Newbie to Linux

davetherave2

davetherave2

davetherave2

Soldato
Joined
27 Mar 2003
Posts
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Ok well I have decided to go from the traditional Windows platforms that have served me so well to some of the more exotic OS's out there, just so that I can learn something new really.

Now I decided to use Ubuntu as my Linux distro of choice as it seems to be the one that people are using here and also recommendations from some Linux bods at work.

Well I chose to go with the AMD64 based distro and although it was an easy install I am now completely lost on what to do.

I have a dual monitor setup for Windows and wanted to get this working in Ubuntu but there isn't any options like I would have in Windows so decided to download the latest Nvidia Linux drivers but when I try to install it I get an error saying it can't find 'ld' which suggests it is a binutils error now I tried to find the folder in usr/bin/ but ld doesn't exsist so I am assuming that I have no binutils installed in the system. So how do I get this working folks?

I downloaded the gnu binutils 2.17 tar.gz file but have no idea what to do with it.

Cheers in advance
 
This post made me curious so I have a tinker with Ubuntu Dapper Drake AMD64 this afternoon. If I was to install software, does it specifically have to be 64-bit - you cannot install 32-bit software like you can with XP x64? The reason I ask is that I downloaded Opera and it wouldn't let me install it because 'i386' wasn't the right type.
 
I think if you use Applications > Add/Remove part and install things through there it automatically gets you the right version for your system.
 
If you have the nvidia drivers installed they have a little utility which will try to edit the Xorg.conf file for you, so as to set up dual monitors. Otherwise you can do it by hand. I think the utility is nvidia-xconfig or something, with which you can append options, i.e; nvidia-xconfig dualhead or something like that (hint - man nvidia-xconfig).
 
I tried putting Ubuntu on to my PC this evening satisfied that it all looked useable and whathaveyou inside VMware. However, it fell over at the first hurdle. It was trying to start the X Server to begin the installation process and crashed saying it couldn't start it. I tried again using Safe Graphics and it still wouldn't have it. I have a Radeon X850XT PCI-Express card. Is that not supported?
 
OK, will give that a whirl.

Is there a complete beginner's guide to Ubuntu? i.e. where new applications should be installed, how you launch them, etc.
 
Oops. Hang on a minute - how can I edit /etc/Xorg.config when I am booting the computer from the install CD? It won't let me save the modified file will it.
 
Sorry - I'm getting a bit confused!

The hard drive isn't even partitioned so that won't have anything to do with it. It's right at the very beginning when I boot up with the Ubuntu CD with the intention to install. It goes through a list of things it's doing at startup such as Adding a Live User, doing RAID, ACPI, that kind of thing. Then it's trying to start the X-server to begin the GUI setup but it crashes at that point.
 
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