I WILL BE ADDING TO THIS POST ON A DAILY BASIS
Each time I uninstall and reinstall Wubi Ubuntu, I begin posting each move step by step at the top of this post.
Realizing that my Ubuntu was hopelessly trashed by the fixes I had attempted. I do notice that defrag sits for a long time saying 1% done, and then it moves along quite quickly.
Judging from my previous reinstall, it should take 30 minutes for Wubi running in Windows to download the ISO from bittorrent, and then 30 minutes to reboot into Ubuntu and finish the install under running under Ubuntu (and not under Windows).
1)click on the shutdown button
2.) Reboot in Windows
3.) go to control panel TO add/remove programs and REMOVE Ubuntu.
4.) Reboot in SAFE (F8) mode to do a cleandisk, and a defrag. I am curious if there will still be the same 17gig unmoveable area of root.disk, or will it have grown larger?
Defragging should not take nearly so long as it did the first time.
While I wait for the defrag to finish, I am going to reassemble here from my notes what I believe are my subsequent steps.
Here is the link to the page which starts the Wubi install:
http://wubi-installer.org/
I realized I am going to be reinstalling frequently, so I have a shortcut on my desktop to the initial download of the installer from Wubi.
DEFRAGGING just finished, taking only about 10 minutes. I see that boot.disk is still 17 gigs and undefraggable (unmoveable) so at least it does not grow in size with each install. So now I shall reboot into regular windows, click on Wubi installer on my desktop, and an hour from now, I shall have the pleasure of repeating the other steps, namely, get wi-fi belkin adapter talking to Internet, TEST WITH FIREFOX TO SEE THAT I REALLY HAVE A CONNECTION, use synaptic manager as I guess which packages I need for apache php mysql and phpmyadmin.
I notice with some irony that I am commencing the Wubi Install at 3:45 a.m. and it was exactly 3:45 p.m. the PREVIOUS time I reinstalled, and I was finished by 4:30p.m. so lets see if it really only takes 45 minutes again.
I admire the ruggedness of XP on this Old Compaq to take such a licking and keep on ticking. On Line Armor fire wall, Avira antivirus and malwarebytes scanner seem pretty quite during all this. I was doing a number of virus scans in between, but I see they are clean, so I wont bother. I notice many people saying that Linux/Ubuntu is rather immune to viruses, and if on has an antivirus, it is only to scan emails and attachments destined to be sent to Windows machines.
With each new reinstall, I make a little more progress, and a few less mistakes. My next trial, when these installs are done, is to solve the reason why I cannot log into phpmyadmin with a user name and password, even though the install process PROMPTS me for a password. One post I found said that mysql default user is root and the password is blank. We shall see.
My reinstall took less than 45 minutes.
I am now logging in and will connect to my Belkin WIFI adaptor 1st thing.
At the top of the screen on the Ubuntu Desktop is a band called the Launch Pad, with some button icons, the most impressive of which is Firefox. Next to that is System -> Administration-> Network Tools
Drop down NETWORK DEVICE and click WIRELESS INTERFACE.
Now at the top right of the screen, on the launch pad, click the left most icon which represents wireless, and click on your routers wireless address. Mine happens to have a WEP KEY 40/128 bit key, but there are other choices. Key in the WEP key. Click CONNECT, AND immediately when it says connected, click on Firefox and go to any website, just to make certain, because If you THINK you are connected and you are NOT then the synaptic manager will give you lots of trouble and you wont understand why.
Next, click on SYSTEM -> ADMINISTRATION -> SYNAPTIC PACKAGE MANAGER.
You will be prompted for your password, so give the password that you entered at the very beginning of the install.
Click on SETTINGS -> REPOSITORIES -> and see that Download From is UNITED STATES. If you cant find the apache php mysql packages, go back to this setting and choose MAIN SERVER. Although I think for this one I will go with MAIN..
Close the SETTINGS window. Look at the left of the Synaptic Manager and make certain that ALL is clicked. At the right you will see hundreds of packages to browse through, plus a search field. The search field does not seem to work, so page down until you see Apache2. Click on the box at the left next to Apache2 and MARK for installation. You will be shown a number of other packages that will be included. Click on MARK at the lower right of that window. Next, click on APPLY at the top of the synaptic manager window. A second window will pop up and you click on APPLY in the lower right of that window. A progress bar will show you that 9 packages are being installed. Finally you will see a window that says CHANGES SUCCESSFULLY APPLIED, AND YOU will click CLOSE in the lower right.
