Re: Ubuntu 10.04 forgets some settings…

[Johnny Rosenberg]

2010/5/9 Goh Lip <g.lip at gmx.com>:
> On Sun, 9 May 2010 09:25:46 +0200
> Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I am not sure if this is a bug or if I did something wrong, but here
>> is what I did and what happened:
>>
>> I had Ubuntu 9.10 and I wanted 10:04 but since the Dist Upgrade thing
>> never worked for me and since I had some issues with 9.10 I did a
>> fresh install, however keeping my /home partition and all settings
>> there.
>>
>> I installed by running the latest version of UNetBootin and select
>> Ubuntu 10.04 Live  there, creating an USB stick.
>> Restarting my computer, selecting the USB stick to boot into Ubuntu
>> 10.04 Live, then double clicking the Install icon.
>> Everything went well but I had some issues with my windows, which was
>> solved when I installed the proprietary display drivers (Nvidia),
>> CompizFusion settings manager and Emerald etc. My old settings was
>> then adapted and everything looked as usual.
>> Then I selected Extra visual effects to get the cube back and some
>> other stuff that I ”can't live without”.
>>
>> But something is obviously wrong somewhere, because every time I start
>> my computer, visual effects are set to ”None” and I have to reselect
>> ”Extra”. As if that was not enough, some of the Compiz Fusion effects
>> are unselected, like Rotate Cube and 3D windows. Also the number of
>> desktops are set to 4×1 so I have to reselect 4×4. I have to do all
>> this every time I start my computer.
>>
>> I know that visual effects are not as important as cancer research or
>> saving the world from starvation and sickness, but still they are
>> there and if they are they should work. Besides I like them and I find
>> some of the effects pretty useful making my computer live somewhat
>> easier…
>>
>> Any suggestions for debugging this problem? I am not a pure beginner –
>> i had Ubuntu since 7.04, but I am still not much more than a regular
>> user, using Ubuntu to get things done rather than fiddling with the
>> system (even if I can fiddle with it a little bit too, but still
>> learning).
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Johnny Rosenberg
>
> What you are doing is installing a *livecd* installation to your usb
> and not a "normal" installation. As for all 'livecd', any additional or
> manual applications or settings wont 'stick' and therefore when you
> reboot, you will still get the original settings and without any
> installed applications.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough: First I installed the Live version on the
USB, but then I booted to the USB-stick, clicked the Install Icon on
its desktop and installed the REAL version on sda1 (/), sda5 (/boot),
sda6 (/var) and sda7 (swap). I also told the installer that sda8
should be used as /home, but it shouldn't be formatted, since I have a
lot of stuff there that I want to keep.
All these things worked as expected and Ubuntu 10.04 is now installed
on the partitions I mentioned. I installed some extra stuff too and
they are installed and working every time I boot my computer.

In case it matters, my complete ”partition map” looks like this:
sda1: Ubuntu – / – ext4
sda5: Ubuntu – /boot – ext4
sda6: Ubuntu – /var – ext4
sda7: Linux swap
sda8: Ubuntu – /home – ext4
sda9: OpenSUSE – / – ext4
sda10: Empty partition for future experimenting with other distros – ext4

Regards


Johnny Rosenberg

>
>
> There are ways to make applications or settings stick by the use of
> casper-rw and 'persistent' but not new kernels but I would not
> recommend this as a use of the OS.
>
> Instead of repeating (and I am lazy to write out everything again), I
> 'attach' a message from the lubuntu-list. (some statements are
> irrelevant to this issue).
>
> *quote*
> I've come across many instances (mainly Ubuntu) of people installing
> the OS to the usb and they are actually running the livecd OS. There
> are many guides (like penlinux?) and including unetbootin that will
> install the livecd at the usb drives.
>
> There is nothing wrong with that, provided people understand it's the
> livecd that's running and there are ways to help manually installed
> appplications 'stick' like casper-rw and the adding of 'persistent' in
> the kernel line. And puppy linux creates a small partition at the hd to
> aid that.

Well, as I said, I'm not running the Live version.
>
> However, there are obvious disadvantages; the more serious being newer
> kernels will not be able to be installed and several booting issues as
> well.
>
> I would highly recommend that should you want Lubuntu be installed to a
> usb stick, *and it's perfect for that*, install it like a normal
> installation, just that the partition you install to is the usb
> partition.
>
> One important thing to watch out is that at the stage where the
> installer ask where you want the grub to be installed, please specify
> the usb drive and never the mbr. Take particular care of the
> designation of that usb drive (sdb, sdc or sdd) before installation and
> specify that when asked where grub is to be installed. Note there may
> be a warning message that installing other to mbr 'is a BAD IDEA'.
> Nevertheless, proceed. (I understand that this message has been
> removed, but I cannot verify this). It is a 'BADDER IDEA' to install
> grub to mbr when /boot is not in the hard drive.
>
> To use Lubuntu at the usb drive after installation, at most computers,
> the keys 'esc', F12', 'F8' will allow you to select the drive to boot
> up. Older computers may require you to go to bios to do that. Keep that
> in mind when you take your portable Lubuntu usb drive to other
> computers.
>
> And at your own desktop computer, update-grub of the desktop OS while
> the Lubuntu usb drive is mounted will enable the desktop OS grub to
> include your Lubuntu usb drive in the boot menu.
>
> Of course running Lubuntu from a SATA hard drive is faster as usb
> transfer speed is slower. But you may be surprised, as I was, how
> Lubuntu performs. Ubuntu, Kubuntu ,even the netbook remix, crawls due
> to the 'bulk' it must carry. Puppy linux, DSL linux do not have the
> 'polish' of good fonts, codecs, graphics and just plain 'usability'.
>
> I brought this up as too many people are installing livecd to the usb
> drives and I think it's good to set this right especially Lubuntu is
> just perfect for this.
>
> Also, I will appreciate any comment, feedback or disagreement.
>
> Regards - Goh Lip
>
> *unquote*
>
> Hope this helps - Goh Lip