delete extraneous operating systems

If you know in witch partition is working one you can delete other with live CD or with Gparted live CD witch you can download from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ .

Maybe you will have to reinstall grub after above operations.Do it following http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351

Hmmm, i think this might just be different kernels in a single install? Please get to a command-line
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal#Starting%20a%20Terminal
and give us the output of

sudo fdisk -l

where " -l" is a lower-case " -L".
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

randall@Randall:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for randall:

Disk /dev/sda: 30.0 GB, 30020272128 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3649 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000555a3

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2019 16217586 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2020 3649 13092975 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3560 3649 722893+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 2020 3488 11799679+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 3489 3559 570276 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
randall@Randall:~$

It look that your boot from sda1 and that should be working one.I don't know what is on extended partition( data/files).If there is nothing important on them delete them with Gparted live CD or you can do it with Ubuntu live cd.It will be good option to have separate home partition.Also,you don't need two swap partitions.

Hi, ok so you have definitely got 2 installs and 2 separate swap-partitions too. Please can you also give us the result of these commands

free -m
uname -a

When you are in the Ubuntu that you prefer using, the one that works please can you go up to the top taskbar and click on the "Places" menu? In there should be an item
"11.4 GiB Media" or perhaps
"15.3 GiB Media"
something like that. When you open it there should be all the normal linux folders; bin, boot, dev, etc, home , ....
Please click on the /home one and then look in each users folder to copy their data from the; Desktop, Documents, dwhelper, Music, Pictures & Public folders into the relevant folders itemised in "Places" menu on the top taskbar.

Then having rescued all the data from the wrong partition you should be able to delete it. First i think it would be good to have a look at the menu you get so please again get to a command-line and enter these commands

cd /boot/grub
dir
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst-170909
dir
sudo gedit menu.lst

Now, find the line that says "#howmany=all" and change that to "#howmany=2" then save menu.lst but also send us a copy into here :) Note that menu.lst is a lower-case "MENU.LST", which confused me at first.

Hopefully we can then help you work out which partitions it is safe to delete and which are the ones you need!

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

The Extended Partition contains the partitions; sda5, sda6 and sda7. I have a funny feeling that the Ubuntu you use is on sda6 so please don't delete it! Hopefully we can work out exactly which partition to delete from the information i asked for in my previous post today.

From "fdisk" we can see that the start address of sda2 is the same as the start address of sda6. After a bit of head-scratching we can see that the partitions are laid out like this

sda1 Primary Partition 16.6Gb Ubuntu
sda2 Extended Partition 13.4Gb
 . sda6 Logical Partition 12.1Gb Ubuntu
 . sda7 Logical Partition 00.6Gb Swap
 . sda5 Logical Partition 00.7Gb Swap

Please let us know if you have an Ubuntu Cd and then we can help tidy this up a bit.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :

Compaq Presario 543OUS series 5000
Pentium ® 4 processor 1800 Hz
Processor speed 1800/400 Hz
Processor stepping F12
Cache size (L1/L2) 20/256 KB
RAM 256Mb; Clock 1.8 Gb
Hard Drive 30 Gb
16X Max* DVD-ROM; CD-RW
VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Drive (version 96.43.10)
Ubuntu 9.04; Ffx 3.0.14
Xubuntu 9.04; Shiretoko

randall@Randall:~$ free -m
             total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 497 427 69 0 10 167
-/+ buffers/cache: 249 247
Swap: 556 188 367
randall@Randall:~$

randall@Randall:~$ uname -a
Linux Randall 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
randall@Randall:~$

The item called 16. GB Media (I switched to Ubuntu, to see it in Places – didn't see it using Xubuntu), when I click on “home,” next comes “randall,” and in “randall” are (I don't know if they're called folders or files or whatever) two items: one is “Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop,” and the other is “README.txt.”

THIS DIRECTORY HAS BEEN UNMOUNTED TO PROTECT YOUR DATA.

From the graphical desktop, click on:

 "Access Your Private Data"

or

From the command line, run:

 $ ecryptfs-mount-private

-- Anyway, my files are backed up at /home/randall/desktop. Do I need to copy this stuff somewhere else or is it already copied. I couldn't get it to open from the graphical desktop (when I double click on it, it crashes) and when I tried from the command line, it didn't happen. To tell you the truth, my memory is rather hazy on what I did to accomplish that. I'm pretty sure I googled “back up my files,” picked the best looking listing, and followed the directions (if I didn't get confused). I certainly don't remember how to restore the data when needed. Maybe I had the presence of mind to bookmark the page . . . . [!] Yes, I did bookmark the page; it was from Ubuntu Forums >Tutorials and Tips: HOWTO reinstall all of your current pages if you do a fresh Ubuntu install.

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)

# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),

# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub

# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num

# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and

# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.

#

# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry

# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.

# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your

# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.

default 0

## timeout sec

# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry

# (normally the first entry defined).

timeout 10

## hiddenmenu

# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)

#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours

#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd

# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing

# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the

# command 'lock'

# e.g. password topsecret

# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/

# password topsecret

#

# examples

#

# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000

# root (hd0,0)

# makeactive

# chainloader +1

#

# title Linux

# root (hd0,1)

# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro

#

#

# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified

## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##

## default kernel options

## default kernel options for automagic boot options

## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z

## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.

## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro

## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro

## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro

# kopt=root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro

## default grub root device

## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)

# groot=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options

## e.g. alternative=true

## alternative=false

# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options

## e.g. lockalternative=true

## lockalternative=false

# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the

## alternatives

## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5

# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options

## e.g. lockold=false

## lockold=true

# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option

# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option

# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option

## multiple altoptions lines are allowed

## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options

## altoptions=(recovery) single

# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst

## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the

## alternative kernel options

## e.g. howmany=all

## howmany=7

# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically

## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa

## e.g. indomU=detect

## indomU=true

## indomU=false

# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option

## e.g. memtest86=true

## memtest86=false

# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system

## can be true or false

# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options

## can be true or false

# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-server

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-server root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-server

quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-server (recovery mode)

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-server root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-server

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+

uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian

# ones.

title Other operating systems:

root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

# linux installation on /dev/sda1.

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (on /dev/sda1)

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

savedefault

boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

# linux installation on /dev/sda1.

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda1)

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

savedefault

boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

# linux installation on /dev/sda1.

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda1)

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

savedefault

boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

# linux installation on /dev/sda1.

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda1)

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

savedefault

boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing

# linux installation on /dev/sda1.

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+ (on /dev/sda1)

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

savedefault

boot

randall@Randall:~$ cd /boot/grub

randall@Randall:/boot/grub$ dir

default installed-version menu.lst-170909 stage2

device.map jfs_stage1_5 minix_stage1_5 xfs_stage1_5

e2fs_stage1_5 menu.lst reiserfs_stage1_5

fat_stage1_5 menu.lst~ stage1

randall@Randall:/boot/grub$ sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst-170909

randall@Randall:/boot/grub$ dir

default installed-version menu.lst-170909 stage2

device.map jfs_stage1_5 minix_stage1_5 xfs_stage1_5

e2fs_stage1_5 menu.lst reiserfs_stage1_5

fat_stage1_5 menu.lst~ stage1

randall@Randall:/boot/grub$ sudo gedit menu.lst

I didn't change "#Howmany=All" to Howmany=2 because I don't know whether or not to change the Howmany=7 also. Plus it's not clear to me how to save menu lst.

Yes, I have Hardy Heron and Jaunty live CDs.

Hi :)

Sorry it's a bit late here. I wll try to have a look at this tomorrow. When you did this

randall@Randall:~$ uname -a
Linux Randall 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

That was still done in the Xubuntu and it was the Xubuntu that you want to keep? Immediately after that you say you switched to Ubuntu in order to see the files in "Places"?

Anyway the 3 lines in the menu.lst

## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

should just change the last of those 3 so that they become

## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=2

If you have opened menu.lst by doing something like

cd /boot/grub
gksudo gedit menu.lst

then you should be able to save the menu.lst just by clicking on the "Save" button on the gedit text editor. I am sorry i don't know the name of the text-editor in Xubuntu. If you can work out how to do this from inside Xubuntu then great, if i don't hear back from you then i will assume you haven't and so i will try to look up the text-editor in Xubuntu tomorrow.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

I don't think I did:

randall@Randall:~$ uname -a
Linux Randall 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

from Xubuntu; rather I composed my response in OOo word processor in Ubuntu and then copied and pasted to the Launchpad message box. Just now, however, I went back to Xubuntu, terminal, and changed the third "howmany" to =2, and saved it by clicking the save icon at the top of the terminal. Rebooted and went back to the terminal to get the following:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=2

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-server
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-server root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-server
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-server (recovery mode)
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-server root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-server

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 2a9205ae-319f-42b8-9e6d-cae2bf7ea56f
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=dbdc4475-2b2f-4018-b662-09c3ca648274 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+ (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
savedefault
boot

Other than the third "howmany," I don't see any other change.

I do need to thank you very much for your time, consideration, and know-how. You ought to be getting paid for the work you put in helping me. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Randall

Lol, thank you. You are welcome :) It's kinda fun and yet also frustrating trying to work out exactly what is going on here. It should be easier than this but we almost all start Ubuntu completely new to linux and have to dive straight in to the most difficult depths of it right from the start! Lol, if it was all pre-installed on a machine then it would be soooo much easier but also much less rewarding when you get it all working properly ;) It's normally better to go through all this as a dual-boot or on a 2nd machine so that Windows on your main machine is still usable when you need to do things. A gradual migration rather than a slash&burn ;) Still you are learning fast and that's good for helping people around you to move to linux at an easier pace.

Good luck, thanks and regards from
Tom :)

Ok, so i think the easy way to find the answer we need is to notice which partition you boot into when you boot into the version that works well. Do you boot into one of those with "(on /dev/sda1)" at the end of the line in the menu? So, do you boot into the line that says

Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda1)

or this one?

Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic

We should then be moving data from the other one onto this one. At the moment it is still unclear. I was hoping that frequent updates would have made a bigger gap between kernel numbers but both partitions have the same kernels and it seem you don't like the more recent kernel in either case! Hopefully we should be able to sort that out but first lets just tidy the partitions, once we have worked out which to keep!

