Older dude needs help.

[RoadWarrior]

Hi all!

Thank you TheeMahn for making this version of Linux. Undoubtedly this has been a monumental task and achievement. Thanks to all the great tech support people too who are helping answer the questions we less-informed might have.

I have never used Linux in any form. I have been a builder-hobbyist since 1992. I used to be very proficient in old DOS. I am 51 yrs old. I play WoW and use my machine for DVD playing and a couple Windows-based programs I must use for work. I have a complete gaming rig in a semi-truck. Currently it is a athlon 64 4000+ (single core) , 2 gigs of DDR, an ATI 3870, and audigy X-fi sound and 2 WD Raptors (no raid). I am building a new one soon. I want to use your 64 bit Ult Ed. 2.0 distro. And I want to be able to play WoW and use my Windows based programs. I read that Wine comes with your distro. But I am a total noob to linux. I don't have a CD or DVD burner. And it's near impossible to get mail efficiently. I am on the road all the time. I downloded 2.0 64 bit. I used a de-incription program to unpack the iso files. I emptied and re-formatted one drive and copied the unpacked files to it. I made that drive my priority boot drive. That didn't work. Then I tried using the "install within windows" tool. No luck. I really would like to know how I can do this without waiting to get a disk in the mail. I believe this must be possible. But I am willing to be shown how wrong I am too. I am not good with abbreviated slang terms in this field. I really need it simple-stupid so I can "connect the dots". Thank you all once more.

[pch.shot]

If you have a 2 gig flash drive and the ability to boot from your usb in your bios you can install it that way using unetbootin: http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

[RoadWarrior]

Hi. Thanks pch.shot for the advice.

I thought of that but I don't have a flash drive and don't want to blow 50 bucks to buy one. But in thinking the thought through, I was wondering how I could configure my current non-OS drive to be bootable with Ultimate Edition 2.0. I mean, after all, a HDD is what we normally use to boot our machines. So, what's the trick in loading the software to it from either another HDD or another partition on same drive so Ultimate Edition 2.0 will boot from the HDD?

If using a flash drive is my only option, would i merely copy the downloaded 1.7 GB .iso file to the drive or would i need to de-encrypt it at all?

I am researching a utility that fools the computer into seeing a CD drive on a HDD for purposes like this. But there must be an easier way.

Thanks again.

[LeadFingers]

If you're anywhere close to Bestbuy or Fry's you can usually pick up a flash drive for ~$25. Another option is to look in Craigslist.com for any major city your passing through, prolly get one for $10 or $15 bucks.
All the details for setting one of these up, are in the post pchshot gave you a link to.

[Wolfie Lee]

GOOD news, BAD news...

BAD News:
Without a burner, you will need to install with flash drive, so you will need to clunk some $$ down

GOOD news:

At pricewatch.com, you can get a 4GB flash drive for $7.99 (they have a 2GB, but it is only $.40 cheaper):

http://www.pricewatch.com/flash_card_memory/usb_4gb.htm

[RoadWarrior]

Thank you LeadFingers and again, pch.shot. I have been busy these last few hours. The link pch.shot posted to the flash drive booter program actually works on a HDD too! I successfully installed from an iso image that I downloded of Ultimate Edition 2.0 on my first attempt. It installed beautifully and without hesitation.

But... hahahaha I am quite insane sorry. There are 2 versions of this program. In my case, the one for Win was the better choice. One downloads the 4 MB program and run it from windows desktop. You just fill in the needed blanks the mini pgm asks for. Hit go and in a few seconds I was re-booting to a CMOS type dual boot interface. Then the program went to the ubuntu install program. This is where it gets tricky.

On about the 4th step of the install one must configure a new partition. This isn't quite clear as to what will result with each choice. Anyhow, I proceeded. It all installed and Ultimate Edition 2.0 64 was working stably. But the partition took the whole of my D drive and I lost all that I had on it. I had a lot. But we must break eggs to make a cake. I hated the loss of my whole D drive. I played with 2.0 a bit and had a lot of fun.

Windows was not seeing my D drive at this point at all. But it was visible in CMOS. I reset CMOS to boot from CD and used my win XP CD to begin install of win xp to D drive - just to reformat it. That worked. I shut the comp off before win installed on D drive. By the way, my C drive with XP on it was never harmed.

