[SOLVED] Anybody come across this one before?

Evening, one and all.

Now then; I've got a bit of a poser for you.

I installed Ubuntu 14.04 about two weeks ago. It was my first foray into the world of Linux, having decided to migrate from Windows XP (out of necessity, really!)

I've been really pleased with it. Having been messing about with computers in general since the days of the Ark (!), I didn't find the transition that hard, unlike some Windows users...

I came across Zorin a couple of days ago. I really liked the look of it, especially the ability to emulate Windows XP AND 7! So; I downloaded the O/S 8 Ultimate edition, because it includes the Gimp AND Blender as standard (both of which I've had to install separately on Ubuntu). I've installed it on a USB thumb drive with UNetBootin, so's I could try it in a live session. I booted up, and set the boot option to the thumb drive, and hit 'Enter'...

Now this is where it gets odd.

The Zorin logo comes on, flashing a few times as it should (I watched a video on installing it, so I had some idea what to expect...)

Instead of the desktop coming on, and settling down ready to use, the screen went black, and I get a window in the top left corner of the screen, saying "System error detected; do you want to send an error report?" and it defaults to the Ubuntu start screen. I thought, "This shouldn't happen; lets try it again..."

Reboot, reset the boot drive again...same thing happens.

So I burnt the .iso file to DVD, and booted from the combo drive. Same thing happens...

I re-download the file, thinking it might have been corrupted somehow. Go through all the set-up procedure again, reboot...and it's still happening!

Now, like I said, I'm not new to computers. I've been playing around with them for over 30 years now...but this has got me stumped. Is it anything to do with the fact that I've already got a Linux kernel installed on the system, and there's some kind of conflict?

My system is a 10 yr old Compaq Presario desktop, running an AMD Athlon 64, 3 Gb of RAM, and a WD 160 Gb HDD.

Any advice would be appreciated...please!!!

Mike Walsh.

Hi could you provide us with some more details? What graphics card/chipset is installed? How did you attempt to install Zorin? What are your partitions like?

Would be useful if you could boot into Ubuntu, launch GParted (Gnome Partition Editor) and upload a screenshot to here.

Hallo there..! Thanks for replying; appreciate the fact there's not many of you 'holding the fort', as it were

Okay; techie stuff. Bear with me...

The old girl's using an MSI motherboard, with an ATI chipset; RS482 northbridge, SB400 southbridge. The graphics are integrated into the board...the old Radeon Xpress 200 series

I tried installing Zorin OS 8 Ultimate from a USB thumbdrive, which I'd set up with UNetBootin; in fact, I've got two, one with Ultimate, and one with Core...hadn't made my mind up which one was getting installed (decisions, decisions...)

Confession time. Despite playing around with these things for decades, believe it or not, installing Ubuntu week before last was the first install I've ever done.

I've just installed GParted; haven't even opened it yet. What would you like a screenshot of? (I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to partitions, though I suspect that's going to change!)

Mike.

Hi, Swarfendor.

I THINK this is what you wanted. I believe it shows the partitions, etc...

Let me know, please, if there's anything else you'd like me to provide, and I'll see what I can do.

Mike.

Nope; the attachment hasn't come through.

Bear with me, please...

Mike.

It's telling me my screenshot has 'an invalid filename'...its a .png file.

What am I doing wrong?

Hi, I don't know - if it is a massive file it might be too bit - normally I save the screenshot (which automatically creates a .png extension - worthwhile installing 'shutter' as that allows you to change the filetype to be saved (from memory).

Take a look at my tutorial video on how to upload a screenshot on veoh.com:

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v385833212XzmANbj

Hi, again!

Sussed it! I used converseen in the end; but I think the problem actually was the filename. It was a string of numbers, separated by colons (:)... I suspect Linux doesn't like colons in filenames any more than Windows does!

Anyway; you can see my existing partitions. Perhaps you might now be able to take an educated guess as to why Zorin won't install, ( or at least run as a Live Session so I can see if I really DO like it).

Cheers!

Mike.

OK, automatic install should have just shrunk the partition (sda) to make room for Zorin if you chose the option to install alongside Ubuntu - but it is better to do a manual installation.

