Double trouble (long read)

[kilaueabart]

In February I installed an early release of ubuntuMATE to an unused area of my
basically AmigaOS drive, known to Linux as /dev/sda7. I was fairly pleased with
it, but anxious to get something even better.

In March I installed a somewhat later version to a flash drive. It also worked
pretty good, although flash drives are not exactly "quick as a flash."

In April, after day after day of failure, I somehow managed to get two Ext4
partitions onto my 120GB SSD. I used the Install DVD to put Ubuntu LTS 12.04
on the first of those, /dev/sdb1. Next, I DD'ed MATE from my flash drive to
/dev/sdb2, subsequently updating and upgrading it, although I was only allowed
to do partial upgrades. I played with that install for several days, mostly
trying to get it to type Japanese. (I succeeded with Korean, but not Japanese.)

A couple days ago reading this message board from Odyssey on the Amiga side I
got instruction how to do something with UUID, which I thought might be part of
the problems I was having with the install. Eager to test the idea, I rebooted to
/dev/sdb2.

Surprise. After all the normal beginnings of a familiar boot process, reaching
a screen of Aurora Borealis/Australis or whatever, with the little green disk with
the white circles and triangles inside, over "ubuntuMATE" bottom center of screen.
But this time, it stopped there! The only sign of life was that I could move the
cursor arrow around, but nothing to click it on.

Previously, this had been the normal startup on my computer, but almost
immediately a log-on thing would open screen center and when I used it, the
"Welcome" would appear mid-screen and the rest of a proper MATE desktop
with it.

I tried rebooting to /dev/sdb2 again. Same thing. I wondered if I could do
something with the February version on /dev/sda7 to figure out what was
wrong, but when I booted that, I got a repeat of the /dev/sdb2 result,
cessation of activity with the pre-logon screen.

I was flabbergasted! How could two different versions of a program on two
different drives both go bad the same way at the same time?

The only thing I could think of that they had in common was the CF card, with
the vmlinux-4.1 I boot with on it. But I am able to access that card from AOS4
with no problems, and I was able to boot 12.04 using that same CF card and
kernel. I remain baffled.

One new thing about that 12.04, though. I cannot open the CF card, or any
other disk partitions, from it. No error message or anything, just nothing
happens no matter how many times I click. Triple trouble!

[jdupuis]

Hello kilaueabart,

Hey, I hate to sound like a broken record, but, your partitions and filesystems are tainted. If you cannot read your CF Card in Linux, it's corrupt as well. Careful on doing any file swapping on your CF Card in AOS. Storing unpacked Disk Images on CF Card, too(i found out the hard way).
You will be spending a lot of time trying fix your filesystems and partitions with no positive results. Backup your personal data - as much as you can.
Use AOS to set up your AOS disk and partitions.
Boot with Ubuntu 12.04 DVD and use GParted to set up your CF Card, Linux Disks and Partitions. Others may have advise that I am over-looking or not aware of.

Cheers!!

[kilaueabart]

OK, I'll give it a try. I don't seem to have anything to lose.

At least from the install DVD I am able to open CF CARD, and the three ubuntus that don't work all open fully on the DVD's desktop. Fortunately I keep a password list on CF CARD or I wouldn't have been able to get into this forum and type this! I have also just copied an important folder to one of the ubuntus where I hope I will still be able to find it after I redo the CF card (if I can figure out how to do that).

It seems a shame. With all the extra stuff I have on the CF card, it is using 101 MB with 3.9 GB free! Seems like a terrible waste of storage space. Isn't there anything else I can do with that besides store kernels? What, by the way, is an "unpacked Disk Image"? I don't think I have such a thing, mostly PDFs, PNGs and text. I see there is also a disk.info. I guess that's what allows me to open it from the Amiga side.

Next I will see if GParted will work from here on either of my two SSDs. I got new cables, and hooked the old 500GB one back in, alongside the 120GB guy.

[jdupuis]

Hi again Bart,

My best advice to give you is what I did for myself. First. Back up all your data. I'm sure you have now. Make sure your CF Card set up and stable. In GParted, select your CF Card, pull down Devices from menu and create Partition Table - MS-DOS. Then make your CF Card 1 entire FAT32 partition (in my case) because I have a 16 GB CF Card. If yours is 4 GB or less then use FAT16. I found that Kernel 4.1.20 works very well for both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Mate 16.04 LTS. Stop goofing with the USB stick for Mate.
Make sure your 12.04 Install is booting and stable. Download the 16.04 image to your Downloads Folder in 12.04. Unpack with 7 zip. Do a complete erase and reformat of the Hard Drive you will use for 16.04. Delete the FAT32 Partition. GParted should show "Unallocated". Now you will use Terminal to "sudo dd" the 16.04 .img to the Hard Drive. When it is done boot with the 4.1.20 Kernel and configure 16.04 as required. Then you will be able to go into System Updater and select [Partial Upgrade]. This should bring you to the new 16.04 release. This is what I did for myself. Note that I do not have Ubuntu installed on my AOS drive. My AOS4.1FE is on it's own HD. The only thing that shows up on my Amiga Desktop is the CF Card which I do not use in AOS. I hope this helps you out.

Cheers!

[jdupuis]

Hi Bart!

If this helps any, here's how my X1000 is configured:

XFX Radeon HD 6670 using HDMI
4 GB RAM

My first SATA (sda) is the main AOS4.1FE HD (AmigaKit install that came with the Amiga) I do not touch. Just keep it updated is all.
Second SATA (sdb) is Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS only.
Third SATA (sdc) is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS only.

First IDE 80 GB (master) is my Primary AOS4.1FE the one I use. The Install Disc purchased from AmigaKit. Partitions are "System" and "Work"
Second IDE 80 GB (slave) My everything Amiga hard drive. ( If this HD dies, I have it backed up on a 64 GB Thumb drive )
CF Card - Lexar Pro 16 GB is one single MS-DOS FAT32 partition.

Cheers!

[xeno74]

John,

Very good configuration. Well done!

Cheers,

Christian

[jdupuis]

John,

Very good configuration. Well done!

Cheers,

Christian

Christian,

Thank you. You are a source of great information and a wealth of knowledge. Aside from setting up HD's with Partitions and working through my quirks, I could not have got Linux up and running on my X1000. You answered all of my questions even at times that I may have been over zealous. Reading through your posts was a source of knowledge a well. Lots of good info in the Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS Thread. I appreciate the time and effort all of you have put in to making 16.04 a reality and making it easy for guys like me to install it and get it up and running.

Cheers!!

John

[jdupuis]

Hi kilaueabart!

Hope you get up and going. A lot of what it took to get me going was xeno74's threads and, of course, the questions I asked him. A wealth of knowledge here.

Cheers!!

[xeno74]

Christian,

Thank you. You are a source of great information and a wealth of knowledge. Aside from setting up HD's with Partitions and working through my quirks, I could not have got Linux up and running on my X1000. You answered all of my questions even at times that I may have been over zealous. Reading through your posts was a source of knowledge a well. Lots of good info in the Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS Thread. I appreciate the time and effort all of you have put in to making 16.04 a reality and making it easy for guys like me to install it and get it up and running.

Cheers!!

John

My pleasure but I have to thank Julian (Spectre660) for all ubuntu MATE 16.04 images and initrds.

[jdupuis]

Absolutely! You guys are great! My intent when I bought my X1000 one year ago was to be where I am with it now. You all keep up the great work. I'll try not to be such a bother now and enjoy the fruit of the labor.

Cheers!!