X resolution difficulties (Re: TWO RESTARTS TO MOUNT REMOVABLE DRIVES)

[Peter Whittaker]

On Wed, 2007-02-14 at 16:41 -0500, Maurice Murphy wrote:
> One thing I could try thought is to copy the modified xorg.conf file 
> made after doing the work around procedure from the live CD to my 
> removable drive.  And, after backing up my current xorg.conf, pasting 
> the copied file to /etc/X11/  This would obviate the need to back up 
> everything of value first.  What do you think?

Maurice, apologies, I could not respond right away.

This is a great idea. I saw that you had some problems implementing it,
but it could be done with one of the following alternatives:

1. A floppy (I have a couple I could donate....)

2. A CD-R (if you have a burner installed)

3. You could save the file to one of your existing partitions while
running under the LiveCD.

More on #3: By default, the LiveCD will NOT mount existing partitions,
but it can be done. Basically, you become root, modify the /etc/fstab,
and mount the drive of interest.

For example, if one of your partitions was an ext3 FS on /dev/hda3, you
could do something like

$ sudo su
# mkdir /mountpt
# cat >> /etc/fstab
/dev/hda3 /mountpt ext3 defaults 0 0
^D
# mount -a
# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /mountpt
# exit
$ exit

^D is ctrl-d. When you reboot under Ubuntu, you would copy xorg.conf to
the real /etc/X11 (heck you could do that directly under the LiveCD, but
we can discuss...).

This is a general recipe, the specifics would depend on your machine.

Perhaps contact me directly with details, and we can work out a recipe
for your machine....

> I'm even considering getting really brave and going back to a single 
> Ubuntu boot. The only trouble with this approach is that I would 
> wipe my grub loader.  Maybe there's a work around for this too?  Perhaps 
> transfer all this stuff to my wife's computer, but I would be sure to 
> miss some vital data in the process.  Murphy's Law, you know!
> 
> Comments on the above would be appreciated.

I've of two minds: I would love to advise you to go single-boot (I did,
after quite some time, and I haven't looked back) but I am a real "if it
ain't broke don't fix it" person.

Until you are as sure as you want to be that you have everything you
need where you need it, I would not make changes.

That said, you could consider copying your data from your Win partitions
to your Ubuntu data partition, using Wine (or CrossOver if you want a
fully supported product) to run your Windows apps, etc., and work under
Ubuntu exclusively until you are comfortable that everything is OK.

(This is similar to what I did, using scripts to copy key data files
back and forth, etc.)

If you do decide to go single-boot, one alternative might be to do a new
install of Ubuntu and make the current first partition, the Windows
partition, a root (/) partition. You could mount your existing Ubuntu
partition as /home, and use it for data.

That's the config I have, and the main advantage is that you can blow
away your OS partition and reinstall, in extremis, and not risk your
data at all. It works quite well. FYI, I've about 6GB for /, 5GB
for /home, with about 0.5GB of swap between the two. More or less.

That "more or less" comments prompts another observation: There are
known problems with the partitioning tools in Dapper and Edgy, most of
of which have been fixed in Feisty. Some of the fixes have been
backported - those that correct data loss problems, while some haven't.
Some of the partitioning problems involve partitions that don't quite
line up correctly (I'm not a partitioning guy, it's got to do with
sector, cylinder, and block counts), etc.

SO! BIG CAVEAT! If you do want to go single-boot, you might want to wait
until Feisty (Ubuntu 7.04) is out. It should have better partitioning
and it should also have better X detection and support. Just to bring
the conversation full circle.

FWIW, I've been running Feisty for weeks (pre Herd 1) and it pretty much
rocks. Zippy. Some regressions (not surprising) but nothing dangerous,
at least not for me. Soon as the full release is out, my daughter's
laptop gets upgraded.

As always, FWIW, YMMV, IANA<iwintdh*>,

pww

*	Insert whatever I need to disclaim here

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