Boot with the Zorin DVD live, then click on the desktop icon to install to hard drive, but be sure you have a wired connection to the internet to ensure all drivers and updates are installed for initialisation of install and when it asks how you want to install, choose the 'Something else' option (bottom one on install screen choice)
Choose the Advanced mode of something else, so in GParted (from the Zorin Live disc) I would:

1. Highlight the 'linux-swap' and 'disable/unmount' it, then remove it.

2. Delete the extended partition.

3. Shrink '/dev/sda1' to 80000 Mibs (roughly 80 Gb)

4. Create an Extended Partition in the empty space after 'dev/sda1', then create a linux-swap area again of about 4 Gb (4096 Mib), then create a root partition for Zorin of 30000 Mib (30 Gb roughly), formatted to ext4' and be sure to mark as '/'.
Whatever is left at the end of the extended partition, mark as '/home' and format to 'ext4'

5. Make sure at the bottom of the GParted interface where it asks where to put GRUB make it 'sda' (not sda1 or anything wiht a number, just 'sda'. and 'Apply' the changes, then follow the on-screen prompts after you have 'applied' and pressed 'continue'.

Hallo again, Swarfendor.

O-kay. That's quite a chunk to digest for someone who hasn't had very much to do with disk management over the years.

You may wonder just what I've been doing on these things for the last 30 years, if I'm green at this sort of stuff. Photography...that's MY poisin. I've spent so many years messing about with PhotoShop, I could almost run it blindfolded; that's why I was so pleased to find the Gimp on Linux. I know it originally evolved in the free/open source community, so I guessed there was a fair chance it would work well on Linux...and it does, too. The 64-bit version makes it fly!

(MY old XP installation was only 32-bit, although running on a Athlon64; the Windows version of the Gimp is badly let down by the c*** source code that Microsoft churns out willy-nilly...)

Right; back to the plot. My original problem is that the splashscreen will appear, but then, when it SHOULD continue into setting up the desktop, I get this 'system error' message pop up, and it promptly defaults to the Ubuntu Unity desktop.....yet it's STILL in the Live session; hence my confusion, y'see.

So...

I take it then, that I need to do this stuff with GParted BEFORE I can recommence attempting to install Zorin...yes? Correct me if I'm wrong (and I probably am), but as I read it, the installation (I was doing it off a thumbdrive, but I guess that's neither here nor there) failed because the main partition should have been shrunk by the installer, but didn't; hence the need to make these alterations manually.....is that correct?

Mike.

ps I'm going to be away for a coupla days, so if I don't get back to you straight away, I'm not being rude; just busy with other 'life' stuff! Will get back to you as soon as, OK? This is something I would REALLY like to get sorted, 'cos I DO like the look of Zorin's O/S 8 Ultimate; I think it's just what I've been looking for... M.

pps Do I take it that if I get a dual-boot setup successfully installed, that I could then delete Ubuntu and leave myself with JUST Zorin, if I wanted to? ( I told you I was green at this kinda stuff, but I've never lost anything by asking for help...and frequently gained!) (lol)

Hi no problemo!

Right what I should have said is first, on your Ubuntu installation install MultiSystem 3 from here:

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/I ... 5623.shtml

Install instructions here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6473&p=30894&hilit=MultiSystem+3#p30894

Format your USB to FAT32 then run MultiSystem 3 after it has updated - it will ask for the thumbdrive you want to format to FAT32 - then it is just a simple case of dragging and dropping the .iso image/s into the MultiSystem interface for your USB!

As you are into photography, you will LOVE dark table! - search for it in 'Synaptic Package Manager'!

After you have set up your USB flash drive with MultiSystem, reboot and select the Zorin from tbe MultiSystem Menu to boot to live mode and install from there.

Keep us posted!

Yo! Back on the case (or I will be tomorrow...)

Now then; this Multisystem 3 thingy. I like to get facts absolutely straight with these kinda things BEFORE I start 'messing around' with them.

You say I install Multisystem 3 on the System as it is at the moment, yes?

I then format the thumbdrive to FAT32 again; then run Multisystem 3, which will ask me for the thumbdrive in question...and it then re-formats it AGAIN?

Blimey, that seems a bit of a round-about way of doing things (!), but, hey...if it'll do the job, who cares? Right; leave it with me, and I'll get back to you and let you know about my (hopefully) success.....or lack thereof...

Won't take me too long to suss it out; I'm always a bit hesitant with new procedures, but once I've absorbed it, the info usually sticks like glue from then on!

If, as & when I get it installed, I'll have a look at Dark Table...and let you know what I think.

