Fwd: Install Xwindows to Ubuntu Server

Brian McKee brian.mckee at gmail.com
Wed Oct 1 13:40:17 UTC 2008


Accidentally sent off list as well....


On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 6:57 AM, David Dang <ddang at ign.com.au> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am new to Ubuntu.  I downloaded Unbuntu Desk top and having used it very
> effectively for the last few months. However, I am stuck wit Ubuntu Server
> because it does not have Xwindows. I tried to install it many times but I
> met with failure because it always encounter an IP address that it could not
> be contacted.

Hi David

Welcome to Ubuntu.

I think you are mistaking the intended audience for Ubuntu Server.
The vast majority of the people that want to run Ubuntu Server do not
want X windows on it.  And, the vast majority of people running Ubuntu
server are not beginners.
No disrespect, but that's the 'target audience' for that product.

If you wish to learn more about Linux and/or Ubuntu in particular, I'd
suggest you just use the Desktop version for now.
It's not always obvious, especially to people more familiar with other
operating systems, that there is actually very little difference
between the Server and Desktop editions under the covers, and you can
serve anything you want with Desktop just like Server.  For someone
starting out, there's no real reason to pick Server I can think of.

What's your end goal?  Learning more?  Did you have something specific
you wanted to try?  Maybe we can get you going on the right foot.

> Fnally, I used the following site,
> http://www.howtoforge.com/lamp_installation_ubuntu6.06 in orderto install
> the GUI.  The only difference is that my Ubuntu server is Version 8.04
> instead of 6.06.  After completing all installation, I end up with the root
> prompt. I typed reboot.  After some burring activity, starting with the
> Ubuntu loading screen, I ended up with a black screen and a complete
> silence.  I could not get anywhere else.

OK - if you'd like help with this, please describe what you see from
boot up until the screen goes black.
Also, from the black screen hit control-alt-F1 all at once and see if
you get a text login screen.  That will help us figure out where you
are at.

You might also consider starting over - that's not the way I'd add a
GUI to Server - but we can try and patch up your existing or start
over - your choice.

As a side note - I would caution you pretty heavily about using
instructions for one version of Ubuntu on top of another version.  The
two years between Ubuntu 6.06 and 8.04 have seen many many changes,
think Windows 2000 vs XP vs Vista - they aren't minor updates.

> I have been reading about the questions posed to Ubuntu.  It seems that many
> others have the same trouble as I do.  I wonder why Ubuntu decided to take
> the GUI away from the server instllation in the first place.

You've got that backwards :-)   They decided not to ADD the GUI - it's
never been there, was never there.  Desktop style GUI's are not built
into linux, they are add ons.

For a commercial server you need reliability and security.  Every
extra piece of software you add is one more piece of software that has
a bug in it that might affect your server.  Every extra piece of
software on the server is one more piece of software you have to
maintain, upgrade, configure and nursemaid.  The rule with servers is
simple - less is always better.

A home user or student etc. obviously aren't as concerned wiht
security and reliability, and are more concerned about usability and
flexibility.  Those people, like you, want a desktop.   Most servers
aren't like that.

> Besides, there is another thing that I find annoying in using Help
> communications from Ubuntu or SLUG.  Most people who need to use all those
> Help files are beginners.  Yet I find communicators using code names like
> Heron, Dapper, etc...  as if everyone should know it.  They communicate to
> each other and dabble in those code names as if they are in an exquisite
> group and they want to keep it that way.

Computer terminology is often difficult to deal with.  While there may
be a few 'elitists' out there, the linux community is no worse this
way than many other communities.  I know if I look at forums relating
to on-line gaming there's an awful lot of short forms and slang terms
thrown around I don't understand, because I don't spend time doing
those things.   Like moving to a foreign country, you've got to just
learn enough of the language to get by.

Down towards the bottom of this page http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/faq
there's more info on the names if you are still confused.

Brian




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