Problems With Trusty

im using the latest version of ubuntu on a 4 year old dell 780 optiplex and I am more than impressed with the speed and agility of the machine. Im so impressed that I have asked my friend for an old dell laptop so I can go mobile with this thing.
my question is.... do i install the same distro for a laptop as i am using on this desktop or is there a widely used laptop distro that the linux experts always use or at least on avarage use more than any other.
thanks guys

I have windows 7 laptop, Dell. I downloaded the newest edition of Ubuntu (Twice)to see if it would install and dual boot beside Windows 7. Unsucessful on several attempts. Once I reboot the computer it will give ma a choice of 7 or Ubuntu. I decide on Ubuntu it starts to boot into Ubuntu than a black screen with all types of Kernel error codes that i'm unfamilur with. one is---(1.292618) kernel panic-not syncing: no working init found.

Try passing init option to Kernel (see Linux Documentation/init.txt for guidance..

I am not sure what all this means any help would be appreactiated...

Hey guys. So I just went out and bought a Sager 8268-s (clevo p150sm-a) With an i7 4910mq and a Nvidia 980m gt. As I am a computer tech by trade, every time i see Windows i get horrible PTSD so i decided to try Linux instead. After many hours of trying to get a dual boot working finally got Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon installed on my computer, but when I went to install the Nvidia driver it landed me in fallback mode which I could not escape. So then I tried Ubuntu 14.04 LTS thinking maybe Mint was incompatible with the driver and the same thing happened.

So here is my method:

(sorry i don't know how to make a code box :/ )

First I log in to get root access:

$ su

Then I Update the xorg:

$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

Then update my system:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Then i go into Virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and disable the display manager:

$ sudo service mdm (or lightdm for Ubuntu) stop

Then i install the drivers which i have done multiple ways:

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

or

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-343 nvidia-settings

or by downloading the driver from Nvidia (first designating the file as executable)

$ sudo sh nvidia.run && sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

Then after install, I create the config file:

$ sudo nvidia-xconfig

Then I reboot. After I get the low res mode in Ubuntu or fallback mode in Mint and Driver manager doesn't detect any proprietary drivers and I have to reinstall to get the OS working again. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ten years on Linux and this has me stumped.
So I'm putting it in the Newbie thread.

I pulled an Nvidia card out of my box: I suspected a hardware failure with that.

The gear on the motherboard is Intel. An Intel driver is present, and it seems - judging from the logs - to be loading.

I commented out a lot of xorg.conf. There were things in there to help me get my resolution right.
Gone now, but I purged the Nvidia driver anyway.
( sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia )

But I have no GUI.
The login screen appears as expected, mouse and keyboard work.
But when I log into the GUI I get only wallpaper, no menus nor bars nor buttons, nor anything on a right-click.

FWIW I had been using Metacity until now, rather than the latest Gnome desktop.

A CD-bootable Ubuntu still works fine in this box tonight: that makes me suppose I have eliminated any hardware problems.

Any tips would be gratefully accepted.

I think I have seen advice suggesting that a person should just delete lots of desktop config files in a situation such as this. But to me that seems wrong - or maybe hasty.

So I thought I'd ask first.

Many thanks for any help.

I recently purchased a laptop that came with Windows 8.1 as the OS. I am trying to switch it over to Linux Mint 17.1 (Rebecca). I found an Ubuntu disk loader that I placed on a DVD and it boots just fine. Downloaded the 32-bit Linux Mint .I so and burned it to a DVD. Tried to boot from it and nothing. Being new, the problem pretty much has to be something insanely simple but I sure can't find it. Would really appreciate any expertise out there.

Hello.

I am a newcomer to Linux, coming from Windows, desktop PC user. I already have a few months' experience with Ubuntu and Mint. I can handle some basic terminal commands, but I prefer the GUI whenever possible.

I'm not an IT specialist, far from it. Just a normal average computer user who can read a few things if they are understandable enough, and wants a decent operating system. So please speak to me in simple human terms, I can handle high tech jargon only so much. Thanks.

I have 2 main questions:

1. I've encountered problems when booting from LiveCD (written to USB) with both Mint and Lubuntu. The boot menu appeared but when I pressed any of the “try live” or “install” options, the screen froze with garbled checkerd pixels. Web searching for solutions, I found the thing with accessing special boot options and adding kernel parameters like 'nomodeset' and 'noaccel' and doing that I could proceed with installation. Then, after installing proprietary drivers, everything was fine.

This is not the first time this happened. As far as I understand this is related to the nouveau driver.

