fiveworlds Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 I am currently running windows 7 on my pc. However a lot of employers are looking for knowledge of the Linux command line. Considering buying a second pc is out of the question I was told it might be possible to partition my hard drive and install Linux on the partition. But I am scared of doing it because if it didn't work properly I would lose my copy of windows 7 and any files I have. Does anybody know how to do this?
Strange Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 There is a Windows program called PartitionMagic which seems to do a very good job of manging partitions. You could use this to resize the Windows partition to make space for a Linux partition. Most Linux installers are pretty good at explaining what they are doing and which partitions they will use. The alternative, which avoids having to reboot your machine to switch between OSes, is to run a virtual machine and install Linux on that. https://www.virtualbox.org/ You can then create multiple virtual machines if you want to try different flavours of Linux (or BSD or ... even Windows).
fiveworlds Posted July 28, 2015 Author Posted July 28, 2015 Yeah I tried virtualbox before but I was getting the following error virtualbox failed to create com object
Arete Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) I use Virtualbox often to run Ubuntu and W7 on the same machine. A few points: 1) IIRC the free version of Virtualbox will only support 32 bit OS's. 2) If I'm asking a candidate for a job "can you use Linux/Unix" I'm not asking "Can you click around Ubuntu on your desktop like you do in Windows?" I'm asking "Can you drive my HPC cluster from the command line?" So if you're going to learn Linux, keep that in mind. Edited July 28, 2015 by Arete
Strange Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 1) IIRC the free version of Virtualbox will only support 32 bit OS's. I have used it on 64 bit hosts, running 64 bit OSes. Is there anything other than a free version? Yeah I tried virtualbox before but I was getting the following error virtualbox failed to create com object Sorry, can't help with that. Hopefully Arete's video is useful.
timo Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 You do not need to partition the hard disk from a windows program. The Ubuntu installer (Ubuntu probably being the recommended Linux distribution) gives you the option to install alongside of Windows and takes care of everything for you. I have been using this a few times and never had any problems with it. Using a virtual machine still is safer, of course. But maybe a bit more work. I am using Ubuntu with Windows running as a virtual machine, and I faintly remember that I had to enable some flags in my BIOS.
Strange Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 I faintly remember that I had to enable some flags in my BIOS. Yes, on some Intel architectures, you have to enable hardware virtualization support in the BIOS. (I can't remember any more detail than that, either!) The Ubuntu installer (Ubuntu probably being the recommended Linux distribution) gives you the option to install alongside of Windows and takes care of everything for you. The Ubuntu installer does seem to be one of the best - and best documented - but I find their new desktop environment even more incomprehensible than Windows 8!
fiveworlds Posted July 28, 2015 Author Posted July 28, 2015 I followed the instructions in the video and now the vm virtualbox manager starts. However every time I try to run a virtual machine it throws the com exception error again.
MonDie Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) If it's Ubuntu, it will ask you during installation, but I would back up your files to be safe. Or run Lubuntu on any old piece of junk you can find at a garage sale. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu All linux distributions use mostly the same command line utilities. I recommend starting with Ubuntu. Just remember that the GUIs are just frontends, and you can often do more with the command line utilities. So don't be lazy! Don't learn GParted, learn fdisk. Don't use GUFW, but learn ufw and eventually iptables. Don't use Software Center, but learn apt-get. The deeper you dig, the more similar the different Linux distributions are to eachother. Most importantly, read the info and man pages! Just type info/man name-of-utility ubuntu.com is an invaluable resource. Edited July 29, 2015 by MonDie
fiveworlds Posted July 29, 2015 Author Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) I finally managed to get virtual box working. I deleted the latest version and installed an older version. The older version isn't throwing com errors. Edited July 29, 2015 by fiveworlds
MonDie Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 I edited to add about Lubuntu, which is often run on old pieces of junk like you find at garage sales. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu
Klaynos Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 I run lubuntu. You might want to mint it's easier to have nice desktop environments than modern Ubuntu. Don't like the new desktops...
