My Linux debut with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

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Though not a software engineer, but having retired out of the engineering profession and having dealt with MS Windows for a while, I had got vexed up with the hassles of dealing with half baked Windows 10 Updates in recent times. While surfing on the internet, I happened to come across and read quite a few articles on how to learn Linux; the ones written in simple English by Mr Abhishek Prakash on “itsFoss.Community” website caught my attention in particular. Fascinated and impressed by Mr Abhishek’s articles and virtually getting self motivated, I decided to make a beginning as a total novice to delve deeper into Linux, driven by the urge and inclination to learn something new as a senior citizen, with spare time in hand. I wish to briefly summarize the efforts so far made by me:

1.  Uninstalled Windows 10 (though not doing away with it totally – may reinstall it later, after its performance stabilizes) from my computer and initially installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which over time has got updated currently to its latest 18.04 LTS version. My experience so far of having dealt with simple Linux coding on the terminal has been interesting, inspiring and invigorating, with Abhishek’s articles acting as the triggers for driving me to self learning. To begin with, it did not appear as difficult as I originally thought it would be.

2. I am in the process of getting familiarized with the execution of the basic commands on the Ubuntu terminal and I am thoroughly enjoying the experience.   

3. Making use of the Ubuntu terminal, I have successfully installed and am presently using: Lynis security auditing back end software; Clam AV software; Thunderbird Mail & Livepatch activation; addition of frequently visited website url’s like Adobe Reader, Audacity, Bank websites etc. on the desktop; DanielRichter grub customiser – for booting sequencing; SOLAAR software for operating Logitech devices; System booting failure resolution by running fsck manually; Pinta software; hooking up my HP Printer for printing; making a bootable Ventoy USB drive for installing ISO image files (for Windows 10); frequent hanging of the Ubuntu 18.04 desktop (seemingly) resolved by updating the Linux kernel from 4.15.0-112.generic to 5.4.0-42-generic version etc - to name a few.

The two chosen areas where my efforts have FAILED, and where I need support are:

  1. Installing the “hibernate” feature, complying with ubuntu/foss tutorials – made 2 FAILED attempts.

  2. I thought of creating a 30 GB bootable partition for installing ISO image file of Windows 10 in my computer with Ubuntu O.S working, using the successfully created Ventoy ISO file in a USB drive [with the entire hard disk of 320 GB, Ext4 filesystem (Ver. 1.0) – mounted at filesystem root, Linux Partition 1 (/dev/sda1) currently fully dedicated for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS O.S use] but FAILED. However, in the process of partitioning, I happened to WRONGLY create a small (labelled UNKNOWN by the system) 512 bytes (/dev/sda2) NTFS/exFAT/HPFS (Bootable) Partition, which to my mind is of no use (snapshot of the wrongly configured partition is available).

Knowing fully well that O. S hard disk partitioning is a “tricky and a too risky” exercise for beginners, and one small error can cause havoc on the hard disk (loss of data, corruption of files and the Operating System etc), I am apprehensive and lacking the confidence to correct the mistake by myself, to implement either of the following two likely solutions by:

(a) Either removing the wrongly created small 512 bytes partition totally, and going in for making a new partition of the recommended size,

(b) Resizing / expanding the size of the existing partition to the desired/recommended size.
I shall be thankful if I could be provided the necessary technical support for resolving the two issues cited above in the shortest, easiest and the most foolproof ways with the sequential steps for coding.

Is it naive on my part to ask for a direct email interaction, if possible, with Mr Abhishek in this particular instance (for the partitioning problem specifically)?

I thought it would make an interesting beginning, despite knowing fully well that the recommended platform is the “itsFOSS” Forum.

Thanks and regards,

anman

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i can’t speak to the issue of hibernation because i don’t use it and since you would prefer to work specifically with Abhishek, i will leave the partitioning issue as well. i thought i would pass along a piece of advice that when asking for help in online forums like this it is usually best if each thread is used to try and address one problem or issue.

you have given some helpful background information, but very little beyond hard drive size about the computer you are trying to make these changes on. usually that information can help the people who are trying to help you guide you to a possible solution to the problem or issue you are facing. one way to provide such information is to run the command inxi -Fxz in a terminal and post the output.

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Welcome to “It’s Foss” @anman49. We have a few thing in common. Retired, senior citizen, got fed up with Win 10 update procedure, and moving on to Linux. I been using Linux Mint for about 2 years. I too, do not know anything about hibernate for Ubuntu and do not understand what you are trying to do with #5. I would recommend:

  1. You may want to look into dual booting which allows both Linux and Windows to be on your PC at the same time.
  2. Learn about MBR vs EFI booting before trying dual boot.
  3. A good solid backup / restore procedure that you knows works that allows you to recover your operating system and boot partition. This would mean a standalone backup / restore program.

Good Luck and again Welcome to the forum.

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Very reassuring to learn that there are others like you and possibly many more like me sailing in the same “Learn Linux” boat and thanks a lot for welcoming me into the fold. Never too late to learn, I suppose!

  1. Long after I installed Ubuntu, I came across the possibility of dual booting Linux with Windows installed first, which I understand is a much easier process. Having already installed Ubuntu, I was attempting the reverse procedure of installing Windows *after * Linux, which turns out to be a more cumbersome procedure; that is when I got stuck with the disk partitioning at #5, and sought support - hopefully with your good luck wishes, I shall come out of it too - successfully.
    #4 Hibernate being the equivalent of “sleep mode” in Windows, I thought, it ought to be a desirable default feature, which surprisingly is not available as a basic feature in Linux, for reasons not known. Unlike in “hibernate”, the “power off” mode in Linux necessitates the need to re-enter the password, which is annoying.
    I am yet to tide over both the issues.
    .
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Good Luck with the install of Win 10. I yet to hear of installing Win after Linux. I always thought Windows had to be install first. But hey, there are a lot more experienced users here then me, so if it can be done, I’m sure they will let you know how to do it.

If you were installing Linux with Windows already working like I did, then I might be able to give you some help.

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It is not difficult if one has two drives. A drive with NTFS partition for Windows and a / ext4 partition for Linux
will be a little different, especially if Linux is installed first. You could install grub to the / Linux partition, before the install of Windows, because Windows is going to overwrite grub with it’s bootloader. You could then boot the PC with a gparted live CD and flag the / partition for booting. If the PC boots one can then run sudo update grub, and it should find the Windows install, and grub boot menu. I have did this once on a PC with no UEFI boot.

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Unfortunately, I have a single hard disk of 320 gb capacity, which I thought would not be worthwhile risking to experiment with for partitioning, for the fear of corrupting it; hence abandoned the idea for the time being.
Meanwhile, I happened to read the latest article about Howdy Linux software for face recognition for logging in to Ubuntu, by Mr Abhishek Prakash. I got interested mainly to avoid the hassles of frequent use of the login password. I could successfully install, commission and test it in one go yesterday and apparently delighted at the outcome. I am however, yet to test its auto-functionality for login key ring, sudo and su commands in the terminal.

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It might be late but I found this video very useful while installing windows after Ubuntu and was able to do it successfully this might help you too.