I then decided the best way to do a new install with 2 OSes was to begin fresh. I got a nice shareware partition manager called EASEUS from download.com. It works great. It's simple and clear, too. I the split my D drive with partitions so i gained an F drive. This will be my new target drive for Ultimate Edition 2.0.

That's where I am at now. But, with the help I got here, I was able to solve my problem and hopefully contributed something of value to this forum.

Thanks again!

[Wolfie Lee]

I stand corrected!!!

Glad you got things worked out...

[pch.shot]

RoadWarrior: I know this is hindsight now, but in the future you can take a image of your Windows partition with this: http://www.macrium.com/
It works great(I use it all the time-there is a free version). If you bork something you just insert the backup cd and you are up and running in a few minutes.
Also, this little tool will give you access to your Linux partition from Windows:
http://www.fs-driver.org/
p.s. When you install choose manual next time.

[RoadWarrior]

Thanks pch.shot. You are the coolest. These links you offer are treasures in these moments for me. I do have to admit that I have a tendency to derive a strange pleasure from totally goofing things up just so I can fix it all back again. But it is, after all, a hobby for me. I am absolutely certain that I am quite singular in this attribute on this forum (joke).

OK, here is where I am at now. I successfully installed Ultimate Edition 2.0 from the downloaded 1.66 GB .iso image onto a partition I made on my second drive. It took about 3 1/2 hrs to download it by the way. Not horrible. My original download I had saved to D drive - which was a total loss when D was taken 100% by the install. This partitioning will leave the space I need for storage of my WoW game files.

Effectively I now have three 34 GB HDDs on my machine. In windows I see only C (windows) and D (my new storage). The F drive with Ultimate Edition 2.0 is not currently visible in windows. This is no issue. I don't need windows to see it.

OK. I have a bug which I am currently working on. I will look to your links for help and ideas on a fix. In my first install I was able to delete unetbootin so that Ultimate Edition 2.0 would boot up on its own and my newly made preference settings would be saved. This time each time I boot it's doing a fresh install. I goofed something on the unetbootin program settings. That program is worth its weight in gold for what it does. By trial and error I am making it work. I will use yr suggestion and use the manual option next round.

The biggest bug I have when into Ultimate Edition is that I am having troubles making my wifi connection work. That is how I hook to the net. I have been trying the wifi radar program etc. but it's quite puzzling to get it working. I will need that to grab my needed drivers and wine pgm etc.

Thanks again!!

[RoadWarrior]

I have solved the initial dilemma at the beginning of my post on this topic. The problem was how to load Ultimate Edition 2.0 using no CD or flash drive. I do have 2 hard drives - one is a windows OS drive.

Here is precisely how I ultimately solved this - thanks to helpful info received here in the forum:

1) download the .iso file for the version of Ultimate Edition you want and save it to C drive.
2) go to this link http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html and download the windows version of the program - it's under 4 MB.
3) unzip and run unetbootin from C drive - from the desktop is perfect.
3a. you will just click onto the name of the Ultimate Edition .iso file to get it to appear in the unetbootin pgm window that needs it.
3b. on the same page you will select hard drive (or flash if u are really using a flash drive) and C: will be the choice when u select "hard drive"
3c. hit the reboot button in the little program; u will see it there.
4. when the reboot happens you will be offered a choice of booting into windows or unetbootin. pick unetbootin.
5. next u will be offered other selections. pick unetbootin or the install Ultimate Edition option. both take u to the same place.
6. ubuntu will load as if from a CD. When the Ultimate Edition desktop appears, click on the "install" icon in the upper left corner.
7. go thru the install process. I recommend that your target drive be wiped before you begin lest you risk losing what data you have on it thru the partitioning and install of Ultimate Edition process.
8. when intall is done, exit and restart and boot into windows.
9. unetbootin will try to uninstall itself at this point. windows might stop it. so u need to click "run" on the program and it will self uninstall. You are now ready to reboot back into Ultimate Edition.
10. When you are booting into Ultimate Edition you need to hit F9 before windows is allowed to boot up. You will be offered a choice then of which disk to boot with. Pick the D drive or whatever designation the drive is you have Ultimate Edition loaded onto. You should be good to go.

also, I found that while I had a hard time getting my wireless to work off the CD mode, once fully nstalled I had a lot less trouble.