Help to get started

[Doug]

On 10/29/2010 11:34 PM, Harry and Sandy wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have installed Kubuntu 10.10 from a live DVD to my Desktop on an old 
> 40GB drive which had Windows98 on it. After installation and reboot it 
> got to the user and log in page, entered my user name and password and 
> then started to proceed to the next page (with has a picture of a hard 
> drive) but then it returned to the log in page. Every time I tried 
> since after rebooting the same thing happens. As this is an old drive 
> I had not used for some time I thought the drive might be buggered so 
> I loaded Kubuntu 10.10 on my drive I use all the time beside XP Pro. 
> When I rebooted I got the same result.
>
> When I log in to XP Pro it does not recognise my old 40GB drive or the 
> partition on the 160GB drive. Is this normal?
>
> My only experience with computers is to sit down and use them, so I am 
> extremely new to this.
>
> I would appreciate any help to get started so I can get away from MS 
> Windows.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Harry.
>
I think you will get many replies, and welcome to Linux.  Mostly, folks 
don't have all that much
trouble getting the system up and running, and since you wound up with 
the same problem
on two installations on different drives, I would suspect your source CD 
is defective.  But
to put to bed the possibility that something in the computer is a 
problem, (I assume from your
description you're using the same computer with either HD), can you run 
the LIVE version of
Kubuntu from the CD?  If you can, then the computer should be OK to run 
Linux, and it takes it
back to a defective install CD.  Back to that in a moment.

To answer your question:  Windows cannot see partitions on a disk that 
are formatted
in ext3 or ext4 (there are some Windows programs that will let you read 
and write to these
file systems, but as it comes out of the box, Windows will not recognize 
them). Ext4 is almost
certainly the file system Kubuntu has used to format the partitions, 
unless you somehow told it
to use something else.  (I don't remember how the installation is 
configured.)  So yes, what you're
seeing is normal.

Back to the disk problem:  When you download a new copy of the .iso and 
burn it to CD,
use nothing faster than 2X to burn.  Also, it may be safer (altho I have 
not seen the problem)
if you can download the file using torrent.  I am told that it is more 
resistant to errors.
DO download a fresh copy, don't just burn another from what's on your 
drive now.
These choices should give you a fair shot at getting a working install.

While you're at it, 40 GB should be enough disk space for most 
reasonable uses of Kubuntu,
but if you're going to be doing a lot of photo, video or sound work, 
you'll probably need
something larger.  Get the system working first, and get used to using 
it before worrying
about disk size.

Good luck.

--doug

-- 
Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley

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