think of a way for you to safely setup the 240GB HD with the 40GB HD Linux OS. I am not sure how we would do this. If you unplug the 240GB HD the computer simply will not see it through the Linux OS install, once setup then you would plug it back in.... THIS IS where it might be tough. I know in Linux you can mount drives but I think Linux might say hold on we have to set this disc up properly, meaning it might need to be formated or something along those lines. Obviously this can't happen because you don't want to lose your data. Search for some threads on the HD setup and see what you come up with.

Hopefully I am helping with your setup....