Now, click on the Firefox icon in the launch pad, click ONCE, and when the browser comes up, enter localhost in the URL field. IF the Apache install was successful, you will see a screen that says IT WORKS!
Return to the Synaptic manager, which should still be open, and scroll down all the choices until you see php5. Mark that for install, and it should say that three packages will be installed, and on apache package will be removed. Click MARK in the lower right, and then click APPLY in the Synaptic Manager window.
We will test to see that php has been installed by doing as follows:
But BEFORE we do this, we must run the TERMINAL and issue the following command:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
This will restart apache and allow it to SEE the php we have just installed.
I wanted to verify that php works by using gedit directly from the menu, to add a file to www/var/test.php and gedit said I do not have permission. BUT I remembered an earlier tutorial that had me do the same thing using the TERMINAL, which is as follows:
From TERMINAL key in:
sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php
THE sudo COMMAND automatically grants me admin rights (super user I think, su). Then, type:
and , save the file
THEN, in Firefox browser, enter the address:
http://localhost/testphp.php
and if PHP is properly installed (which it now is) you see a detailed report of the status and settings of PHP.
By the way, you should know that you may copy from any web page into your paste buffer, click on the terminal, click edit, and choose PASTE to past the command into the TERMINAL for execution.
Now return to the Synaptic Manager and find Mysql-server, mark and apply.
And when that is done we will install phpmyadmin.
All I need to do is launch the Firefox browser and enter http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and I am IN!
which I learned from THIS TUTORIAL
I discovered quite by accident that what I must do BEFORE phpmyadmin will allow me to log in with my user name and password is launch the TERMINAL and issue the following two commands:
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo /usr/sbin/mysqld –skip-grant-tables –skip-networking &
This stops the mysql daemon process and then restarts it, telling it to Start the mysqld demon process using the –skip-grant-tables option. Because you are not checking user privs at this point, it’s safest to disable networking.
I am sure there are many things I must learn and do to correctly configure mysql, but at least I have the beginnings of something that I can log into and begin creating tables, and php pages that manipulate the data in those tables.
+++++
My latest (I think the 4th or 5th) reinstall of Wubi Ubuntu 9.10 took exactly 1 hour (30 minutes to download the ISO from torrent and 30 minutes after reboot into Ubuntu to setup configure automatically) and this was on a Compaq Presario running Windows XP Home edition. I close that screen, the little icon whirls for a bit and SUCCESS, I AM CONNECTED WITHOUT THE FREEZE AND REBOOT.
Now, I click on Applications at the left, hover over ACCESSORIES, and navigate to TERMINAL, RIGHT click, and ask that the Icon be placed on my LAUNCHER PANEL, for convenience, because I am going to be using TERMINAL to issue Linux commands.
Now, at the top of my desktop to the right, which is called THE LAUNCHER PAD, I highlight SYSTEM and hover over SYNAPTIC PACKAGE MANAGER, which so far, in my experiments, seems to be the soundest and most straightforward method to install new applications, and I am going to attempt to install Apache, PhP and MySQL (LAMP). The Synaptic Manager first prompts me for my password, because it is going to alter the system and needs administrative rights. The user name and password are what you entered early on in your Wubi install.
NOW COMES THE STRANGE AND INEXPLICABLE PART OF THE SYNAPTIC MANAGER. I must browse around and locate the proper packages for Apache, MySqL AND PHP. And one does not always see the same choices displayed. I have to play around with different Internet sources which POPULATE the synaptic manager with packages. I switch from the USA server to some MAIN server, and now I am beginning to see packages that LOOK like what I need.
Finally, I spot Apache2. I click the little checkbox to the left to mark it for install. The synaptic manager AUTOMATICALLY chooses all the other packages that need to be installed with it and shows me a list. I click on MARK and then APPLY, and the install begins, tellig me that 6939KB of disk space will be used.
The PROOF that Apache has successfully installed is to launch the Firefox browser (which is in the top launch pad), and key into the browser address field: localhost. If Apache was successfully installed, a page should display which simply says IT WORKS!
