My desire to do so was sparked by I’m not sure what. Mostly I needed a project.
Possibly it was that more and more bloggers (many of whom are software developers) have been somewhat casually describing Ubuntu as a viable open source alternative to Microsoft Windows (and Mac OS X).
Case in point, the recent discussion between Mark Pilgrim, John Gruber, and Tim Bray:
More often than not developers mention its surprising ease of use, apparently without it sacrificing any development capability. One normally doesn’t expect software developers to be on the vanguard of end-user usability—though the preponderance of Macs at tech conferences (especially O’Reilly conferences) and tech startups would seem to suggest otherwise.
So when the developers start saying that this is the non-Microsoft OS they’d install for their less computer savvy spouse/parent/child, as well as for themselves, it’s worth taking notice.
Also worth noting, friend and fellow Glitter Pony, Kyle Rankin, has co-authored a new book, Ubuntu Hacks, which just came out, though not in time for me to pick up a free copy at the office, as yesterday was my last day working at O’Reilly.
This moment reminds me of my first WordPress post (previously justinsomnia was a Blogger blog) where I was doing something familiar (blogging) from an unfamiliar, though functionally similar place.
In this case, I finally got Ubuntu installed on my VIA EPIA ME6000 system, and I’m using it (and the load of free software it came with) to write this blog post.
But first, the requisite screenshot, taken with Ubuntu’s Dapper Drake (or should I say GNOME, or should I say GNU/Linux? All of the above?) resized with the GIMP, uploaded with Firefox.
The problem with problem solving is that sometimes, especially with trial and error techniques, the problem solving never ends. Especially when you walk away from a problem and find that actually all along your brain has been chewing on a possible solution, given the changing landscape of options.
So I’m just messing around on the internet, on my functional laptop, various hardware scattered about, and I thought I’d run the “Check CD for defects” option from the Ubuntu boot menu (even though I’ve already admitted to giving up). So it seems to be running ok, then it stalls out on:
Checking ./casper/filesystem.squashfs
…for like 5 minutes. And I just leave it, cause I’m doing other things, and then all of a sudden it continues without complaining. Weird. Bum CD?
What’s strange about this whole experience, is that other than my continued failure to install Ubuntu, the symptoms have all been different. Which is very uncomputerlike, imho. Successfully installed Breezy Badger, but it locked up frequently. Various dead/incorrectly connected hard drives. Install process locks up—while CDROM pages crazily.
Here’s my theory on that last one. My mini-ITX system is sitting in front of me in various stages of dissassembly, such that the CD-ROM drive (again, a lightweight laptop variety) was precariously balanced on everything. Leading me to wonder: perhaps the performance problems from the previous night were CD-disc calibration/data-read errors because the thing was unanchored as it spun?
Well, heck, that’s reason enough to try again, right? This time anchoring the drive in place (meanwhile burning another disk image, just to definitively rule out a bum CD).
So far the install procedure seems to be performing similarly sluggishly. The intensive “Where are you? map for setting the timezone appears to have locked things up again.
Ok, well, let’s try a new CD. No luck. Locks up just before the timezone step.
My 4th post in a series about running Ubuntu on a Mini-ITX.
Turns out, I have not one, not two, but three spare laptop hard drives hanging around my house. Who knew? There’s the 20GB drive that I bought for my VIA EPIA computer, a 30GB drive that came out of my old X-series ThinkPad, and a 40GB drive I just re-remembered was inside my old CMS backup drive.
I also happen to have a laptop hard drive enclosure with a USB connection from back when I was trying to get data off the 30GB hard drive for my brother (after the ThinkPad failed). The backup drive has a PCMCIA connection, so I ripped that sucker open and put it in the USB enclosure to see whether it still worked. It seems that the only thing missing from my kitchen table at the moment is an oscilloscope.
Just 3 days after trying (and failing) to install Ubuntu’s Breezy Badger (v5.10) on my VIA EPIA ME6000, Dapper Drake was released (v6.06), so tonight I’m giving it another go. In order to sway things in Ubuntu’s favor, I’ve stretched an ethernet cable across the living room so at least I’d have an easier chance of getting an internet connection up and running.
It seems that this version merges their bootable Live CD option with the desktop install CD so that the installation process (now technically optional) actually happens from within a completely functional Ubuntu environment. I’m curious what this means for the Knoppix crowd? So before double-clicking the “Install Ubuntu” icon, I fired up Firefox and was able to visit Google and my blog. Really, what more does one need?
The first hiccup occured when I tried to set the system time. I selected the correct timezone and clicked the “Set Time” button, set the time, and the installation window would no longer let me click the “Forward” button to continue. I couldn’t tab between buttons, I couldn’t click on anything within the window. All I could do was move the window, maximize it, or minimize it. I couldn’t even close it. Errr. At least it hadn’t locked up. So I restarted the system.
Now I’m giving it a second try. This time I’m not going to change the time—which at least is now set correctly. I got through all the initial installation configuration steps, but at some point during the erase hard disks and repartitioning step, I got the following error:
Failed to create a file system
Hmm. Not good. So it prompted me to try again, and now the “Installed system” dialog box is stuck at 15%, at the Detecting filesystems… stage. I’m starting to believe something is actually wrong with my hardware—which is somewhat strange given that it’s pretty much been sitting untouched for the last year.
In the File Browser, when I try to access the hard drive, I get the following error:
Unable to mount the selected volume
error: device /dev/hda1 does not exist
error: could not execute pmount
Hmm. And this is the second hard drive I’ve tried in this machine. Given that the case pretty well compresses everthing when all put together, I’m starting to wonder whether there could be something wrong with the IDE cable. Perhaps one of the wires got pinched? It just seems strange given that I was able to install Breezy Badger on this drive the other day.
After switching out the hard drive, I’m now getting “Warning! CPU has been changed.” BIOS errors. Sheesh. I think something’s wrong and it’s not Ubuntu. Time to call it a night.
My 2nd post in a series about running Ubuntu on a Mini-ITX.
I also happen to have a laptop hard drive enclosure with a USB connection from back when I was trying to get data off the 30GB hard drive for my brother (after the ThinkPad failed). The backup drive has a PCMCIA connection, so I ripped that sucker open and put it in the USB enclosure to see whether it still worked. It seems that the only thing missing from my kitchen table at the moment is an oscilloscope.