Sensei Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) I am currently running windows 7 on my pc. However a lot of employers are looking for knowledge of the Linux command line. Considering buying a second pc is out of the question I was told it might be possible to partition my hard drive and install Linux on the partition. But I am scared of doing it because if it didn't work properly I would lose my copy of windows 7 and any files I have. Does anybody know how to do this? You don't need to buy new (modern?) PC. You just need additional hard disk. Either obsolete, or new one, 2 TB brand new is for ~$100, 1 TB for ~$50. Smaller you can find for free in neibourhood. I can't believe somebody knowledgable in computers don't have plentiful of old computers. I have more than 20+ old machines that I was using in the past around me. Just plug off HDD from one of them and connect to PC. And in BIOS disable Win7 HDD (or disconnect cable temporarily), and enable booting from old one. This way, this month, I made Win7 test OS on old Maxton 300 GB, used by me 5-10 years ago in some old machine. After installing everything needed there is still 214 GB free.. Edited July 29, 2015 by Sensei
fiveworlds Posted July 29, 2015 Author Posted July 29, 2015 I can't believe somebody knowledgable in computers don't have plentiful of old computers. Na I tend to build a good gaming pc then use parts until they are completely fried. My current computer is 6 years old had to replace the power supply twice so far.
Sensei Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 My current computer is 6 years old had to replace the power supply twice so far. The next time, when power supply cooler will start dying and giving harsh sounds, replace it. You will save some money on replacing whole power supply. Wind cooler costed me $2.7, while complete power supply is around $40. Now I am replacing just wind cooler. Power supply failure is typically caused by overheating, caused by malfunction of wind cooler (it's rotating thousand times per minute, engine have right to fail after 2-3 years of whole day usage).
fiveworlds Posted July 29, 2015 Author Posted July 29, 2015 The next time, when power supply cooler will start dying and giving harsh sounds, replace it. There were no sounds. I turned my computer off. Came home seven hours later and it wouldn't turn on any-more. I suppose the only warning I got was that my monitor was throwing out of range errors.
MonDie Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 However a lot of employers are looking for knowledge of the Linux command line. What kinds of employers?
fiveworlds Posted July 29, 2015 Author Posted July 29, 2015 What kinds of employers? Engineering firms, Accounting firms and hotels. Seem to want people who know LAMP with the Linux command line.
MonDie Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) Thank you! If you'll be doing security, you could try SELinux. It was developed by the NSA, albeit in 1998, and was considered more secure at the time. However Ubuntu has increased its security with AppArmor since then, so I don't know which is preferable. Unless there's a separate iso image, you might have to install the old Karmic Koala edition of Ubuntu, then download and install the meta-package. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SELinux Edited July 29, 2015 by MonDie
fiveworlds Posted July 29, 2015 Author Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) Lamp wasn't difficult to install on linux. But I couldn't figure out how to change to my root directory in terminal yet to be able to chmod 777 my var/www directory. I just used sudo gedit I managed to figure out how to cd to root it was just cd // Edited July 29, 2015 by fiveworlds
MonDie Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 You don't have to be in the root directory. Just enter sudo [-R] chmod +0777 /var/www (R = recursive) You never really need cd, but it can help if you don't want to type out a long pathway repeatedly. If you want to see those permissions you changed, enter ls -l /var | grep www r = read w = write x = execute 1 = --x 2 = -w- 3 = -wx 4 = r-- 5 = r-x 6 = rw- 7 = rwx 7 being the most lenient, granting all three. You can read about any of these utilities easily. info chmod info ls info grep
fiveworlds Posted July 31, 2015 Author Posted July 31, 2015 May I ask what sort of jobs you were applying for? Anything at all really internships or ordinary work. I just finished a course I was doing and was told I needed to do a fetac level 5 cetificate in healthcare support before they would employ me and the next one wont run for eight months. But as far as courses go I am way too broke at the moment to be looking for another. Most of the courses can be free if you are unemployed but you have to pay fees to take the exam. Which can be really expensive one exam my brother took was €1200.
MonDie Posted July 31, 2015 Posted July 31, 2015 Thank you double! You might want to install vim and learn to edit files with it. Vi is less sophisticated and not completely the same, but comes preinstalled. sudo apt-get install vim When screwing with the firewall, remember that 22 is the default SSH port. You won't notice a difference, but it's part of the security of https. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VimHowto I confess: I have not learned vim yet.
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