Migration to Linux

I've been using Linux & BSD now for a few years, but mostly on the server side, not as a desktop OS. Sure I've tried multiple flavors (Fedora, CentOS), but for one reason or another Windows remained the primary OS. I decided to give it a shot again, this time with Ubuntu on my IBM R51.

I prepared my laptop by using a partition manager to resize an existing NTFS partition (d:), making way for 10GB I'd dedicate to Ubuntu. Install was a snap and I liked the fact that the install CD doubles as a LiveCD which can be used to first validate hardware compatibility.

dustin@beulah:~$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 6.10 \n \l

I was very suprised to see that Ubuntu detected and installed the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG NIC.

dustin@beulah:~$ lspci | grep 2200
02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)

dustin@beulah:~$ grep 2200 /var/log/messages
Jan 13 18:17:22 beulah kernel: [17179586.448000] ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.1.2kmprq
Jan 13 18:17:22 beulah kernel: [17179586.448000] ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

The kernel module is loaded:

dustin@beulah:~$ sudo lsmod | grep ipw
ipw2200 115652 0
ieee80211 35272 1 ipw2200

Here's the partition table listing:

dustin@beulah:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Password:

Disk /dev/hda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 2550 20480008+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hda2 2550 7295 38117016+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 2550 6021 27881248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6 6022 7104 8699166 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 7105 7295 1534176 82 Linux swap / Solaris

One of the first things to do is update:

+ sudo apt-get update
+ sudo apt-get upgrade


The partition I want to share (/dev/hda5) between both OS's is currently formatted in NTFS. Not too long ago, this was a no-go.

sudo mkdir /media/ntfs
sudo vi /etc/fstab:

/dev/hda5 /media/hda5 ntfs nls=iso8859-1,umask=000,uid=dustin 0 0

But that only gives me read only access. The Ubuntu Wiki reveals that I need ntfs-3g:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g

Replace the previous line in /etc/fstab with:

/dev/hda5 /media/ntfs ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8,uid=dustin 0 0

sudo umount -a && sudo mount -a

All better, now I can read and write to my NTFS partition in Linux.

Note: a GUI method to managing filesystems is with:

- gparted: GNOME Partition Editor
- pysdm: Storage Device Manager

To install: sudo apt-get install gparted pysdm

to be continued...