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JuliaHenson 10-12-2009 12:26 AM

Creating a GNOME desktop that shows 2 sections: 1 Linux, 1 WinXP
 
Dear Sirs,
At one time, my computer technician gave me a GNOME desktop that had 2 sections: usually I had the Linux system on the left and the Windows section on the right.
This allowed me to transfer Linux files from Linux to Windows and vice versa.
How can I create that again? My technician has done a totally new installation now and I no longer have the GNOME option - he says I have never had a GNOME desktop and that I have to use Nautilus from the terminal. I don't know why he doesn't remember - that's usually my problem! But, I really need that GNOME.

Thank you,
Julia Henson

lutusp 10-12-2009 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuliaHenson (Post 3716049)
Dear Sirs,
At one time, my computer technician gave me a GNOME desktop that had 2 sections: usually I had the Linux system on the left and the Windows section on the right.
This allowed me to transfer Linux files from Linux to Windows and vice versa.
How can I create that again? My technician has done a totally new installation now and I no longer have the GNOME option - he says I have never had a GNOME desktop and that I have to use Nautilus from the terminal. I don't know why he doesn't remember - that's usually my problem! But, I really need that GNOME.

Thank you,
Julia Henson

There are any number ways this can be done, but the main problem is the lack of clear description. One obvious way is to open a virtual machine running Windows and set it up so it occupies half the display.

But I suspect you mean you had two file explorers, not desktop windows -- one for Linux, one for Windows. That's very easy -- all you need to do is open a file explorer and point it at your windows machine or VM.

Typically, you would open a file explorer (like Nautilus) and type this into its address bar:

smb://user@machine-name/path

This requires that the Windows machine be online and accessible. Then open another file explorer to browse the Linux machine. Then put the two file explorers side by side (or one above of the other).

This may have been the original setup. But there is some guesswork here because your description isn't very clear.

DrLove73 10-12-2009 02:31 AM

Julia, since you are writing from Windows, I must ask, that new system he installed, is it Windows of Linux? This is very important for further answers.

JuliaHenson 10-16-2009 02:41 PM

better description of GNOME desktop
 
Hi, guys,
Let's see if I can help you help me.

First, both programs are installed and have separate data. Linux can see all the Windows information also.
The GNOME desktop that I had been given has one top portion of the screen that would affect whichever side you were 'in'. On the bottom part of the screen, there were two windows, side by side. I could open the 'home>Julia>Documents>' on the left side and it would show me all the file folders and I would open those as you normally would in Linux. On the right side, was the d:\WinData, where I could select 'Documents on D Drive' and see all my folders.
I was able to select a Windows document and move it to the Linux side, and vice versa.

You see, originally, I had no real Windows system - I only had Linux reading the XP data, so since I had no Windows Programs, I would simply pull a data file over to Linux, open it, and add to it, which is how I found out a good many limitations within Linux.

Originally, I was told that Windows could not see or read the Linux data and I thought that meant that I couldn't work with any Linux-compatible documents in Windows. My bad! Since the new setup, Windows XP also has Open Office documents.
Now, I should be able to simply copy each folder in Linux to my USB flash drive and then copy it over to the Windows folder that way - right?
Then I don't need that special window Luis has developed for me.
I'm going to go do that and come right back and let you know if it worked. In order to do that, though, I have to shut down and go into Linux, so I'll be a few minutes.
Thank you,
Julia Henson

DrLove73 10-16-2009 03:23 PM

OK.

FYI, both Linux and Windows are OS (Operating System) not programs. We understand you, no real problem, but someone else might be confused.

First thing you need to do is someone (Luis?) to install NTFS support for your system. It is not hard to do, but if you have problems we will need to know what kind of Linux you have. RHEL, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware,..... (an version number would be good). Once NTFS support is installed, he needs to "mount" your Windows partition someware in Linux. Once mounted, accessing your data is easy as accessing Linux documents, you will see no difference except if for instance Linux program has trouble "understanding" Windows based documents.

Afterwords there is no need to use any special program, any file manager in Linux will do. Luis probably just set some file manager for you to make it real easy for you.

