Ubuntu Pro's Please Help!!

[RaptureMe]

I could not for the life of me get ubuntu to work at all.Now the new 7.04 version came out so I got the 7.04 64bit version.
Wow it works great but I have one small problem I cant get anything to install at all.
I tried to get the nvidia drivers from the nvidia website but it will not install no matter what I do.
The same thing goes for the macro media flash player and beryl.
every time I go to install anything I keep getting this message about "This software is not compatable or compliant with the 64bit version of this OS"
Well what the hell if nothing works for the 64bit version why do they even have it right?
Anyway is there a work around for my problem or do I have to install the 32bit version?
Also is the 32 bit version even compatable with a dual core E6700??
If you guys can help me out please reply...

 

[xtknight]

You need to be sure to download the 64-bit versions of what you need. NVIDIA has 64-bit versions of their binary drivers. But, using the restricted-drivers package is a much better idea anyway (Ubuntu-builtin NVIDIA drivers). All of this stuff is well-documented so I suggest looking at wikis.

The 32-bit version of Ubuntu is compatible with Core 2 Duos. All AMD64 architecture CPUs (Athlon 64, Opteron, Core 2 Duo) can run 32-bit code natively, and infact due to macrofusion the 32-bit version runs faster on the Core 2 Duo in a lot of cases. There's really no point to using 64-bit as it stands so especially if you're new just use the 32-bit version to save yourself needless frustration.

 

[RaptureMe]

Um ok 32bit it is and I will chime in on if it helps with my problems.
Oh also I noticed when using the preloaded drivers I only can get as high as 1024 x 720 resolution is there any way I could get it to 1440 x 900 as I have a widescreen monitor.
Will using Nvidia's drivers fix this other problem of mine?
Oh and by the way thanks for the help "xtknight".

 

[xtknight]

I've used 64-bit for probably a year and then I just got tired of it...just more messing around and really for nothing. So I'm using 32-bit now.

I suggest coming to #ubuntu on irc.freenode.net. They have a lot of experience dealing with these problems like the resolution one. Essentially what you need to do is edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and add the resolutions you want (though sometimes installing the proper video drivers, such as NVIDIA, does it for you).

Well I'll outline the steps as I remember them:

1) open a terminal
2) $ sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`
3) $ gksu restricted-manager

From there it's pretty easy.

 

[Nothinman]

I tried to get the nvidia drivers from the nvidia website but it will not install no matter what I do.

Don't do that, stick with the drivers that Ubuntu provides in their restricted-modules package.

The same thing goes for the macro media flash player and beryl.

Flash will never work since there's no 64-bit version of it. There's work arounds that involve setting up a 32-bit browser that you can do though. I have no idea about Beryl but if you get the nVidia driver working it'll probably work too.

Well what the hell if nothing works for the 64bit version why do they even have it right?

I've been using 64-bit Debian for a while now and it's fine, the only thing I can think of that doesn't work out of the box is flash and I setup a 32-bit chroot for that. As you've found out, it requires more knowiedge about what you're trying to run since not everything works out of the box and some things won't work at all but overall it it's fine if you know what you're doing.

 

[RaptureMe]

Yeah I've just about given up on Ubuntu and Linux.
I cant for the life of me get anything to install.
There is no exe's or auto installers like windows and Mac Os X.
I dont understand all that terminal command script crap.
You should be able to click on something and it should work or it should have a gui to guide you through the setup portion for programs.
I mean what does work is neat and all but its like they took mIrc and built a os around it .
Well so far I reinstalled ubuntu x86 7.04 and flash player now works.
But I dont get how to download and install beryl although there is an auto option in the ubuntu settings that will let you use cube desktop and the wobble effect but other then that I am stuck and I want the glass look and transparencies of beryl.
Really I would be happy if I could install anything so anyone know how to go about installing programs all together?

 

[xSauronx]

if youre down to using the x86/32-bit version now, i cant see how youd have problems installing. using synaptic should be a breeze, though ive never bothered with beryl at all and dont know what it may take to get that running properly. hit up the ubuntuforums and search, i would imagine it shouldnt take but a few minutes to find out about beryl and 7.04....

but i have a blackadder dvd i want to watch so good luck

 

[Nothinman]

There is no exe's or auto installers like windows and Mac Os X.