The Synaptic Manager cannot install my packages for Apache right now because it cannot resolve certain things from the Internet repository. If one clicks on REPOSITORIES in the Synaptic manager one can see servers around the world, and choose different ones and reload.
Meanwhile, I did notice php5MySQL so I am MARKING that, but doing so simply ADDS that package to the Apache packages, so it will STILL have a problem resolving. And yet YESTERDAY I had no problem installing LAMP with the Synaptic Manager so perhaps later on or tomorrow, a server will be working.
SO, for now, I will shut down Ubuntu, and to do so, I will right click on the LAUNCH PAD (the bar at the top of the Ubuntu desk top) and I will choose to ADD an application to the launch pad, and I will choose ADD TO PANEL, and click on SHUTDOWN (which had a red icon with a circle in it and a notch at the top of the circle). This way, I can always click on that to power down.
(a few hours later) STUPID ME. I did succeed in making Ubuntu connect to my Wi-fi. I said it was connected. But I should have launched Firefox to confirm that I can get to places like google.com
The reason the Synaptic manager was acting funny was because it did not really have Internet access. I went out to do some errands, and decided to leave Ubuntu running, just to see how long it stays stable. When I came back, I tried to use the browser, and realize that I wasnt really connected. I clicked the Internet section of Administration, played around, disconnected, connected, it prompted me again for the WEB key, and NOW I had Internet. And NOW suddenly I could install all the Apache, PhP and MySQL packages.
I wanted to verify that php works by using gedit directly from the menu, to add a file to www/var/test.php and gedit said I do not have permission. BUT I remembered an earlier tutorial that had me do the same thing using the TERMINAL, which is as follows:
From TERMINAL key in:
sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php
THE sudo COMMAND automatically grants me admin rights (super user I think, su). Then, type: , save the file
THEN, in Firefox browser, enter the address:
http://localhost/testphp.php
and if PHP is properly installed (which it now is) you see a detailed report of the status and settings of PHP.
I also installed phpadmin, but I have to figure out how to launch it.
AHA, PROBLEM SOLVED! All I need to do is launch the Firefox browser and enter http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and I am IN!
which I learned from THIS TUTORIAL
EXCEPT, now that I am IN the PhPMyAdmin login screen, it will not accept my password.
SO, I am following the tutorial at THIS LINK
I TRIED a number of things, and one of them, which was a “last resort” wiped out a number of applications already installed including open office, which is now no longer on the applications menu in the launch pad at the top of the screen.
SO, I am going through the huge list in the synaptic manager, and marking what I think I need for REINSTALL, and it is now downloading 300 packages for install. I doubt that this will work, but I want to see what happens, and what its like. I would even be curious to mark each and every package for install, just to see how big the Ubuntu installation would become. But what I will probably have to do is uninstall and reinstall Wubi Ubuntu, and work from my blog post notes to get it going again. I found a bunch of links addressing the problems of phpmyadmin and not being able to log in with user password. So I will keep on trying to keep on trying.
I am now entering Ubuntu for first time after this install, and my first task is to learn how to set up wi-fi to recognize my Belkin adaptor in an orderly fashion, without the system freezing and necessitating a reboot.
At the upper left of the Ubuntu desktop, I click on system -> administration -> Network Tools (which opens to the DEVICES TAB) THEN drop down the NETWORK DEVICE can choose WIRELESS INTERFACE. Next, I close those, and move to the right top of the Ubuntu desktop, and click on the left most WIRELESS icon, and click on CREATE NEW WIRELESS NETWORK. It is asking me for the NETWORK NAME, and that for me is a series of numbers, but other people actually make up a name in their router (one humorous one in my building is GET AWAY!!!). I am ready to enter my WEP key, and I am GUESSING that it is WEP 40/128 bit rather than WEP 128 bit (but I am not sure).
I would like to see everyone who is interested in Wubi installs in particular and Ubuntu Linux in general to collaborate in the production of a reliable step-by-step tutorial which anyone of average abilities can follow, to:
1.) Prepare a Windows machine (new or old), for the Ubi Install
2.) Select with care which adapter they will use for connection to Internet.
3.) How to may Ubuntu talk to that Internet adapter and wi-fi.
