newbie using ubuntu 8.10 in parallels

dasoberdick · 04-15-2009, 07:44 AM

I have some newbie questions. I am not new to Linux but I am new to Ubuntu. I learned Linux on Slackware where nothing is easy. Now I have a Macbook and from everything I read, Ubuntu runs better in Parallels than Slackware so I installed Ubuntu using parallels.

The first problem I ran into is the screen resolution. Simple enough fix I thought. Open up Xorg.config and... There is nothing in there! My xorg.config file in slackware is a few hundred lines long and the one in Ubuntu is less than 20 and its mostly comments. How does Ubuntu choose the scree resolution? I went into GUI display settings and it only gives me like three options: 400x600, 600x800 and one other one. My screen resolution is 1280x800.

So I did some searching and found a ubuntu xorg.config file that was supposed to be for a macbook in parallels and this led me to my next problem. Permissions: I save the .tgz file to my desktop and when I try to decompress it to my desktop I get a message that says I dont have permission to do that. WTF???

Instead I just opened it up and figured I could copy and paste the contents. Then I run sudo emacs /etc/X11/xorg.config and... NO EMACS!!! Ok that sucks but Ill use VI. I get it open and it wont let me edit it. Although I just remembered I need to type i to get to insert mode so I bet that was the problem. Stupid mistake.

But it made me think sudo wasnt working so I quit VI and typed SU. It asks me for my password and I use what I thought was the root password (the only password I ever use for something I'm not that worried about) and it doesnt like it. I try to log out and log in as root and apparently I dont have a root account or its not turned on. This isnt too much of a surprise because OS X does this too but how do I turn on the root account.

How do I get emacs? I imagine I can use apt-get but I dont know how to use it yet. Ill dig into the man pages after this so not that big of deal but if someone just gives me the command ill be forever greatful

Whats with the permissions thing? Why do I have permission to save a file to my desktop from firefox but I cant untar it to my desktop?

P.S. I am using the newest Macbook (not mackbook pro) using Ubuntu 8.10 in Parallels if I didnt make that clear enough or you forgot...

stress_junkie · 04-15-2009, 09:49 AM

Root unable to log in problem:
Try this in a terminal window.

Code:

sudo -i
<password for normal user>
passwd
<new password for root>
<repeat new password for root>

After that the su command will work. IMO the Debian + derivatives practice of not allowing root logins is a misguided attempt to increase security.

Permission on tgz file problem:
Try this in a terminal window. (Given that the tgz file is $HOME/Desktop/xorg.tgz)

Code:

cd Desktop
chmod a+rwx xorg.tgz
tar -xzvf xorg.tgz

Screen resolution problem ...
Getting an xorg.conf file is probably not the answer to your screen resolution problem. You should open the apt or adept configuration and allow restricted drivers and all package sources. Then look for the driver for your hardware.

Admittedly I don't know anything about Mac Parallels, whatever that is, and I use Kubuntu with the KDE GUI so I can't walk you through the apt or adept configuration.

dasoberdick · 04-15-2009, 12:55 PM

Thanks for the help on the root problem. I found emacs using apt-get and edited the xorg.conf file and it worked right away so I'm happy.

TigerLinux · 04-19-2009, 12:04 AM

how to adjust the count down timer in the grub screen?

dasoberdick · 04-19-2009, 09:16 AM

well in lilo you need to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file. I would assume grub does it the same way. perhaps even /etc/grub.conf. But this has nothing to do with the topic so good luck

dasoberdick · 04-19-2009, 09:18 AM

I take that back... Thats how you would do it in slackware. I forgot that my original post was regarding Ubuntu.