Bear with me...

Mike.

Can't get your installation commands to work on the terminal...! Keeps coming up with 'command not found'; do I need to do an update, or something? Remember, I'm still pretty new to Linux; command line stuff does not (yet) come naturally to me..!

Mike.

Upon further investigation, Synaptic is no longer installed with Ubuntu by default. Having located it & installed it, it doesn't want to actually DO anything...

Suggestions?

Mike.

Mike Walsh wrote:Yo! Back on the case (or I will be tomorrow...)

Now then; this Multisystem 3 thingy. I like to get facts absolutely straight with these kinda things BEFORE I start 'messing around' with them.

You say I install Multisystem 3 on the System as it is at the moment, yes?

I then format the thumbdrive to FAT32 again; then run Multisystem 3, which will ask me for the thumbdrive in question...and it then re-formats it AGAIN?

Blimey, that seems a bit of a round-about way of doing things (!), but, hey...if it'll do the job, who cares? Right; leave it with me, and I'll get back to you and let you know about my (hopefully) success.....or lack thereof...

Won't take me too long to suss it out; I'm always a bit hesitant with new procedures, but once I've absorbed it, the info usually sticks like glue from then on!

If, as & when I get it installed, I'll have a look at Dark Table...and let you know what I think.

Bear with me...

Mike.

Hi, It's been some time since I used it - my bad!
When you first launch it it will ask you to select the desired stick and format it first to FAT32 after you have installed the application.
Once you have created your MultiSystem stick you should see the MultiSystem logo appear where your Memory Stick appears on the desktop. Launch the Application you have installed then it is just a case of dragging and dropping the desired .iso you want into the bottom pane of the application after you have selected the correct drive that has your MultiSystem memory stick in. Then simply reboot the machine and you get a GRUB menu which will have Zorin only showing - I have a 32 Gb memory stick with about 5 or 6 different isos that I can boot into live and install from the desktop of the launched iso.

Mike Walsh wrote:Upon further investigation, Synaptic is no longer installed with Ubuntu by default. Having located it & installed it, it doesn't want to actually DO anything...

Suggestions?

Mike.

Hi, I am not at my machine at present but open a terminal and enter:

Code:

sudo apt-get install darktable

if that is incorrect (say it should be dark-table) the installer will advise "Did you mean ..." so just put the correct name after 'install' in the command above.

Re: 'Anybody come across this before?'

I've finally got OS 8 Ultimate 64 installed...and the story behind it is a bit odd, to say the least.

If you remember, I'd downloaded and installed the .iso to a thumbdrive with Unetbootin; but every time I tried to run the live session by booting from the thumbdrive, the Ubuntu Unity desktop kept coming up.

Turns out it was probably my own fault. I have an external Seagate Expansion Drive, and I'd formatted a small partition on that to emulate a 32 Gb thumbdrive, with FAT32. I'd then installed the Ubuntu .iso on to that with Unetbootin.....and THAT'S where I'd installed Ubuntu from. I'd only just started playing around with the disk admin tools in XP, and it was something of an experiment to see if it would work!

Well, now; last night, I decided to have another try at it, after leaving it alone for a coupla weeks. As I was attempting to boot the Zorin Live Session from the thumbdrive, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the activity LED on the Seagate merrily flashing away (I have it fixed to the top of my tower with Blutak, and tucked away under the desk!)

I thought to myself,'That shouldn't be DOING anything', and , sure enough, up came Ubuntu again. So, I shut the Live Session down, unplugged the Seagate, and tried booting from the thumbdrive again, and guess what?

Yep; up came the Zorin splash screen again, but THIS time, the Zorin desktop appeared, as it should have done ALL along!! Somehow, the boot command for the thumbdrive was ALSO activating the Seagate, and for some reason, it was booting from that instead of the thumbdrive I'd TOLD it to boot from...

Weird, huh?

Anyway, I'm now the proud owner of one of the neatest Linux installations I've ever come across. I'm glad I persevered; I knew I'd sort it eventually (even if it WAS a bit of a fluke..!)

Thanks for your earlier help; I know we were both working along standard trouble-shooting lines, but I don't think ANYBODY could have predicted THAT happening. Just goes to show, you can still be surprised after 30-odd years of experience!

Cheers.

Mike Walsh.

Hi Mike, Glad you are sorted!
Will mark as [SOLVED]