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1

Tuesday, April 17th 2007, 12:30am

I'm a nub, no joke.

Ok, I'm a noob when it comes to Linux. I wanted to start out with something easy. Ubuntu or Kubuntu. I have no idea whats the difference between the two, if any. I want to know which one is easier to use. Or better. I'm currently
running Windows XP pro. I know you can install Kubuntu for dual boot but don't know about Ubuntu. I want to keep windows on my notebook.
Oh and I have a wireless on board card, and a router with WEP. Does either Ubuntu or Kubuntu support Wireless connection to a router with WEP.

If you need them my system specs are as follows:
Manufacturer = Gateway
CPU = AMD turion ml-40
RAM = 1gb pc2700
Graphics card = ATI Express 200M
on board wireless G and B.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Oh, I didn't know if this was the right section of the forum to post in. Feel free to move to a better location if needed.
Dave Hallaway

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Comzee" (Apr 17th 2007, 12:31am)


leftbas

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Location: Los Angeles, Ca, USA

Occupation: Senior Desktop Support Analyst

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2

Tuesday, April 17th 2007, 3:45pm

There is no real difference between the two, other than Ubuntu installs Gnome by default, and Kubuntu installs KDE (hence the 'K' in front of the name). But even if you install one and decide you like the other better, you only need to use the software install utility to install the other desktop environment and you will have effectively changed to the other as if you'd installed it from the start. A little poking around the web sites will give you that info plus a lot more. Have fun.
In retrospect, everything is funny.

-- Unknown

3

Wednesday, April 18th 2007, 4:20am

OK, I booted both Kubuntu and Ubuntu. Since all I have is wireless, I couldn't connect to my router with Ubuntu because you have to download the utility to connect from the internet. Thats kinda dumb. With Kubuntu, it already had the wireless assistant installed. So I searched for my router. It finds it easily. I choose the auto configure IP option, then enter my WEP key. For some reason it says connection failed. It may be because, when I started the program it said something like this "You may need administrator privileges to use this program" (The wireless assistant). But, I have no idea to find out if I'm administrator or not. I run Kubuntu right off a CD. So I don't know what kind of account I am using. I would like to know that I can connect to the internet with Kubuntu before setting 35gb of space for it. That was question one.

Question two.
When Linux partitions a space on a hard drive I'm pretty sure it changes it from "NTFS" to some other file system. So When I partition it, it won't work for windows anymore. I found this out installing Kubuntu on a 40gb Hard drive and finding out that windows can't read the drive anymore. So my question is. Why does Ubuntu have an option to partition as little as 710mb for the installation, and Kubuntu requires you to at least partition 35gb. Is there a way to make Kubuntu take less space when installing.

Oh one more thing, If I want to change the partitioned space back to NTSF, how would I go about doing that.


Sorry for the long winded post, Anybodies help would be greatly appreciated for these questions.

Thanks in advance, and for the previous post. :)
Dave Hallaway

leftbas

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Location: Los Angeles, Ca, USA

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4

Wednesday, April 18th 2007, 5:13pm

Question 1: I can't explain why Ubuntu won't see the DCHP server on your router and Kubuntu will. I would have guessed that each of their wireless tools were simply manipulating a config file, but I could be wrong. Your router should have an ethernet port on it. I suggest connecting a cable to finish setting up the wireless connection for Ubuntu. As for the default account, it is not the root (administrator) account. It is not common practice to use root as the regular account. In fact, most recent versions of KDE prohibit logging on as root. If you need to have root privilege (i.e. to install software), you will be prompted to enter your regular account password. Essentially, you'll be using the super user (or 'su') function of the account. But you're account is not an admin account. Also, the disk space requirement for each distribution is identical. Kubuntu doesn't require 35GB of space, only 2GB. Check these links for more info:

http://kubuntu.org/faq.php
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/desktopedition

Question 2: Linux doesn't use NTFS. That's a Microsoft partition type. Linux typically uses either ext2 or Reiser. I can't remember which on Ubuntu uses, but neither is compatible with Windows.
In retrospect, everything is funny.

-- Unknown

5

Wednesday, April 18th 2007, 7:24pm

Quoted

Kubuntu doesn't require 35GB of space, only 2GB.

Question 2: Linux doesn't use NTFS. That's a Microsoft partition type. Linux typically uses either ext2 or Reiser. I can't remember which on Ubuntu uses, but neither is compatible with Windows.


I double checked. The lowest space Kubuntu will let you partition is 35gb???

I suspected Linux used a different file system. What I wanted to know is how I could change it back to NTFS if I wanted.

Thanks for the other info though :D:D:D
Dave Hallaway

leftbas

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Location: Los Angeles, Ca, USA

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6

Wednesday, April 18th 2007, 8:41pm

That strikes me as quite odd, since I have a 20GB drive in my machine. So clearly it will make smaller partitions. I just haven't tried it since my drive is smaller than 35GB.

As for changing back to NTFS, you could...if you want to install Windows again. But Linux won't run from such a partition. And if the drive utility won't do it, you certainly can via a console with fdisk, then mkfs to make the file system you want.

Best of luck. And you're welcome.
In retrospect, everything is funny.

-- Unknown

7

Thursday, April 19th 2007, 2:44am

Well, I installed Ubuntu because I could get my wireless working on it. I also have my notebook setup for dual boot. :D:D:D. I also like Ubuntu's feature of auto running an application from the terminal. Anyways. I have a few simple questions about some stuff.

1: When I run some programs it says "This program need SUDO to run properly"
Like wireless assistant,(I am connecting to wireless through a basic system configuration.) I found out that sudo means opening the program with your user name and password. But I don't know how to do that. If someone could tell me that would be great.

2: Could some one tell me how to watch Windows media player streams on Ubuntu. Or a link to a site that has a program that can do that. I looked online but didn't find much info on it.

Thanks for all the help :D:D
Dave Hallaway

leftbas

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8

Thursday, April 19th 2007, 6:34am

1. When you're asked for your sudo password, in Ubuntu/Kubuntu that means just enter your regular password. It's akin to Yahoo! Mail asking for your password again when you want to change some of your account settings.

2. I've been struggling with Windows Media files for far too long. My best guess is that video files created with one version work with players like Kaffeine and MPlayer, and files created with other versions don't. They just play the audio. But I haven't figured out any more than that. I just chalk it up to Microsoft's typical caginess.
In retrospect, everything is funny.

-- Unknown