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Good morning!

Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic is the one I want to keep. All those ending with “/dev/sda1” are broken [I guess, I get no screen with those; I'd gone into synaptic and installed a package someone recommended to help with videos, and, then, also took the liberty of throwing in everything else that looked like it might be similar (just for good measure). When I rebooted, all I got was a black screen. Lol.]

I'm cool to be rid of all the broken ones (ending with “/dev/sda1”). It has occurred to me that they can be restored; but if they'd worked as good as this one, in the first place, I'd have left well-enough alone. So I'm through with them.

I downloaded and burned a live CD of PCLINUXOS a while back and put it in a couple days ago – well, never mind, I'll comment on that at my Puppy question.

Hi :)

So have you managed to get all the data from sda1 onto external drive or onto sda6?

When you boot up a LiveCd of Jaunty or Hardy can you tell which partition is which from the "Places" menu? Sda1 is the larger one, if that helps.

Then when you are certain all your data is on the right drive(!) then go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

You will have to right-click on sda1 and choose "umount" before it will let you delete the partition tho!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Right now, I'm reading the Gparted Manual. Earlier today, I was at the Wikipedia perusing GUI, KDE, gnome, Xfce, etc.. Had to take a nap. I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Ahhh, Wikipedia might be a bit tooo general and vague because it covers alll the different distros, not just Ubuntu. You might like to have a quick look at some of the Community Documentation here. Also it's often worth just opening the package up and have a look at what it looks like. Sometimes things make a lot of sense straigh-away. Gui apps are easy to opn and then Escape out of without doing anything but on a command-line it's good to try typing " -h" or " --help" after a command to get a quick help cheat-sheet on what the command does. For example try typing

dir -h
ls -h

to see if you can spot the difference between the old Dos command "dir" and the much more powerful "LS" command ;) lol
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Errr Community Documentation is here
https://help.ubuntu.com/community

There isn't a page specifically about GPartEd but there's lots about partitioning. Also there's this Glossary whih is handy for quickly looking up odd words
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Glossary

This link is also usually useful for looking stuff up in
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
Like the glossary it's only really for quickly scrolling through rather than in-depth reading.

Regards from
Tom :)

Compaq Presario 543OUS series 5000
Pentium ® 4 processor 1800 Hz
Processor speed 1800/400 Hz
Processor stepping F12
Cache size (L1/L2) 20/256 KB
RAM 256Mb; Clock 1.8 Gb
Hard Drive 30 Gb
16X Max* DVD-ROM; CD-RW
VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Drive (version 96.43.10)
Ubuntu 9.04; Ffx 3.0.14
Xubuntu 9.04; Shiretoko; Chromium
Kubuntu 9.04; Konqueror 3.2

Hello!

I have Gparted on my computer (Ubuntu), several live CDs, and I downloaded and burnt a System Rescue CD; so even though I haven't yet deleted any of the unwanted OSs, I feel like the problem is essentially solved. I just have to learn to use the tools I have.

The Gparted manual is such dry reading, that I just can't (so far) get past the cognitive dissonance to make myself do what would amount to a rough draft of a rewrite of it (to make sense of it). I can recall a similar situation several months ago when I wanted to install Wine (my Hardy Heron didn't have it). I googled Wine, went to some web page, and got so confused that I just gave up on it. Later on, I accidentally stumbled upon directions some where else that were so clear and concise, I installed it during the first reading.

The System Rescue CD -- I googled it, got directions that (to me) were totally inconsistent with what I experienced upon booting it. It was asking for information that I hadn't gotten from the aforementioned directions -- and, (to my chagrin), moved on, selecting defaults, when I didn't answer in a timely manner(!); as if the CD really is alive and in a hurry!!

Well, I shut it down quick. Then I went back to Xubuntu; went to synaptic and installed a lot of Xfce packages (and some gnome stuff, too, to make my transition smoother) and Xubuntu got bloated and slow. This morning (after some sleep), it was still bloated so I uninstalled 43 packages. The wrong 43, as it turned out; so I uninstalled the rest of them, too. Strangely, though, the screen (boot splash?) remained. But not really wanting to see it go, I went to Linux Questions and logged in: "Xubuntu and Ubuntu or Xubuntu?" And then read all the "Similar Threads." I ended up reinstalling Xubuntu and installing Kubuntu simultaneously from the command line with aptitude.

An observation was made at Linux ?s that if you install Xubuntu with apt-get, you can't uninstall it with apt-get. I just spent three and a half hours fiddling around with Kubuntu (no synaptic package manager! But KPackage Kit is fun). I began this in Xubuntu, but I logged out and came here (Kubuntu) because I couldn't remember what Kpackage Kit is called. Software repositories looks to be in order – don't have to add medibuntu, or see any error messages about no public keys. And Ubuntu Studio has all three of my babies looking sharp. If this sucker will play videos properly, full screen, Kubuntu will be my default desktop. I just have to figure out how to find the media players!

THANK YOU!

By the way, can you recommend a good, but lightweight, web browser for Xubuntu?