SteveR: added category tags

2014-09-21T16:10:40Z

added category tags

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:10, 21 September 2014
Line 79:		Line 79:
	7 and Ubuntu. I believe that Kendra and Lucia got through the entire		7 and Ubuntu. I believe that Kendra and Lucia got through the entire
	installation.		installation.

			[[Category:Linux Class]]

SteveR: initial revision

2014-09-21T16:09:50Z

initial revision

New page

Tonight, we tried Linux installs on four computers, and got through
three of them.

= ASUS Laptop =

Edwin brought an Asus laptop with Windows 8, and we attempted to
create a dual-boot system with Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14. Prior to
Windows 8, Ubuntu's installer provided an option for a dual-boot
install. With windows 8, dual boot wasn't an option. After some
discussion, we decided to go with a straight Ubuntu 14 install.

The first gotcha we encountered: the ASUS didn't provide any hints
about how to get into BIOS (to change boot order). Through trial and
error, we discovered that holding down F2 during boot enters BIOS.

We suspected that some combination of Windows 8 and/or newer BIOS
prevented us from doing a dual-boot install. Some sources on the net
indicate that Windows 8/Ubuntu dual boots are possible, if you (a)
resize the C: drive and create a new empty partition (within windows),
and then install Ubuntu on the empty partition.

See
* http://www.intowindows.com/dual-boot-windows-8-and-ubuntu/
* http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-shrink-extend-a-partition-volume-in-windows-7/

Edwin has a Windows CAD program, and that was the main motivation for
wanting a dual-boot system.

There are Linux CAD programs available.
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20090607033315929/CAD.html as a list
(I haven't tried any of these, though).

= Compaq laptop =

Pam brought in an older Compaq laptop with ~900 mb of RAM and Windows
XP. We chose Lubuntu for this system, because of Lubuntu's (and
LXDE's) smaller memory footprint. We succeeded in creating a
dual-boot system with Windows XP and Lubuntu. Pam had quite a few
files on the XP side, and we wanted to preserve these during the
installation.

Our first glitch was the Compaq's wireless chipset, a Broadcom BCM
4318 (Airforce One 54g) chipset. Lubuntu didn't provide a driver out
of the box. Our solution: a set of instructions at
http://linux-bsd-sharing.blogspot.com/2012/03/howto-enabling-broadcom-bcm4318.html,
which involved installing b43-fwcutter, and using an OpenWRT driver.

See also:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

After doing this the laptop's wireless indicator lit up, and iwconfig
recognized the wireless NIC as wlan0. However, there's no network
manager applet in Lubuntu. Pam will bring her laptop to the next
class, so we can continue to work on the wireless.

I did some experimentation with Lubuntu after class, and discovered
that Lubuntu supplies a network manager applet, but they don't enable
it by default. A solution that worked for me:

* Start > Preferences > Default applications for LX Session
* Click the "Core Applications" tab
* for "Network GUI", enter "nm-applet". Click reload.

We'll try this when Pam brings her laptop back.

= Lenovo Desktop =

Ruby brought a Lenovo desktop, with Windows XP installed. Our plan
was to create a dual-boot system with XP and Xubuntu (choosing Xubuntu
because the machine had 1GB of ram).

Resizing the windows partition took a long time, and we weren't able
to complete this installation. Next class.

= Lucia's Laptop =

Lucia brought a laptop running Windows 7. I don't remember the
hardware make. We attempted to set up a dual boot system with Windows
7 and Ubuntu. I believe that Kendra and Lucia got through the entire
installation.

Linux Mini-Installfest I - Revision history

SteveR: added category tags

SteveR: initial revision