The adventure starts - Ubuntu 7.10 on a T61p - Part 1
Category Ubuntu
Where shall I begin, please your Majesty? she asked. Begin at the beginning, the King said, gravely, and go on till you come to the end: then stop. - Alice in Wonderland
A long overdue T61p was finally shipped from procurement but then "refused" by reception it then sat in a warehouse where it finally, two weeks later, got back to the sender. It was resent and then got "lost" and an insurance claim was sent in. A new T61p was prepared and shipped but then out of the blue the original arrived on site. I expect a second T61p on Monday if it is better than the A26 I may swap the two around.
I did complain a little about the delay in getting a T61p as I expected one last year July to use as part of my role in Channel Tech Sales. My current T42 is now broken and needs an external fan to work and that is not good for customer demos! It was suggested that I order a Macbook through capital expense to bypass blue tape and that arrived on Friday as well. Analogies with busses come to mind.
Mac OSX 10.52 is stunning and 20 minutes later with help from Lewis and Pete all IBM requirements were met and the Mac and Notes 8.5 was working a treat. Brilliant. Not been a content type person I dually booted the Ubuntu 7.10 DVD from Linux Magazine and the Live Distro worked great however I could not boot back into OSX. I did a quick google and found out that the Option key to be pressed when turning the machine on. It turns out the "option" key is actually the "alt" key. So, no worries the Macbook rocks but more about that later. Update - return to the Techpool
(Blue tape 1, Ray 0)
I have been running Linux for a while now so had a good idea of the partitioning I needed. The perfect partitioning for me is as follows:
30 GB - NTFS - Windoze XP (Corporate Desktop)
30 GB - EXT3 - OC2.2 (Redhat 5.1 based Corprate Desktop)
100 GB - EXT 3 - Ubuntu Linux (LTC Corporate Desktop)
All shared files will be on the 100GB Ext partition and Windoze will use the Ext driver to access the shared files instead of using NTFS drivers in Linux to access Windoze drives. Lotus Notes will be installed with .dir files pointing to databases on the 100GB drive. A second DVD slot SATA drive is used for Dual Boot requirements for demos etc. Interesting thing is that the external DVD caddy is a SATA drive but does support the older ATA drives. Well done Lenovo.
Installing the OS's...
Challenge 1
Corporate Windoze resize and backup and restore.
Solution:
OK this is a product plug but worth every penny. I use Acronis Backup for my Windoze boxes. It allows you to select a partition or complete disk and backup to the same disk or a network drive. When you clone a disk you can resize it as well. So for me it meant making a backup of the corporate image, before any changes were made, to a file server for a complete backup. I then cloned the internal drive to the new 160GB drive in the DVD slot but resized the image to 30GB. After swopping the external 160GB with the internal 100GB Windoze started properly without a fuss. Job half done. I will set the Corporate Windoze partition up later.
Challenge 2
Corporate OC2 (Redhat 5.1) install and Grub install
Solution:
Download the latest lifeboat installer - Internal link This will allow you to install the OC2.1 Redhat 5.1 Client - Internal Link. This install require patience. It connects to the internal servers and downloads a primer system and then after answering a few simple questions your entitlement is checked and a 10GB install commences. When I got to the T61p in the morning OC2 was installed and once I agreed to a few terms and conditions OC2.1 was up and running. OC2.1 is a formidable desktop that includes everything and works perfectly. However, it is not easy to get along with and is very very constrained. It is just not for power users unless you alter the whole build and that breaks the terms and conditions and the reason for using the desktop. So in my case it is installed because I can and may need to boot into it on occasion not to mention the fact that it includes some of the binaries and config files I may need later!
Challenge 3
Installing Ubuntu 7.10 on the T61p
Solution:
From above you can see Ubuntu Live Boot works a treat on all platforms including the Macbook. Not so on a Lenovo Thinkpad as Nvidia has struck again with bad drivers. Ubuntu boots up and then leaves you with a blank screen. Great. In short, install Ubuntu using text mode. This is not really an issue as the instructions and options are clear and easy to understand. OK, when done reboot and.... (nothing but a black screen!)
Googling time. Here is the important first site found by google and the resolves the issue. I will extract the relevant bits that worked for me but kudos to the guys at ThinkWiki
Choose Recovery Mode from the Grub boot menu.
Edit the xorg.conf file: # nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Scroll down until you see the section listed below and replace nv with vesa on the driver line: Section "Device" Identifier "nVidia Corporation G80 Quadro FX 570M" Driver "nv" BusID "PCI:1:0:0" EndSection
Hit CtrlX to exit, Y then Enter to save.
Reboot: # reboot
OK, Ubuntu desktop is now up. Let the fun begin.
Challenge 4
Getting the proper Nvidia driver support
Solution:
(Extrapolated - Kudos to thinkwiki) The nv driver does not support the Nvidia 570M card at all. To enable accelerated 3D support click on system->Administration->Restricted Drivers Manager. It will allow you to download and install an updated set of nvidia drivers.font>
If this is a fresh installation, you will get an error "can't get source for nvidia-glx-new", which means you need to update the package list: first, be sure that in System->Administration->Software Sources, the entry "Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)" is checked. Then either click System->Administration->Update Manager->Check, or open a terminal and type "sudo apt-get update".
On the next reboot you should get accelerated support and full graphics resolution (but still no splashscreen).
OK, 194 Updates to go (242.5MB) this may take a while. Done. Reboot. Yes! 1920 by 1200 in full colour. Everything is not done yet.
Challenge 5
Loading the proper Nvidia drivers
Solution:
Kudos to Alberto Milone for this python script. Here is a good solution.Install Nvidia drivers automatically Just download the envy Debian package and click install. Works a treat. OK, but how do you access the Nvidia configuration I hear you say. Well select it from Applications/System Tools/ Nvidia Settings. If you do not have it then the trick is to right mouse click on the word Applications and the select Edit Menus. Just tick the System Tools menu
Challenge 6
Activating the Compiz Cube desktop
Solution:
Once you have installed the driver you can add the Compiz configuration libraries. Compiz is installed by default but you can not customise it (as much) until the configuration utility is installed.
Done! Phase 2 will start later today
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Posted by sngbk At 15:00:25 On 19/03/2008 | - Website - |