I installed Ubuntu 8.10, then changed touchpad to usb mouse, can't get it back. Bigger problem now, installed Windows XP, partition w/ Ubuntu won't open

Do you have an old enough mouse for the Dell? Mousepads are so tricky ;)

Lol...yes, a good old mouse with no wheel in the middle, I found in the garage - was going to buy a wireless one, but didnt know if I could get online first! Now..under recovering Grub, it says to use the Ubuntu Live CD to reinstall Grub sector - should I use the same one I had, or get one from Ubuntu site? I had problems running and installing my 2wire program and netgear program with the CD we got from Japan.

Use the one you have. It's a good multipurpose disc. You can even run Ubuntu straight off the cd without installing it at all but its a bit slow that way. Only need to burn another one if you give that one away or lose it :)

I dont know what the 2wire program is. When you're back in Ubuntu go up to the top taskbar and click on Applications right at the end is "Add/Remove Applications" this has a great search feature for hunting out programs you can install. The ones already on your machine are ticked.

Note that it's generally better to use native linux equivalents rather than Windows programs but you'll probably need Wine 1.0.1 or bettter anyway at some point.

Good luck
regards from
Tom :)

Thank you so much for all the info. I've printed out all instructions and will go from there on my happy way to becoming a programmer lol on my $5.00 laptop! I'll let you know results ohhh in a week, double lol! I get so lost in these things, Ubuntu is great and would love to have it back now that I'm online. I dont think I have enough memory for both systems, might have to repartition, but it was there before. I'll access from CD as you say though for now.

Thanks again for responding, I'm clicking problem solved for now, and will ask for more info as needed, since it will take me time as other issues press on!
Suzan

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.

Brilliant. Thanks

It'll probably be best if you post a new Question when you get back to this later as you'll get input from other people then and i might not be around.

When people say "memory" they usually mean Ram and that only gets used by the Operating System that is currently booted into. When you are in Xp none of it is being used by Ubuntu.

If you mean Hard-Drive space then that could be a problem on a $5 laptop. Xp needs about 5or6Gb and Ubuntu needs about 5or6Gb too. Not easy if you only have 10Gb! A standard Windows install tends to wipe out anything else on the drive but you might be lucky and find Ubuntu's still there. It sometimes seems like Windows is much more manly, very arrogant and demanding but Linux is smarter, cleverer. Having a dual-boot combines them nicely.

Ubuntu develops very fast so even if the disc is only a couple of months old it's well worth downloading a new one. If it needs to be Japanese then use a japanese mirror or there's always the language settings. It sounds like you've got a good fella there, caring and trying whereas most fellas just seem very very trying ;)

lol, good luck and have fun
Regards from
Tom :)

Thanks for the update on the change to the link to xorg Tom. What's an xorg? lol

Suzan

btw, still haven't done the grub thingy yet, because I shouldn't have closed this question...I will need to know what command to type in terminal to get touchpad back. Also, this is my memory info:

Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 71.10 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 618.13 MB

There is no way I would be able to do a dual boot with this little memory right?
But Ubuntu was so cool, and I was actually able to begin understanding how to enter commands, sudo this and sudo that! So ideally, I'd like to have it back and get Windows out of here, since I can't have both. SSoooooo, what's an xorg? And who comes up with these names? lol

So intrigued,
Suz

Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB
is your Ram size.

It's a bit low but with a nice big linux-swap of 512Mb Ubuntu should be fine but a little slow. If you don't mind blue there's always Xubuntu
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/products/whatisubuntu/xubuntu

I reckon try Ubuntu first tho. The sudoing thing is exactly the same in Xubuntu and the su is the same in other distros of linux. So you'll be fine.

Have you got an icon on your desktop at the moment that says "My Computer"? Click on that and report back about how much space is on C: & D: (you might not have a D: )

Sorry got to dash
Regards from
Tom :)

On My Computer Local Disk C has free space 1.24 GB and Total Size 4.28 GB. My D is a CD drive. So, I do have enough for a dual boot, then don't I?

I'll still do as you suggest first and and insert old disk just to see if I can at least recover Grub because I have to look up instructions on dual boots if that's what you suggest.

I'll await your suggestion,
Suz

Do you have any other distros other than Ubuntu on Cd? If not please get a tiny distro like Wolvix or Puppy. DistroWatch is a good place to compare different disttros and here's the Wolvix page, actually sliTaz might be good, just choose 1 or 2 and burn the iso to cd by double clicking the iso when you have a blank cd in the tray
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slitaz

We'll be able to use one of these tomorrow to have a good look at your drive and see if there is an Ubuntu on it or not. At the moment its a bit unclear. I have to sleep now so see you tomorrow :)

Regards from
Tom :)