Gutsy Reinstall on an
Acer 5100-3357 Laptop
March 4, 2008
The
purpose of this “How To” is to explain the procedure in re-installation
of Kubuntu Gutsy 7.10. This re-installation was made necessary by my
attempting to resolve a problem in the Knetworkmanager not seeing my
Sierra 875 aircard. In my attempt to resolve the problem, I partially,
then fully upgraded to Kubuntu Hardy, which was a disaster. Attempting
to repair it, I ruined my whole system. Fortunately, all my data and
email was still on the original hard drive and is part of this install
procedure.
I used the original Kubuntu install cd which is a
live cd, and also allows you to install after starting a live session.
I installed another hard drive in my laptop. The hard drive is a serial
ATA at 120 GigaBytes. I booted the system with the new hard drive
installed, and the live cd in the cd drive. After booting, an icon
allows you to click on it to begin the install process. I advise having
a network connection at the time of install so that the installer has
network access and can configure the network during the
install.
I used the guided install and use the entire disk.
Once the
install is completed, you will be returned to the original desktop,
from which you will use the Kmenu to restart the computer. The cd will
open for you to remove it and then boot from the hard drive.
Once
booted and logged onto the new desktop, you will see a small triangle
in the lower right of the screen which is a sign that updates are
available. Before updating, go to the Adept installer and open “manage
repositories”. Enable the extra repositories under 3rd party
and
disable the cd repositories. Then save and exit. You will be asked to
update the installed list and after it is finished, “Fetch updates”.
Now select the “Full upgrade” and wait until finished. An error will
occur. Accept it and continue.
After
completed, close the Adept package manager, and open a command console
under the Kmenu>System>Konsole. Issue the
command: sudo
dpkg –configure -a which will ask for your password. My
installation asked me the question whether to update a package and gave
me several answers. I chose N and continued.
Once completed, you may restart the Adept package manager and try the
“Fetch updates” which should list no more updates.
Since
I am restoring a laptop used as a desktop, I need Firefox and
Thunderbird. Using adept, search for Firefox and then select Firefox3.0
and j2re1.4-mozilla-plugin, and then search for Thunderbird and select
Thunderbird. Select “apply changes” to download and install the
selected programs. There will be 34 packages to install.
Once
completed, close the Adept package manager and then start from the
Kmenu: Open Office, Thunderbird, and Firefox. Once started, close them.
This creates directories on the main directory for each. The
directories are hidden files and begin with a “.”, so to see them in
Dolphin (the desktop browser), select “view” and “show hidden files”
and they will be displayed.
Since my goal was to transfer all my
data from my old drive to my new one, I must connect my old drive. I
used a USB to SATA drive and plugged my old drive into it. Then just
plug it into any available USB port and after about 20 seconds, a
window will open requesting you to open it. Select open in a new
window. Now make the hidden file visible, and copy them from the old
drive to the new, over writing the newly created files. You need only
copy the .mozilla-thunderbird, .openoffice.org2
, and the .mozilla directories.
Now
start each program again, and check to see if all your bookmarks are in
Firefox, email in Thunderbird, and recent documents are in Open Office.
If they are, congratulations, we're done.
Now I moved my documents, pictures, and other programs as needed by
simply copy and paste to the new hard drive.
This
completes the initial installation. Unfortunately, there are several
problems with the install in the computer and with Kubuntu, which will
be addressed elsewhere. Some of the problems are aircard installation,
wireless networking, and sound. |
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