By the way HERE is one example at Dell’s site of one persons solution to creating a driver for a Wi-Fi adaptor. I merely post this to point the way to Dell Ubuntu forums as just one example of how serious Ubuntu is becoming as a choice in the marketplace.
Also take a look at these DIGG posts regarding the Moblin Linux Remix that is in the developer state.
4.) How to install LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PhP)
5.) If possible how to install a Gui Admin tool for MySQL THAT APPEARS ON THE DESKTOP.
6.) Step by step how to build a simple but complete application which includes member login, email verification, and all that is necessary to safeguard against SQL injection into PHP.
IF WE CAN SUCCEED IN PRODUCING SUCH A TUTORIAL, then many around the world shall benefit by being empowered to migrate to Ubuntu, and Ubuntu itself as a community will grow stronger and more dominant in the workplace because our strength is in our users and the strength of each user is the tools and tutorials to build stable hardware software configurations which accomplish their tasks and goals in a sound and stable fashion.
PREPARING YOUR OLD COMPUTER FOR WUBI INSTALL:
1.) Made certain that the computer is as clean as possible of trojans and viruses by using Avira Antivir and Malwarebytes and then installing Online Armour firewall so that when you are in Windows, you will be protected against malware.
2.) Be certain to boot into SAFE MODE (holding down the F8 key as the machine starts to boot) and perform all virus scans a second time in SAFE MODE.
3.) Once you are certain that your machine is clean and your firewall is well trained in what is safe and trusted, then, delete or archive off line all unnecessary data so as to have the most disk space possible, and then run CHKDSK, DISKCLEANER, and then DEFRAG. It is important to run the defragger BEFORE you install Wubi Ubuntu, because the ROOT files in the Ubunto folder will be marked as not-moveable (and hence not defraggable).
BEGINNING THE WUBI INSTALL:
The following link is all you need, in Windows, in your browser, to
start the Wubi install of Ubuntu (Linux/Unix), onto your Windows drive, with no partitioning, with all Linux files located in one windows folder which may be deleted in the event of an uninstall, and only a boot option to select Windows or Ubuntu.
I have installed and uninstalled Ubuntu about 4 times in the past two days for reasons that I shall explain.
You may REMOVE Wubi installed Ubuntu with the Control Panel ADD/REMOVE option, just as you would remove any other program.
The uninstall does NOT remove the dual boot option, but perhaps there is some way to do that, if desired.
Here is the link to the page which starts the Wubi install:
http://wubi-installer.org/
The install takes an hour using my Verizon DSL.
The install is totally automatic. Only towards the end will it ask for a name for login and a password. Then it will reboot, and you simply choose Ubuntu instead of Windows. When you first boot into Ubuntu, the install continues for about 30 minutes.
IF you have no intention of installing things like LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) then you are done, because you have an Ubuntu desktop with Firefox, Open Office, and many sorts of utilities.
BUT your next task will be to get Ubuntu connected to the Internet.
I already have a Belkin USB Wi-Fi connector working in Windows.
It took me several hours to figure out how to make this work, but when you know, it is rather simple. If you look at the upper right of your desktop, you will see a little icon which drops down to offer selections for Internet connection, one of which is Wi-Fi). You will see all the Channels available. You need to know the name of YOUR channel and the WEP KEY. I click on MY channel, and then, the whole system freezes. I have to power down and reboot and reenter Ubuntu. Once Ubuntu reloads, it will prompt me for the WEP key (and remember the key for furture sessions). There is probably a better way to do this which would not involved rebooting, but I found something that works, and I dont feel like experimenting more right now. (Note: since this post, I have decided to delete Ubuntu and reinstall, and determine an exact method of connecting to wifi with a WEP key WITHOUT have the machine freeze and having to reboot, which might result in some damage to the more fragile file structure of Ubuntu running on Windows folders and files.)
But, in all my searching in Google, it seems to me that there is no one tutorial which addresses all the things I need to do to get Ubuntu and Wi-Fi working, and then install Apache, MySQL and PHP.
In fact, part of my reason for posting this is so that I may document what I did over several days and remember it if I have to do it again in the future. I am posting this right now from a Foxfire browser running in Ubuntu.
