Ubuntu 18.04

Finally after fighting my ignorance, I finally let Ubuntu run with it and do an install. So all my previous questions about partitioning, etc. were resolved.

However, off and on my keyboard would stop working and the keypad never worked. I found a fix on the Ubuntu forum site, and it took entering the sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all command in a terminal window using the screen keyboard, and a reboot. That worked for a while, but looking into the keypad fix, I did a Cntl+Alt+F3 to launch a terminal session and entered the same command sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all plus hoping that it would be more permanent. Well.... it didn't finish and locked up the system. Now the keyboard and keypad are always dead, even when trying an OS reinstall. Can't get past the time zone and user info because the keyboard is dead. Using Win 7 to enter this, and of course I am now hooked on Linux. Anybody have any ideas?

I've used Ubuntu for years, never had this kind of problem.

Is your computer very old? What make and model is it?

Try making a usb stick with Ubuntu, boot from the usb stick and just try it, without installing. A 2GB usb stick is big enough.

If you still have windoze, you will boot with grub2, Ubuntu will give you a menu choice 'recovery mode' Boot with that, see what it says. Maybe that is enough to fix your system. It will run fsck, or tell you to run it manually.

I've used Ubuntu for years, never had this kind of problem.

Is your computer very old? What make and model is it?

Try making a usb stick with Ubuntu, boot from the usb stick and just try it, without installing. A 2GB usb stick is big enough.

If you still have windoze, you will boot with grub2, Ubuntu will give you a menu choice 'recovery mode' Boot with that, see what it says. Maybe that is enough to fix your system. It will run fsck, or tell you to run it manually.

Yes, this is a 2011 Toshiba Satellite. It is old, so that may be the issue. If indeed age is a major factor, is there an older release that would/could work better, or am I destined to be stuck with Windoze until I replace this old relic? I have tried to make a usb stick several times and each time it would not boot the usb stick. I will give that another shot. I got ahead of myself, and ran diskpart and cleaned the drive so I could start off fresh. I will also try booting with grub2 and see if that helps. Thanks for your quick response.

Once you have a bootable usb stick, insert it.

Repeatedly press F2 immediately after switching on, that should get you into the bios.

Go to boot.

Go to boot device priority, press enter

You should see your usb stick there. Set it to be the first boot device. Just click on the first choice, you will see all possible boot devices. Choose you usb.

Press F10, should get you out of boot and let you start from the usb.

It will default to the old setting once you remove your usb and restart, don't worry.

Just occurred to me: also, try an external usb keyboard. If that works ok, you know the problem is your keyboard.

(If you are in China, I'll send you mine!)

You might want to get a new computer. I strongly advocate against the whole notion that Linux will breathe new life into ancient hardware. Of course you can always have a hobby, and please don't get me wrong: been there, done that (multiple times).

Just be warned:

1. Old hardware will eventually fail
2. Investing your time in old hardware rarely pays off
3. Old hardware probably won't satisfy your needs
4. Upgrading old hardware is expensive
5. Old hardware might need older Linux versions that might not be supported anymore - which is insecure
6. There is nothing wrong with buying brand new hardware, even if only to use as a home server. It will serve you for years to come!

To clarify my point: repurposing an old PC to use as a file server might sound tempting, however those new 8 TB hard drives you bought won't be running as fast on that SATA 1 bus. And then you wonder why there are random outages (probably because some capacitors on the motherboard just started leaking). However, the power company will be happy when you run that old powerhungry 90 nm processor 24/7. The processor might just have a couple (meaning 2) cores. Running a dozen Docker containers and some VM's on that server will not be that nice, aspecially on those 2 GB of RAM. More RAM? Get ready for some sticker shock when buying some of those old DDR2 modules in a higher capacity (you know: supply/demand).

And I haven't even started about old laptops (been there, done that..). Just remember one thing: there is nothing more satisfying than unpacking a brand new laptop, boot it up to see everything works and then use a USB drive to wipe that SSD all clean and install a shiny new installation of your favorite flavor of Linux.

Thanks for your input and opinion.

Originally Posted by jrysatx Yes, this is a 2011 Toshiba Satellite.

That's definitely not too old.
Some problems with media playback maybe, due to GPU capabilities, but hardware doesn't disintegrate after 10 years.

But Ubuntu might be too heavy for that and, in my experience, they loose interest in devices older than, say, 5 years, so hardware support might be getting flaky.
Using an old Ubuntu version is NOT advisable - instead you should find a current distro that caters to older hardware. One that is NOT based on Ubuntu.
Here's a search to get you started. I also recommend MX Linux.

@hermani
I've been using pre-loved hardware since 1999 and have seldom had any problems with it. It all depends on what you want your machine to do.

Originally Posted by hazel I've been using pre-loved hardware since 1999 and have seldom had any problems with it. It all depends on what you want your machine to do.

That is right. I too have a backup server running from parts dating back to the '00's. But I know this is a server that will not be running for another 10 years so I use it that way. The front-server is brand new.

It is just whenever I see people asking questions about installing Linux on a system because it is not supported by the latest Windows anymore they think they can give their desktop or laptop a new life. Aspecially laptops don't have eternal life and most old laptops have bad batteries, that are expensive to replace.

The OP had problems with his keyboard that might or might not be a hardware issue. It may take him ages if ever to find and fix the problem and put him off Linux while a new(er) laptop might make him enjoy Linux to the fullest with all bells and whistles working right out of the box.

I think the problem is that laptops often have a flimsy construction. Their keyboards for example are often rubbish. What I said before referred to desktop towers. Their hardware is very robust. The main problem in using them today is that they have lower memory and less powerful processors than modern machines, but you can handle that in Linux by using a simpler desktop, which is something you can't do in Windows.