Ubuntu 11.10 on a USB drive

[Christopher Chaltain]

There have been two methods discussed on the Orca list recently and on
other lists in the past. Here's the first method:

Editing /var/lib/AccountsService/users/username
(/var/lib/AccountsService/users/andy for example) is the easiest option. To
do this, do the following.

1. Sign in as an administrator with sudoer rights.
2. Drop to a terminal window.
3. type the following command replacing {username} with the username to
change the session for.
Sudo gedit /var/lib/AccountsService/users/{username}
Password for username: ***
In my case, the following file appeared:

--start file--
[user]
X11-session = gnome-fallback
--end file--

4. Change the line X11-session=[desktop name] to read:
X11-sessiion=unity-2d

5. Close and save the file.
6. Sign out and sign in again.

Some people have said the above method works all of the time while
others have said that you need to shutdown your desktop for this to work
since the desktop rewrites this file on closing.

Here's another method that's been proposed, and this one claims to work
whether your desktop is running or not.

Ok, here is a command that should change your session to unity-2d, without
you having to log out and stop lightdm. This should worok 100%.

You need to know what your user ID is, not your user name your user ID
number. To find this out, open a terminal and run:

echo $UID

Make a note of the number you hear, you will need it in the next command. To
make the change, run this command:

dbus-send --type=method_call --system --reply-timeout=1000
--dest=org.freedesktop.Accounts /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User$uid
org.freedesktop.Accounts.User.SetXSession string:ubuntu-2d

Where $uid is your user ID number, mine is 1000.

I've always installed Ubuntu 11.10 with Orca, so I've never had to do
this myself. I'm just reporting what I've seen documented on other lists.

On 29/12/11 22:40, Lenny wrote:
> Hi,
> I used the Universal USB installer for Ubuntu 11.10.
> I haven't booted to it yet.
> Seems like the commands to boot to Orca were F5, then press #3, and press 
> enter twice.
> Is this still the case, or did I get it wrong?
> Also, I know it has been asked recently, but I looked in my past messages 
> and haven't found it yet, but how do I drop back to Unity 2D?
> Thanks.
> Glenn 
> 
> 


-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at gmail.com