AS I WAS TYPING THE ABOVE SENTENCE, Ubuntu froze up and I had to reboot. Now it is possible that part of the problem is the old Compaq I am using, with XP, service pack 2. I tried to clean it up as much as possible before embarking upon this Ubuntu experiment. It is to the credit of WordPress that I did not lose a sentence of this post, even though I had to reboot (however, I published and updated it frequently, out of fear of losing my work.)
I may be getting an old tower from someone, so I will have a spare machine to install Ubuntu from a CD, and totally reformat the drive, so that there will be no Windows involved. Ubuntu impresses me enough to make me want to put in the effort to experiment, and see if I can make it work.
I did google to see if there are any Wi-Fi USB adaptors which come with Linux drivers. I did find one, which I shall describe here and post. One forum pointed out that there are WRAPPERS, that can wrap around the windows driver and be used in Ubuntu, but a native driver is preferable to a wrapper. Also, if you put a wrapper around the windows driver, then you are tied to the user agreement for that driver (I mean, it is not purely open source).
HERE is the link I found about a wireless wi-fi adapter that supposedly works with no effort in an Ubuntu machine.
http://www.airlink101.com/products/awll3028.php
The AWLL3028 features a compact design and compatibility with USB 2.0 ports. Includes wireless encryption data with 64/128/152-bit WEP. Also backward compatible with 802.11b.
HERE is the link which alerted me to the above AIRLINK adapter.
I spent a lot of time a few years ago, playing around with WAMP which is Apache, MySQL, pHp under WINDOWS (while LAMP the same package under Linux). Remember that Ubuntu is a flavor of Linux which in turn is a flavor of Unix.
Having WAMP on your Windows machine allows you to have your own private Internet server (even if you are not connected to the internet). You can create SQL databases using MySQL, and you can create webpages using php which QUERY tables in your database, and add/modify/delete records.
So my next task was to find out how to install Apache and MySQL and PHP on my new Ubuntu install.
I will tell you up front what finally seemed to work for me, and then I will backtrack and explain the ways that didnt seem to work.
THIS link explains how to install software in Ubuntu using what is called System >> Administration >> Synaptic Package Manager.
I had to hunt around in that Synaptic Package Manager and kind of guess which installs had words like Apache, PHP, and MySQL. But once you find what you need, you just click a little box, and they install automatically.
I am positive that once I go to the huge Barns & Noble store near Union Square, I shall find books which talk one through these Ubuntu installations.
Once I had Ubuntu installed, and connected to the Internet through the Wi-Fi USB Belkin adapter, I was DESPERATE to learn how to install ANYTHING at all, and have it show up on the desktop.
I decided I would try to install AVG for Linux. I downloaded the package (named .deb for Debian which is what Ubuntu is compatible with)… I downloaded the file under Windows. Then, I booted into Ubuntu and navigated the file explorer to HOST which is actually drive C and all the Windows folders.
Once the AVG .deb file is downloaded, you boot into Ubuntu, locate the file, right click on it, and it offers you the option to install it into Ubuntu. Now the first great mystery after it installs is WHERE did it install. And the second great mystery is HOW might you place it as an icon on a desktop menu.
I never found out how to execute AVG. I now suspect that one gets into the SHELL and issues command lines to invoke these various programs. I further imagine that there is some was to create a batch script file of all those commands and place that on a menu.
I tried so man diffent ways to install things, that the files in the Ubuntu windows director became corrupted, and UNINSTALL could not delete them. I had to boot several times in Windows and Ubuntu and safe mode, with the compute hanging, until suddenly, the computer informed me that it was doing CHKDSK to repair whatever was wrong. Only then could I boot into windows and uninstall the corrupted version of Ubuntu. This is an illustration of the fragile nature of Wubi Ubuntu running under Windows.
Tonight, before I go to sleep, I am going to set DEFRAG running, which should take something like 5 or 10 hours.
After one succeeds in installing Apache, the test to see if it is working is very simple. Get into a browser and type “localhost” and it will pop up with a screen that says IT WORKED!
The way to test out MySQL is to click on a little black windowed terminal program, and get into SHELL. One must issue an SU command, and be prompted for the root password, so that one may issue these commands in root with admin status.
Here is the tutorial which helped me to ender the shell and issue MYSQL commands.