Because 99% of the time they're not necessary.

I dont understand all that terminal command script crap.

That "crap" is part of the power and one of the main reasons for using the system. It's sort of like a standard vs an automatic transmission, sure it's not necessary but once you figure out how to drive a standard it's awesome.

I mean what does work is neat and all but its like they took mIrc and built a os around it .

mIRC is crap, I'm not even sure what your comparison is supposed to mean but comparing anything to mIRC is an insult.

 

[xtknight]

Windows vs Linux is like Long division vs Synthetic division. Once you learn how to do synthetic division it's so much easier, but it takes you longer to find out what's going on in synthetic division since you've always used long division.

Why don't you just try and learn Linux and see how it turns out? Yes it's different that doesn't mean it's bad.

Are you saying it's like mIRC because you're always typing stuff? Well you may want to get used to it. Linux is centered around the command line. But there are still plenty of GUI tools to get you off your feet. Did you try the Restricted Drivers manager?

-Well so far I reinstalled ubuntu x86 7.04 and flash player now works. -

See, we're one step forward.

Beryl is the easiest thing I have ever tried to install in my life. Go on their wiki, they have like 10 lines you just paste right into your terminal, ctrl alt backspace and then boom you're at Beryl. Of course Beryl has problems with my config apparently as it it always crashes, but many people use it fine.

Granted it won't be easy if you run into problems but that's fine, not everything's easy. You will want to learn how to debug your system should you ever run into problems.

Many things may seem hard because you don't know the best way to approach them yet. For example when I wanted NVIDIA drivers I always wanted to go to their site and grab the installer and use that to compile them from source (continually ignoring Nothinman's advice, sorry Nothinman )...after all that's what I did in Windows (which by some unknown mathematical proof, MUST be congruent to Linux ). Then I realized later on my own he was right....restricted-modules were just so much easier to use if I didn't need the latest bleeding-edge build of the NVIDIA drivers. And even though I'm pretty adept at Ubuntu now and I could compile the drivers any day I'd like, I still decide to stick with the restricted-modules as they save me frustration and plus they update alongside my kernel.

 

[silverpig]

System/Administration/Synaptic Package Manager

You can install stuff from there.

 

[RaptureMe]

Hot Damn!! I got it
I set down today and learned the how to's of ubuntu.
Now I got everything up and running nice and spiffy.
I've got to say its about 100 times better then vista and I have vista 64.
The reason Being is that linux is faster almost twice as fast as any windows I have ever used.
Not to mention it takes less resources to run multi programs.
Although I have had a few lockups here and there due to heavy multitasking.
But Ubuntu has this cool auto restore feature just for that reason so you dont lose any data.
Well anyways I am off to check out how this thing games.
So thanks guys for all the help hope to return the favor in the future.

 

[Nothinman]

Well anyways I am off to check out how this thing games.

If you're planning on using the system for gaming then you should probably consider turning back. There are a handful of native Linux games, most flash games should work alright and you can get a number of Win32 games to run via WINE/Cedega but overall it'll be a lot more work than it's worth.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe

There is no exe's or auto installers like windows and Mac Os X.

Once you discover the power of apt-get in Ubuntu, you'll never, ever want to install something via an .exe installer again.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
Hot Damn!! I got it
I set down today and learned the how to's of ubuntu.
Now I got everything up and running nice and spiffy.
I've got to say its about 100 times better then vista and I have vista 64.
The reason Being is that linux is faster almost twice as fast as any windows I have ever used.
Not to mention it takes less resources to run multi programs.
Although I have had a few lockups here and there due to heavy multitasking.
But Ubuntu has this cool auto restore feature just for that reason so you dont lose any data.
Well anyways I am off to check out how this thing games.
So thanks guys for all the help hope to return the favor in the future.

If you're referring to Firefox crashing when posting on AnandTech you're not alone. I and xtknight have been having that issue for a while now. I filed a bug and from what I see in Emails it's still being worked on.