20 replies to this topic

[ShadowFox]

We're working on the install

[Linoman]

Hmmm since this is a live cd it might be a little bit tricker. I presume you are trying to run
Ubuntu 5.10 breezy badger well here are some of your options.

1) Wait until middle of June for Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake to come out and see if that works with out a hitch.

2) You could do the following (now I know this works on an installed system or at least should work but you can try it out on a live cd and see if that works)

You should get a terminal type screen come up so you might need to edit the xorg.conf file.

Here is a link that should help you out

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php...iting+xorg+file

[Neon]

64bit linux eh? That should be cool. If you fully switch give some screenshots.

[ShadowFox]

damn I guess try the 32 bit and see if the driver's in there?

[Linoman]

I should have asked you what graphics card are you using?

[1369IC]

There are some live CDs that allow you to load a proprietary video driver (nvidia or ATI), but I don't know that any of the 64-bit distros do. The one that comes immediately to mind is Mepis. It's 32-bit, but it's a very nice Debian-based distro that uses KDE as its main desktop. Kanotix might as well. It's another Debian-based distro that has a lot of options.

Generally, you have to install it to the hard drive to get your configuration to stick. If you don't, you may have to re-do it every time you boot up. Some allow you to save settings to a USB drive (check out Damn Small Linux, I think). Also, you can configure your own live cd of Slax using a Windows program and then burn it to CD. Supposed to be very cool.

Installing to the hard drive is actually very easy, generally easier than installing Windows. I know that sounds like propaganda, but some Linux installs have it down to about four clicks of the mouse. Another thing most people don't realize is that with Linux, once you're done with the OS, you're done. No loading video drivers, ethernet card drivers, display drivers, sound card drivers, etc. With the big distros, if it finds your hardware and there's a driver, it's installed and set up during system installation. No further user action is required. Now, it's no more perfect than Windows or the Mac is, but the big ones are very good. I've installed Suse 10.1 beta and Ubuntu Dapper Drake beta in the last couple of days, and both installs went flawlessly on my home brew Opteron rig with a nF4 motherboard and nVidia card.

The part that makes you sweat a bit the first couple of times is partitioning your hard drive. The bigger distros have a program to do it, but it does involve shrinking your Windows partition. You run defrag and then do the install, and it determines how much space is available (you can take less than all of it, obviously). I've done it a couple of times and never had a problem, but there's always that possibility. And not all distros include the program. Mandriva and Suse come to mind as ones that do. I'm sure Fedora Core does, as well.

If you've got a relatively powerful machine, I'd check out Suse 10.1, which should be out within days (today is the target date). It's polished to the nth degree. It's not an especially fast distro, however. Ubuntu is generally snappier. Kanotix is also very good, and it has a 64-bit version as well. If you want ultimate speed, check out Gentoo (or one of the versions that has an installer) or the spanking-new Arch 64-bit version. Arch is very fast, but I couldn't get the 64-bit version to install. Pity.

I've been installing quite a bit lately, as I have a new hard drive coming and I want to check out the state of the art before deciding what to install. Right now I'm leaning toward Ubuntu as the 64-bit version. Suse is probably better for someone coming from Windows, however. It's exceptionally well done. I just prefer the Debian-based program installation to the one Suse uses. Check out Distrowatch.com for all the latest news.

[ShadowFox]

The thing is it works on a regular VGA montior but not on the LCD montior built into the laptop.

[simon]

I download the ISO 64 bit verison. It did not find my eithernet (I have Nvidia Nforce networking controller) any ideas ?

[m.oreilly]

simon, on Jun 25 2006, 01:24 PM, said:

I download the ISO 64 bit verison. It did not find my eithernet (I have Nvidia Nforce networking controller) any ideas ?

of which distro, simon? kubuntu picked up nvidia audio and both my gig lans, but installed the generic vesa gpu driver (got to try the "automatrix" app linoman posted earlier)...or
are you refering to a live cd?

[simon]

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) its live and the full install verison

[m.oreilly]

simon, on Jun 25 2006, 05:22 PM, said:

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) its live and the full install verison

but were you just doing the live, or going for the install? if install, you should have no problems...?

[m.oreilly]

hey , i'm running the live cd of ubntu 6.10 64bit just might install after checking the waters here... mail setup was easy (evolution), and i'm again intrigued with the idea of using automatrix for the nvidia gpu driver... well, what the heck, here goes...

[Sphere]

mo, you don't need automatix for the nvidia driver, you can just download and install it according to the Ubuntu nVidia wiki section

[m.oreilly]

Sphere, on Jan 10 2007, 01:55 PM, said:

mo, you don't need automatix for the nvidia driver, you can just download and install it according to the Ubuntu nVidia wiki section