ALIKATNZ.COM » linux

getting rid of linux from my life

alikatnz — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:00:15 +0000

I tried and failed to shake the shackles of the Bill Gates empire. I had my laptop dual booting Ubuntu and Windows Vista. Today is struck me that I never really use my Ubuntu partition, prefering the flexibility of having all my apps in Vista.

Its not easy to dispose of an unloved linux/ubuntu partition. Simply formating the partition from Vista leads down a nasty path with GRUBB not found, Error 22. I know, I went there. I had to reload Linux onto the 20gb partition and start again.

Once there, I found a nifty little app on the net, EasyBCD. Using that, you can put Vista back in charge of the booting process, eliminating the GRUBB.

Using the write MBR and reinstall vista bootloader, I was able to eliminate the GRUBB and put Vista back in charge. This had the effect of that familiar dual boot screen you get when you have two windows partitions sharing a computer, yet you can select Linux as well, with a few additional settings.

Once I put Vista back in charge, a reboot and yes, it was showing me the windows vista and linux partitions. Once in Vista, I deleted the linux partition and remove the linux entries from the EasyBCD, saved settings and rebooted.

Now my system reboots just like a factory vista install.

And whats the reason for all this extended nonsense? See my post tomorrow for more details.

Talking Specifications

alikatnz — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:03:24 +0000

So I thought I would share tonight exactly what this compaq is. Obviously, its a Pressario and has a black case.

Athlon XP 2500+ (1.83ghz), 1gb ram, 40GB HDD (5400RPM) and CD-RW. Nothing fantastic, but Linux seems to enjoy it.

The main desktop is:-

Athlon 64 X2 2.4ghz , Asus M2N-VA HDMI Mobo, Asus GeForce 9400GT 512mb DDR2 Video Card, 4GB DDR2-800mhz RAM with 1x80GB 7200RPM Sata Drive, 1x 250GB 7200RPM IDE Drive and 1x Lightscribe DVD-RW.

Right now I am researching how to do a dual boot of Windows 7 and Windows XP Pro SP3 from seperate hard drives. Just from what I have been hearing, I think I will upgrade the main desktop and two laptops to W7 upon final release and add a dual boot for linux as well.

If anyone has any suggestions for a good dual-boot setup for XP Pro SP3 and W7 using two seperate HDD’s – please comment and let me know!

Now Testing

alikatnz — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:46:12 +0000

This weekend will most likely be spent testing Windows 7 Beta. After mucking around with Linux and being impressed, I might try and maximise the 64 bit processor in my PC when trying this Beta. Will post news/views when I have something worthwhile to report…

Linux Boot Issues

alikatnz — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:27:20 +0000

I have it booting off the HDD now, done it twice today from two restarts. I think the problem lies with the HDD I’m presently using. Will have to locate the 250gb IDE drive I bought home and give that a format and a run. All I really use the Windows XP machine for now is playing The Sims 2, well, The Sims 3 when its released next month (w00t) that said, I haven’t busted a gut to get a half way decent Windows XP machine to spend all my time on the Compaq.

That said, I also have the Acer Laptop as well, which has been very handy indeed with the quick burning of Linux ISO’s to disk.

However, theres one thing I can’t deny. All these 1am finishes are catching up with me, so I am exiting Geekdom for the weekend and having a nana nap. Back to work tomorrow after a long Christmas break.

Curses!

alikatnz — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:21:44 +0000

Last night just after midnight, I turned my Compaq/Linux box off and headed to bed. This morning, keen to get back into using it, I went to boot it up – Boot Failure. But I installed it on the HDD, back to the drawing board. Will find an answer and do a work out on the Wii Fit while it installs or whatever.

Linux II

alikatnz — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:40:13 +0000

I know, two posts in one day, what are the chances. I thought now that I have installed Linux Mint on the Compaq, I would let everyone know so that no one comments telling me how. Like anyone reads this anyway, but it is installed, and I am installing downloaded updates as I type. I let these download while I embraced the Wii Fit for the first time today.

Here is my desktop screenshot to show you my progress. Nothing impressive, but yay!

My Linux Mint Desktop

From Freedom Came Elegance

alikatnz — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:14:17 +0000

So for my entire Christmas/New Years summer holiday, I have been immersing myself in most things geekdom. This blog being one of the many geeky things. I have learned a minuscule amount of information on VoIP, but will get 3Bit to explain to me in depth next time I visit.

Last night I couldn’t decide what I was going to do for my next attempt at geekdom. I had a black Compaq sitting around here, which was rescued from the bin at work. Redundant technology. Very, very redundant. So I installed a CD-RW in it – my trusty Sony one which I’ve had since 2002 and its never, ever let me down and pinched a HDD from slim.

After much frustration about not booting off a CD and how to make bootable CDs. I slept on the problem. At 5.46am it hit me. I hadn’t connected the IDE cable to the mobo. Simple but stooopid! So went to connect it and found a few bent pins on the mobo end of things. A pair of pliers soon fixed that. And I was away laughing.

I have installed Linux Mint on the Compaq. Its an Ubuntu based. Version 5. I just need to figure out now how to boot it up without my bootable CD. But at first impressions, I am very, very impressed with the whole system. I’ve always been a little scared of Linux since I first heard about it over 10 years ago and never really wanted to dip my toes in the water so to speak, but now that I have, I’m pleased.

I just need to figure out how to get it to boot up off the HDD instead of the CD now…. might not sleep on that problem, I might go shopping on it….