JuliaHenson 10-16-2009 03:46 PM

Hi, Doctor Love 73!
First, I have Ubuntu Version 9.04 32bit Desktop.
Second, I recall Luis saying there was a problem about Linux reading the NTFS files, but don't remember what it meant to me.

Okay - here's my solution to this situation. I know how to open Windows Explorer twice and set the listings side-by-side. And I was able to go into Linux, copy my data to the USB flash drive, then go into Windows and cut/paste the new files to the categories set up in Windows.
This will allow me to work with Open Office while I am in Windows, and it will allow me to get a backup of all the files with my online backup service.
Transferring all this data will take some time, but I can see that I can do it without scrambling my brain!
Thanks and I need to close this thread, since we have a work-around. My feelings about Linux are that it is going to become more and more important in years to come. But for me, many things can't be done in Linux, so my solution is to download the programs that should be able to do what I need; check them out in Linux and if they can do it, from then on I would log onto Linux to do that project. If not, I will go into Windows. Being a retiree and unable to make money any more, it becomes really important to substitute Microsoft for a reliable, no-cost operating system.

Thank you very much,
Julia

JuliaHenson 10-16-2009 04:06 PM

Mark as solved
 
Dear Sirs,
Just found out that the way to close the thread is to write "Mark as solved", so here you are!
Thanks,
Julia

DrLove73 10-16-2009 05:52 PM

It looks like 9.04 has little older ntfs-3g driver, but it should work. It would make your life much easier.


P.S. to mark thread as solved, follow instructions from my signature, you have to use Thread Tool menu on the right of the first post on the page.

Elv13 10-17-2009 12:05 AM

KDE desktop have the ability have have multiple folder on the desktop. It is probably what was installed on your computer
http://ossdb.quebecgeeks.net/kde/sept/snapshot10.png

DrLove73 10-17-2009 04:49 AM

Hmm, nice feature. I am minimalistic guy my self so I use Gnome.

JuliaHenson 10-18-2009 11:00 AM

Dear Sirs,
I'm not sure anymore if this thread is closed. Luis is on another major job right now and can't get to me, so I don't know if there will be additional questions. I'm just a regular computer user and almost all of this is Greek to me.

Thank you,
Julia

DrLove73 10-18-2009 11:29 AM

It's ok to leave this thread open if you think you will need more help. There is no obligation to close them at all. Only reason for closing the thread is so other looking for the same thing as you are signaled that there is an solution in this thread.

JuliaHenson 10-24-2009 09:21 AM

Right now, I have all documents sitting in the WinXP OS. I will delete them all from Linux, since Linux can see and work with them when necessary. Until my online backup service operates under Linux, I am forced to keep everything in XP. Linux programs can't function with some of my XP documents, yet, so I will begin the lengthy process of converting XP files into files that Linux can open and use, in anticipation of future Linux improvements. (For instance - just in case you're wondering - I have thousands of *.MDI files. Each of these have to be converted into PDF files, if Linux is to be able to work with them in the future.)
Thank you for your assistance and explanations,
Julia

DrLove73 10-24-2009 04:07 PM

There is a MDI2PDF Converter, with a free version for testing, capable of batch conversion (most likely you would convert them to PDF all in matter of hours if you are willing to pay for it). Other than that program, there isn't any other even for Windows except Microsoft programs.

Wine has trouble with it, so it most likely will not work on Linux for some time.

JuliaHenson 10-25-2009 05:07 PM

converting MDI files into PDF docs
 
That was the process I was planning to use, until my eye caught something about Adobe Acrobat. Sure enough, the fact that I have the full version of Adobe Acrobat makes it possible for me to convert those files pretty easily.

However, I had assumed that the batch process that was stated was only for documents that I wanted to combine into one document. Now that I see that the phrase isn't used that way, I can speed up my process.

Goody!
Thanks!
Julia

DrLove73 10-25-2009 06:05 PM

There is very good chance that you could convert single MDI document to PDF with Adobe Acrobat by issuing a command from command prompt. If that is true, your techie could create a list of all MDI's and/or write a simple batch script that would convert files from that list to PDF. Consult your Acrobat Help Documentation for proper syntax.


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