[ltp] KUBUNTU Install

Richard Neill linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:49:39 +0000


Dear David,

Sorry to hear you are having such woes! It sounds to me as though you 
have a broken CD - either you had errors when downloading the ISO, or 
the CD burning process left you with a partial coaster.

I forget - which model of laptop is it that  you are trying to install to?

Can it be booted via a USB stick?
  If so, follow these instructions: 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent

If not, I think it should still be able to boot via network?
Start here:
http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installation_on_ThinkPads_without_CD-ROM_drive

1) First, make sure that you can follow the instructions under "Using 
Knoppix as a terminal server".  This is very simple, and will prove to 
you that you can do a network install. (You could, having done a knoppix 
boot, even install knoppix on your hard disc - this is the easiest way 
to do a basic installation, but it is hard to customise).


2)Try an Ubuntu/Kubuntu PXE install. There is a decent howto here:
   http://wiki.koeln.ccc.de/index.php/Ubuntu_PXE_Install
If you already have the Knoppix Terminal server running, most of the 
hard work is done for you, and you should be able to start midway.


[Both the USB and PXE install methods assume you already have one 
working Linux machine, but you can use Knoppix for this, to temporarily 
"borrow" a windows machine.]


HTH,

Richard






> 
> Oh dear! I downloaded the 7.10 kubuntu and with kb3 created an install cd.
> The bad news is that at some point during the install of kde components -
> I can't recall which (i've been on antibiotics and stuck on the boat for
> days now) the install crashed - no activity for an hour on the cd or
> laptop.
> 
> On a reboot grub reports an error code of 17 or 15 - as I recall which I
> guess is a failure to find a bootable partition. I have now nothing to
> boot too! I'm in another internet cafe via my mail server. The good news
> (perhaps) is that someone may (a big may) let me borrow their ibm laptop
> so I could swap hard disks.
> 
> This is getting like hard work to get kubuntu om my laptop!! Oh well ....
> If that is not an option, I'm going to have to create a couple of floppies
> and try to access the usb cd drive.
> 
> The odd thing was that all the checksums were ok via kb3 so I was looking
> forward to kubuntu.
> 
> Chow for now
> 
> David
> 
> 
>>
>> skipper wrote:
>>> Hi Richard,
>>>
>>> The options I get are to log on as normal or recovery mode - which is
>>> what I do/did.
>>>
>> If you want, at this point, you could very nearly get to have a full KDE
>> installation. Just do apt-get install kubuntu-desktop. However, it will
>> be an old version, so you may as well proceed with the 7.10 iso.
>>
>>> I will print out this email - I shall do a new download of the
>>> alternative 7 iso and burn via kb3 - edit the menu.lst file having
>>> copied contents of cd to hard disk - then do the ping and apt-get - will
>>> I have a kubuntu gui or do I have to load it?
>> Why the *alternative* disc? Grub should be able to boot the normal
>> install-disc directly, or via files on the hard drive. Also, I suggest
>> that you get the ubuntu-7.10 (standard) CD, then, once installed, add
>> the KDE packages - this gives you access to various admin utilities too.
>>
>> Good luck!
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>> Richard Neill wrote:
>>>> Dear Skipper,
>>>>
>>>> If you can get the install as far as the root prompt, you've won 90%
>>>> of the battle. Am I understanding correctly that you can boot into the
>>>> new system, and it gets as far as a root prompt?
>>>>
>>>> If so, try in order:
>>>>
>>>> 1)Check that networking is up. Try
>>>>     ping www.google.com
>>>>
>>>> 2)Install KDE (if not already present):
>>>>     apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
>>>>
>>>> 3)Start the X-server:
>>>>     /etc/init.d/kdm stop
>>>>     /etc/init.d/kdm start
>>>>
>>>>   i)  if this fails, try gdm instead of kdm)
>>>>   ii) If that fails, look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log  or email it to us.
>>>>
>>>> Tell us which of these steps were necessary, and what happened.
>>>>
>>>> 3 other thoughts:
>>>>
>>>> i)You could try using the Ubuntu CD, and then install the
>>>> kubuntu-desktop  package. That will give you KDE.
>>>>
>>>> ii)If you're using an Ubuntu-6 series disk, may I recommend you try
>>>> something like 7.10 ? Many hardware problems have been resolved in the
>>>> last 2 years.
>>>>
>>>> iii)You could also install via a network - look up "PXE install". It's
>>>> not necessary in your case, since you have already got grub installed,
>>>> but it's useful to know.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> skipper wrote:
>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>> There are two installs - the one via Windows and the Alternative
>>>>> install. If I do an Alternative install there's no KDE Desktop - I
>>>>> just have a root or user prompt. The only good news for me is that I
>>>>> can install via grub.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to install via the version 6 KUBUNTU and have the KDE
>>>>> desktop - but I'm not running windows.
>>>>>
>>>>> I also have a USB CD - I may add that I have to reinstall Linspire 5
>>>>> just so I can send this e-mail!
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is the issue: I have a USB CD/RW which the bios does not boot
>>>>> from - but via grub with the contents of a CD copied to the hard disk
>>>>> I can either install Linspire or KUBUNTU Alternative CD but no KDE
>>>>> desktop gets installed - why I don't know.
>>>>>
>>>>> I want to install KUBUNTU 6 with KDE. I have tried to use grub but it
>>>>> stalls looking for an operating system - there must be a way round
>>>>> this issue - which is simple.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't have the option of another laptop - but I do have access over
>>>>> a network though KUBUNTU Desktop has no network install.
>>>>>
>>>>> The other option is if the Alternative KUBUNTU installs how can I
>>>>> install the KDE files that exist on the hard disk and on the CD? Why
>>>>> do they not install?
>>>>>
>>>>> Happy New Year To All!
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> David
>> --
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>