Ubuntu locks up on .cab files

[Andrew Swinn]

Dimitri wrote:
> Hi
> Did you ever try to copy genuine XP Home and XP pro disks (for
> unattended setup) on Ubuntu?
> Ubuntu locks up (mouse jerks, graphics stalls) on copying
> \SUPPORT\TOOLS\Diploy.cab of both XP home and pro disks to a Ubuntu
> desktop. It took some 2 hours to copy 1.7mb file.
> Fresh 7.04 or 6.10 –  same result. Other .cab , CD OK.

An odd problem probably linked to hardware/driver fault quite possibly. 
It doesn't matter what sort of file it is, as it is all just binary 
data. I just copied the same file from a Windows XP CD with no issues at 
all.

My suggestion would be to check for errors while trying to copy the file 
from the CD.

Open a terminal prompt Accessories -> Terminal and type in the following:

tail -f /var/log/kern.log

and press enter. This will 'follow' the last 10 lines of the kernel 
error log which just might show up some data IO errors. Try to copy your 
file while keeping that terminal prompt window open and look out for any 
errors. Let us know if you spot anything you are concerned about.

> Also there are extra special characters in .txt files made or edited by
> Ubuntu if you open them back in Windows.
> Considering advertised compatibility of Windows and Ubuntu data formats
> such pain with .cab archives and .txt looks very dodgy.
> I know I could Google an answer but would every other migrant from
> Windows to Ubuntu bother to spent a life time just read a text file ?

 From Wikipedia

"Notepad can edit files of almost any format; however, it does not treat 
Unix-style text files correctly"

The problem is with Notepad not handling the newline character created 
when editing a text file in Linux/Unix. The problem is with Windows 
Notepad being incompatible, not Linux being incompatible with Windows 
formats. There isnt one single encoding for a text file, there are many 
and it is unfortunate that Notepad is missing compatibility with this 
particular issue.

A suggestion may be to look into using a newer text editor in your 
Windows environment that can handle newer and different text file 
formats. There may also be a Linux text editor that addresses this 
Notepad incompatibility. Does anyone else have suggestions for this?

Regards,

Andrew S