[Wolves] PROBLEM SOLVED Kubuntu (i think) (have a laugh on me, go on)

[Adam Sweet]

--- Bobby Singh <bs_wm at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Remember me (see past post bad booting into kubuntu
> with no internet and sound).
> 
> Well I took a deep breath and re-installed kubuntu
> but
> with its own boot-loader on MBR (last time i did
> this
> with ubuntu i lost access to all my partitions). 
> Now
> i can get XP, Mandrake and kubuntu.  Why not do this
> the first time?? I normally boot things myself in
> mandrake as it is my main distro and config it
> there. 
> Other distro's (like ubuntu) normally stop me
> booting
> other partitions. So i play safe.  (yes for all
> thoose
> proper linux users chuckling and laughing at this.
> it
> was all stupid, however in the process i have learnt
> a
> lot 'under the hood' stuff on boot-loaders, the
> kernal, masks, configs etc etc)

I don't think anyone is likely to laugh at you here.
We're a good bunch. It's not so long ago I was
beginner you know. It's only in the last or so that I
have really started to make some ground.

> Without doubt kubuntu has excellent 'eye candy'. 
> Well
> then for all thoose kubuntu/ubuntu users confirm the
> hype.  Tell me whats so good about it? What about
> the
> lesser stuff, its best cd-burner, sercurity
> (firewall
> and anti-virus), apt-get commands etc etc.

I don't use Kubuntu personally, I use Ubuntu. I think
the main advantage over most distros is that the GUI
is tailored specifically to be easily usable with all
of the applications set up for a co-operative,
integrated environment. Other distros seem to have
played with this and not gotten very far.

Also you get easy package management (ie software
installation and removal) provided by apt and it's GUI
front end Synaptic (Kynaptic under Kubuntu I think).

Try installing something on Mandrake that isn't
provided by them. Ubuntu and Kubuntu are based on
Debian (thats where apt comes from) and Debian has
arguably the largest collection of packages for any
distribution, which (K)Ubuntu also inherits. By
comparison, the Mandrake package list is relatively
small. With Debian and (K)Ubuntu, you just use apt or
the appropriate GUI front end to search for a package
and install it with all of it's dependencies. You
can't do this under Mandrake as easily as they have
less software packaged by them. I ran Mandrake for 2
or 3 years and had nightmares trying to install things
Mandrake didn't provide. Personally (not to fan the
flames of Cannon, Farmer, Awkati, Humpherson et al), I
have similar problems with SuSE.

Mandrake is a great system for learning how to use
Linux but as you develop you will tire of it's
restrictions.

You don't need anti-virus under Linux unless you are
running an email or file server for Windows networks.

As for a firewall, if you are not already behind one,
there are plenty, I don't know the names of many as I
have a dedicated firewall on another machine between
my network and the Internet (
http://www.smoothwall.org/ ) but off the top of my
head, I can think of shorewall. Search google for
Linux firewall applications and then search Kynaptic
for any that sound interesting. Kubuntu does not
install anything by default thats listens to the
internet so it's not such a big deal so long as you
keep your machine updated.

> I do have some points:
> - I am now using Konqueror but normally use Firefox.
> Its not default kubuntu.  But i am getting use to
> Konqueror.  Before i import my bookmarks is it ok to
> use it.  Is it just as secure as firefox and bug
> free.

I think you can change the default web browser on the
System > Preferences > Preferred Applications menu,
but thats in Ubuntu. Kubuntu might be different, have
a look around your menus and configuration settings.
Konqueror is fine if you like it, I don't and Firefox
is far better in my opinion.

> - I have a FAT32 partition for my files to use
> between
> different OS and distros.  In kubunntu how do i open
> thoose partitions, i can't mount them or open them,
> i get error. (in mandrake you just have them to
> click).

Ummm not sure if Kubuntu mounts them for you. We'll
come back to this another time, it's getting late.

For now, read this:

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/mount.8.html

And the thread on this list that is running alongside
this one:

http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/wolves/2005-May/013833.html

as I explained it yesterday or Tuesday I think.

> I had mandrake in lilo with XP.
>  When installing kubuntu it used grub.  Grub is
> booting all my partitions but in mandrake it thinks
> its still in lilo and can't config anything in
> there. 
> Is grub sitting nicely on lilo.  That recipe mix
> bound
> to end in disaster.  Looks like something bad is
> about
> to happen and 1 day i may loose everything.

Essentially, lilo in Mandrake wasn't set up to boot
Kubuntu as Kubuntu was installed afterwards. The
Ubuntu installation detects other operating systems
and asks you if you wanted to be able to boot them.
Kubuntu should do the same, but either it didn't ask
you this or you said No. Now you have Kubuntu managing
your MBR, you only need one system to do this so leave
everything else alone. Don't touch them.

If you need to reinstall Windows or Mandrake, remove
Kubuntu, install another Linux or otherwise do
something that will affect your MBR, it will overwrite
the bootloader.

If you install another Linux, it should detect
everything else and look after it all for you. If you
need to reinstall Windows or your bootloader becomes
damaged, there are ways to reinstall the bootloader.
This commonly involves a Linux live CD and a few
commands. Again this is covered in the above thread,
although unfortunately Tim Childe is having a number
of problems which we are trying to help him with which
may make the thread sound confusing after a certain
point.

In short don't worry about this. It works right now.
Don't mess with Mandrake's or Windows' boot
configuration. If you need to change anything, do it
in Kubuntu but don't do anything if you don't know
what you're doing.

Over and out :)

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-- 

http://www.drinky.org.uk

http://blog.drinky.org.uk


	
	
		
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