Ubuntu

[Guide] Install Ubuntu 10.10 on Macmini4,1

~ Cristiano Vitorino ~ 3 Comments

For reference, take a look on the Ubuntu Wiki, about Ubuntu 10.10 on Macmini4,1first, before reading/following this guide.

Download and burn the alternate CD version of Ubuntu 64 Bits:

TORRENT DOWNLOAD

http://releases.ubuntu.com/maverick/…64.iso.torrent (Torrent didn’t work for me)

TRI BOOT INSTALL

I’ll be doing a Tri Boot Install, but you can easily, with that knowledge, do a Dual or Single Boot Install.

1. Partitioning – Preparing for installation

– Boot into OS X;

– Open Bootcamp utility;

– Create a partition for Windows (will be sda3) and make it 1/3 of the disk size. Create this partition as FAT;

– Now create a partition for Ubuntu (will be sda4), also 1/3 of the disk size of course. Don’t forget to create it a little bit larger because of the extra for SWAP (will be sda5).

2. Installing Windows

In a Tri Boot Install scheme, you need to install Windows first, otherwise it will mess up MBR and give you lots of headaches.

– Boot into OS X;

– Insert your Windows DVD Install disk;

– Restart your Mini and quickly press and hold the C key until Windows starts the installation process.

3. Installing Ubuntu

– Boot into OS X;

– Insert your Ubuntu CD Install disk;

– Restart your Mini and quickly press and hold the C key until Ubuntu starts the installation process;

– Press F6. Choose noacpi and nomodeset. Press ESC and Return;

– On the installation wizard, choose manual partitioning;

– Probably, your partitions looks like the following:

sda2 – Mac OS X – hfs

sda3 – Windows – fat

sda4 – Ubuntu – fat

– Choose to edit sda4, resize it as to leave a extra for SWAP. Choose ext4 as the file system. / as the main directory for installation and mark the partition as bootable. Save and go back to the partition table;

– Now choose the empty extra space destined for SWAP. Edit it and choose SWAP as file system.

– Finish the table partitioning and begin installation.

– While in the installation process, you’ll be asked for where to install GRUB. Choose sda4, or, the same partition you’re using to install Ubuntu.

POST-INSTALLATION

You can install some multi-os bootloader to ease your life. Make a quick search on your favorite Internet search engine about “tri boot mac linux” and you’ll see some nice options.

To boot properly into Ubuntu, in the grub menu, press the E key and

edit and add the following:

Quote:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=53658b6a-2991-4a15-8e48-8ab7d4e0985c ro quiet nosplash noacpi nomodeset reboot=acpi

Press Ctrl+X to exit and boot.

Install NVIDIA Drivers from the repository to get resolution straight. Do the same for the Wireless Card. (System > Administration > Hardware Drivers)

For proper boot, restart and shutdown, log in into Ubuntu. Press Alt+F2 and Copy and Paste+Return the following (You’ll need to do this every time you update your kernel):

Quote:

gksu gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Find the part that says something like the following (just around line 64. You can set it to 0 for automatic boot):

Quote:

set timeout=10

Now find the following (around line 78 ) :

Quote:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=53658b6a-2991-4a15-8e48-8ab7d4e0985c ro quiet splash

Edit and Add the following:

Quote:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=53658b6a-2991-4a15-8e48-8ab7d4e0985c ro quiet nosplash noacpi nomodeset reboot=acpi

Save and exit.

Fixing Audio and Bluetooth: here

————-

This guide was not possible without the love and caring support of the awesome Ubuntu community. Special thanks goes to:

Stevethepirate and HashBox on Ubuntu IRC Channel for helping me out with GRUB.

Yako no Kai – http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1323102&page=2 – for finding out how to restart Ubuntu properly.

Be well. See ya.

REFERENCES

Ubuntu Forums

Ubuntu IRC Channel

Ubuntu Wiki

[Howto] Compile and configure dwm Tiling Window Manager on Ubuntu in 6 simple steps

~ Cristiano Vitorino ~ 3 Comments

dwm (Dynamic Window Manager) is a Tiling Window Manager that is simple, elegant and don’t get in your way. The above screenshot is from my dwm setup.

1) Download dwm here.

2) Install the required dependencies:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libx11-dev libxinerama-dev sharutils

3) Extract the dwm package you’ve downloaded.

4) If you want to customize the appearance and behavior of dwm, you need to re-compile it, but it is really easy. The customizations are done through theconfig.def.h file. If you don’t want to study the config setup right now, do it later and just grab some config.def.h on the Internet to use as base, or look into my references below for more info. You can grab my custom config as base if you want,here. (Right-Click and “Save link as”)

5) Compile it:

sudo make clean install

6) Now you need to create a entry in the login manager session list:

sudo gedit /usr/share/xsessions/dwm.desktop

Paste and save this:

[Desktop Entry]

Encoding=UTF-8

Name=dwm

Comment=This session starts dwm

Exec=/usr/local/bin/dwm

Type=Application

Now you just need to log out and choose dwm in the session list : )

For every time you want to modify dwm, you need to re-compile it, just extract the package again, make your customizations and re-compile it, it will rewrite the installed dwm, so you don’t need to worry about erasing the old one first : )

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