Does this happen only with some distros, like, for example, Ubuntu and its derivatives, or is it a larger problem from the main Linux kernel? From what I've read on some forums, such problems happened with other graphic cards as well, and it seems to be an old problem as old as 2011 if not older.

Why nothing could have been done to fix these issues so far? Couldn't all distros use some option from boot menu to either go with simple safe vesa graphics mode or a text based helpful install that might guide the user afterwards in downloading the proprietary drivers if s/he desires?...

And what is the main cause of the problem? Nvidia not doing FOSS drivers? Nouveau not being flexible enough? Linux kernel not keeping up? Particular distros that don't care about adding an extra boot option? A combination of all these? What is to be done? Would switching to other distro help in this regard? how would I know which distros use nouveau and which don't?

2. I'd like to look into other distros as well. What I need is stability, meaning as bug free as possible, as few apps hanging or crashing as possible, while still being user friendly. But no rolling realeases, please. I want to update the system without fear that I won't boot into desktop – again!

I need distros that come with multimedia codecs, Flash and stuff out of the box and also an easy option to install the proprietary video card graphics driver. I am all for FOSS, but for now I'm also being realistic, and unfortunately have to go with proprietary drivers.

What recommendations do you have?

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Daniel & I've been considering trying out Linux. A friend of mine says he's got Linux's Ubuntu, & says he really likes it. I've got experience building computers, & Computer Networking. I've got a Desktop w/a free (empty, unformatted) 150 GB Seagate HDD, so I'd like to try using that HDD for a version of Linux. I'm running Win. 7 Ultimate on my primary drive, but I had to install the Win. 7 Ult. 32 bit disc for it to run successfully. I'm considering a dual boot system.

The System I built has an ASUS (A8N-SLI) 64 bit, Socket 939, NVidia N-Force4 Motherboard, w/an AMD, Athlon XP 4000+ 64 bit CPU. I've got 2 ASUS/NVidia G-Force N6800GT PCI Express Graphics Cards, w/256 MB DDR3 RAM each (using my SLI). I've got 2-1 GB 184 pin sticks of Corsair 3200+, 400 Mhz, CL-2 DDR-RAM. I' ve also got a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Sound System (4.1), w/internal PCI Card & external control box that runs w/Fire Wire. I've also got an Acer 24" Digital monitor, & 1 CD/DVD Burner,& 1 NEC Dual Layer DVD Burner.
I went into detail, just in case my system has something requiring a certain version of Linux. My main problem is, I don't know anything about coding, so I guess I need a version of Linux w/a robust GUI. I thank you in advance for your time & consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. -)

I have a Dell Latitude E5440. It currently is Running Windows 7 pro. I want to change this machine into a customized Linux Workstation. In order to that right I need to get all my device drivers copied from Dells Website I want to then figure out if these drivers would work for linux.
I then want to create a virtual windows desktop to run all and not limited to:

Microsoft visual Studio
Ableton live (DAW)
Auto Desk Inventor
Mentor Graphics PAD
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Premier
Red Giant Special Effects suites (various)
Quark Express
ICOM Radio Programming software
Microsoft Office
Just to name a few programs I want to run on my windows virtual desktop.
I wont ever take the virtual desktop online. I also want to have a highly secured system where permissions have to be signed for anything. Meaning that my windows desktop is virtually helpless in screwing with the rest of my system.

SO I will need a good open source O.S. and many links for the device drivers I need and how to change them to work.

Please explain things clearly with precise directions and links. I haven't flashed my bios yet and installed DBAN. I will when I feel I have all my ducks in a Row and I am ready to create a monster laptop. please email me directly
evander.callie at gmail dot com

Hi there folks, first post and been using Linux for roughly a week, not an expert but getting the feel for it.

So....my question is: I am in the process of building a studio-rig for music, and previoulsy I used Windows, and managed to get the x64 drivers for my audio card the Delta 1010LT and got it working etc. It came with the control panel as well.

I tried googling for the drivers for Ubuntu Studio (64), but to be honest, like I said being a newbie, I'm not entirely sure I have to download them? Most things I can just request download and install from the terminal in Ubuntu. Does this apply for these drivers or if not does anyone know the location of these drivers?

Much help is appreciated

i have an hp pavilion dv7 laptop and i installed openmandrivalx 14.1 x64 on it and cannot configure the wireless intel centrino wireless n-2230 adapter. Have downloaded the iwlwifi drivers but cannot install because the system cannot resolve the $MIRRORLIST problem.
This occurs on all mandriva based linux systems i hahe tried mageia with the same result. Mageia cannot even recognise the centrino adapter.
Ubuntu based linux systems install on the fly.
What good is an operating system in the modern era that you cannot connect to the internet seamlessly?