Category Archives: Linux

OpenSUSE

I tried to install OpenSUSE on my laptop again today, and again it came up with the error about the boot partition. So perhaps I’ll have to tweak the boot partition size the next time I try this.

Instead, I installed Fedora 19, and that went fine – no issues with installing. Next I need to update it.

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OpenSUSE

I tried to install OpenSUSE today using the Network Installer. Some interesting things happened.

  1. When installing via a Network Installer, you would expect the latest versions of packages to be used. Evidently not. I did this, and when the installer did the update (which I would expect to be quick since there’s nothing to update), it took an extra 30 minutes to apply hundreds of DRPMs.
  2. Whilst doing the update, the installer flagged up the fact that I had run out of space on my boot partition — so the boot partition I had just created via the installer, using values the installer decided upon by itself, has now been clogged up DURING the install. Needless to say, the next thing I did was roll back to my previous Clonezilla image.

This isn’t going to discourage me, though, I do want to try out OpenSUSE properly, so I think what I’ll try next time, is run the installer from the CD instead of the netinstall and keep my software choices minimal until after the install is complete.

 

How to Upgrade Fedora 18 to Fedora 19

Might be an old link, but if, you’re like me, and have to install F18 because F19 doesn’t want to play ball, this might help.

How To Upgrade From Fedora 18 To Fedora 19 With FedUp (Desktop & Server)

Upgrade Fedora 18 to Fedora 19

Fedora 19 – Schroedinger’s Cat

Well, I tried to install Fedora 19 on my desktop, which previously had Fedora 18 (Spherical Cow) and ran fine. Bizarrely, Fedora 19 doesn’t like my graphics card it seems and even after booting the install after using VNC, it doesn’t come up with a graphical environment, even though I had LXDE as my desktop.

It would seem Schroedinger’s Cat has been at it — my installation is both working and not working, much like the cat is both alive and dead….

So now, my installation is back on Lubuntu. Maybe I’ll install CentOS instead of Fedora. At least until the Fedora team get it working, and who knows how long that might be?

 

Fedora

I have just tried using the network install disk (and a full DVD) and neither of them seems to start up the graphics correctly on my old PC, so after a bit of research, it turns out I can set the installer to run in text mode rather than graphics mode by changing:

vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img

to

vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img text

when starting up the installer. Then, it will run in text mode, and even offer the option of using VNC to remotely configure. Screenshot:

Workspace 1_001

Ubuntu Edge | Indiegogo

Hi everyone

So ends a crazy month. We’ve broken records, we’ve been written and talked about across the world, we’ve worn out our F5 keys, and we’ve learned a lot of invaluable lessons about crowdfunding. Our bold campaign to build a visionary new device ultimately fell short, but we can take away so many positives.

We raised $12,809,906, making the Edge the world’s biggest ever fixed crowdfunding campaign. Let’s not lose sight of what an achievement that is. Close to 20,000 people believed in our vision enough to contribute hundreds of dollars for a phone months in advance, just to help make it happen. It wasn’t just individuals, either: Bloomberg LP gave $80,000 and several smaller businesses contributed $7,000 each. Thank you all for getting behind us.

Then there’s the Ubuntu community. Many of you gave your time as well as money, organising your own mailing lists, social media strategies and online ads, and successfully reaching out to your local media. We even saw entire sites created to gather information and help promote the Edge. We’ll be contacting our biggest referrers personally.

Most importantly, the big winner from this campaign is Ubuntu. While we passionately wanted to build the Edge to showcase Ubuntu on phones, the support and attention it received will still be a huge boost as other Ubuntu phones start to arrive in 2014. Thousands of you clearly want to own an Ubuntu phone and believe in our vision of convergence, and rest assured you won’t have much longer to wait.

All of the support and publicity has continued to drive our discussions with some major manufacturers, and we have many of the world’s biggest mobile networks already signed up to the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group. They’ll have been watching this global discussion of Ubuntu and the need for innovation very closely indeed. Watch this space!

As for crowdfunding, we believe it’s a great way to give consumers a voice and to push for more innovation and transparency in the mobile industry. And who knows, perhaps one day we’ll take everything we’ve learned from this campaign — achievements and mistakes — and try it all over again.

Thank you all

Mark Shuttleworth, the Ubuntu Edge team and everyone at Canonical

 

P.S. We’ve been assured by Paypal that all refunds will be processed within five working days.

Ubuntu Edge | Indiegogo.

Unetbootin

I’ve found out that unetbootin, which is the tool of choice for most usb stick generation, does have it’s problems. I’ve just tried to setup a network install usb stick for Fedora and Debian, and both were fine setting up via unetbootin, but did not boot successfully into the installer (although the splash screen did start.) For both, the initialisation seems to want something in the cdrom drive, but even after putting a disc in there, it doesn’t boot. This also happens when using the netbootcd boot usb.

The solution? Surprisingly simple, actually. To use dd or dcfldd:

dd if=debian-7.1.0-i386-netinst of=/dev/sdb
dcfldd if=Fedora-19-i386-netinst of=/dev/sdb

This wipes the contents of the stick, but does ensure that its an extract copy of the iso, without getting rebuilt by unetbootin

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