[Ubuntu-US-CA] very new needs help.

[Neal Bussett]

Stan wrote:
 >   HI Neal or team CA, I tried several times to download the unubtu and
 > make the cd but (windows?) refused to accept it on the hard drive? Or
 > I just couldn’t figure out how to make the livecd (which is
 > plausible.)

When you download and burn, you're downloading an ISO file, which 
windows doesn't have native support for burning.  A lot of burning 
software that comes with computers does have support for them though.
There are a few free burners out there that do, Infra Recorder is 
recommended.
As for step by step instructions, this page:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation
will walk you through downloading, checking the file you downloaded, 
burning, and then verifying your burn as well.  Hopefully next time 
you'll have better luck and won't have to wait around for a CD.

 > 1. It seems that when I used the livecd and then turn off the laptop,
 > none of the prefs seem to save anywhere. Is this correct or normal?

Since it is a liveCD, the preferences aren't saved.  You may have heard 
of a feature to allow you to save your preferences and stuff (its called 
Live CD Persistence) but it's broken currently.

 > 2. I'm having major problems getting my wireless to accept on the
 > system. I had placed all the info in the correct places i.e. the wep
 > key and name of system, I had it on line 1 time with the wireless
 > (after trying many many different things) and now I can’t seem to get
 > it back on.

Wireless is a fickle beast.  It depends a lot on the chip set for your 
card.  If you know what card/chip set you have, that'll be a good place 
to start.  This is also a great resource, whether your card is working 
and you can't just get it to connect, or whether you're having hardware 
troubles:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs

 > 4. As it is now, it looks like if I screw up too badly and can just
 > turn it off and reboot and its like a clean slate?

That's the point of a liveCD, yeah.  Each reboot everything comes 
straight off the disk itself.  Of course, it runs slower and has limited 
usefulness as a liveCD without persistence.

 > 5. If I do install it completely, it will just
 > reformat the HD and then it will be clean anyway?

With installation, you have a few options and the installer itself will 
help as well.  You can either dual boot, or not.  If you dual boot, 
you'll have windows (or whatever OS you currently have) as well as 
Ubuntu, and you choose which OS you want when you're booting.
If you choose to not dual boot, you'll only have Ubuntu.
Regardless of which you choose, the Ubuntu install will be fresh.  Any 
changes you've made to the liveCD session (including setting passwords 
and installing more software) won't carry over to the installed system.

 > I couldn’t even figure out how to do the support thing..

You've gotten this far!  Just be sure to actually join the mailing list 
( https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ca ) so you can 
receive replies directly.
There are a few other methods for support as well if you're more 
comfortable:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CaliforniaTeam/ContactUs

Neal Bussett
Ubuntu California