[05:01] <Mertz`> hi, I'm having an installation problem with ubuntu, am I in the right place?
[05:08] <Mertz`> anyone here?
[05:20] <xnox> Mertz`, folks here usually deal with very complex installation problems. You can try #ubuntu as well
[05:20] <xnox> !ask
[05:20] <ubot2> Please don't ask to ask a question, simply ask the question (all on ONE line and in the channel, so that others can read and follow it easily). If anyone knows the answer they will most likely reply. :-)
[05:21] <Mertz`> okay, well this probably isn't a very complex problem, do you want to hear it anyway?
[05:21] <xnox> yes
[05:21] <Mertz`> okay, well
[05:22] <Mertz`> I've been trying to reinstall ubuntu
[05:22] <xnox> =)))) see what ubot2 said ;-) generally you ask your question and then people jump in & help or redirect you to other support channells
[05:22] <Mertz`> because I screwed up my grub royally
[05:22] <xnox> !grub
[05:22] <ubot2> grub is the default boot manager for Ubuntu releases before Karmic (9.10). Lost GRUB after installing Windows? See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestoreGrub - GRUB how-tos: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto - See !grub2 for Karmic onwards.
[05:22] <xnox> you can fix grub with livecd ;-)
[05:23] <Mertz`> so, when it gets at the end of the installation, I get an installation error saying "cannot install bootloader on this partition" or something along those lines
[05:23] <Mertz`> yeah, that's actually what I'm using right now
[05:23] <Mertz`> I can give you the exact messasge in a few minutes, it's working through a second time
[05:23] <xnox> hmmm if the install fails see the above wiki page on how to "resurect" grub
[05:24] <xnox> do you by any chance have other operating systems installed?
[05:24] <Mertz`> I used to
[05:24] <Mertz`> but I reformatted the drive recently to make space
[05:24] <xnox> _currently_ ? =)
[05:24] <xnox> kk
[05:24] <Mertz`> yeah
[05:24] <Mertz`> I tried ressurecting grub on the original installation of ubuntu
[05:24] <xnox> aha
[05:25] <Mertz`> but it never worked, it would always boot into the sh:grub> prompt
[05:25] <xnox> hmmm in the for-last step of the installer configuration you can select advanced
[05:25] <Mertz`> instead of the actual menu
[05:25] <Mertz`> okay
[05:25] <xnox> and you can pick where you want to install the bootloader
[05:25] <Mertz`> right
[05:25] <xnox> i usually install the bootloader on to the partition which has /boot
[05:25] <xnox> in my case
[05:25] <xnox> /dev/sda3
[05:25] <Mertz`> right, it was /dev/sda5 in my case
[05:26] <Mertz`> but it still wouldn't load for some reason
[05:26] <xnox> cause by default it installs onto /dev/sda
[05:26] <xnox> that is into mbr
[05:26] <Mertz`> right
[05:26] <Mertz`> okay
[05:26] <Mertz`> I'm just afraid the hard drive is failing
[05:26] <xnox> nah
[05:26] <Mertz`> because I keep getting those "hard drive is in danger of failing" messages
[05:26] <xnox> probably two grubs conflicting with each other.
[05:27] <Mertz`> right
[05:27] <Mertz`> that would make sense
[05:27] <xnox> that is install is updating one grub menu, while you are booting with the other =)
[05:27] <Mertz`> hm
[05:27] <xnox> although "hard drive is in danger of failing" sounds scary
[05:27] <Mertz`> so how would I access the original?
[05:28] <Mertz`> yeah, lets chose not to worry about that right now, hahaha
[05:28] <xnox> Mertz`, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling from LiveCD
[05:28] <xnox> that gives you 3 methods of installing grub ;-)
[05:29] <Mertz`> hmm okay
[05:29] <Mertz`> well I'll give this a check and get back to you soon
[05:29] <Mertz`> thanks a toN!
[05:31]  * xnox wonders if Mertz` harddrive failed......
[09:15] <ev> good morning xnox
[10:51] <ara> ev, morning
[10:51] <ev> ara: hiya
[10:51] <ara> ev,  any reason why "rescue mode" now is called "alternative desktop environments" in the menu?
[10:51] <ara> ev, it does not sound related at all
[10:52] <cjwatson> err
[10:52] <cjwatson> that's just a bug
[10:52] <cjwatson> I very much doubt that gets you to rescue mode
[10:53] <ara> cjwatson, it does
[10:53] <ara> cjwatson, I'll file a bug
[10:53] <ara> casper?
[10:53] <cjwatson> no
[10:53] <cjwatson> debian-installer, but don't bother, I'm looking at it now
[10:54] <the-dude> cjwatson: ah is this better :0
[10:54] <the-dude> I mean :)
[10:55] <cjwatson> yes
[10:55] <the-dude> sorry :)
[10:55] <cjwatson> so can you post your full preseed file (with any passwords removed), and a description of the problem you're having?
[10:56] <ara> cjwatson, I will file the bug anyway, so we can track the issue in the tracker, if you don't mind
[10:56] <the-dude> yes hold on
[10:58] <cjwatson> ara: ok, as you like
[11:02] <ara> cjwatson, bug 588221
[11:02] <ubot2> Launchpad bug 588221 in debian-installer (Ubuntu) ""Rescue Mode" menu item shows as "Alternative desktop environments" in the Maverick Alpha 1 images (affects: 1)" [Undecided,New] https://launchpad.net/bugs/588221
[11:06] <cjwatson> thanks
[12:30] <CIA-4> debian-installer: cjwatson * r1306 ubuntu/ (build/boot/x86/menu.cfg debian/changelog):
[12:30] <CIA-4> debian-installer: Remove dtmenu.cfg from default menu.cfg; it isn't used in Ubuntu and it
[12:30] <CIA-4> debian-installer: confuses gfxboot-theme-ubuntu (LP: #588221).
[12:40] <CIA-4> debian-installer: cjwatson * r1307 ubuntu/debian/changelog: releasing version 20100211ubuntu4
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator: evand * r312 usb-creator/debian/ (10 files in 2 dirs): (log message trimmed)
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator:  + added forgotten python-support dependency
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator:  + updated descriptions (thanks Matthew Paul Thomas)
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator:  + vendor branded icons installed if available
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator:  + debian-menu installed if there are branded xpm's
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator: * Initial Debian release (Closes: #582884, #576359)
[13:46] <CIA-4> usb-creator: * debian/control:
[14:37] <cjwatson> 18:06 <cjwatson> you should probably start with https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-contents.html and
[14:37] <cjwatson>                  http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/debian-installer/ubuntu/annotate/head:/doc/devel/partman-auto-recipe.txt
[14:37] <cjwatson> the-dude: ^- those are the links from Friday, in case you've lost them - the second answers your question from #debian-boot
[14:38] <cjwatson> the-dude: if it's not doing what you want, then could you describe what's happening in more detail, and post an installer syslog?  the syslog is usually pretty informative once you know how to read it :-)
[14:38] <cjwatson> oh and perhaps the partman log as well
[16:17] <xnox> ev, will FoundationTeam meeting be held today? it's gone from fridge....
[16:24] <cjwatson> it's on Wednesdays not Tuesdays
[16:25] <xnox> cjwatson, silly me =)
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: cjwatson * r461 ubuntu/debian/ (cdrom-detect.postinst changelog):
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: usb-storage sometimes seems to take a while to settle to the point of
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: actually exposing block devices, despite the 'udevadm settle' in
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: hw-detect. I don't see an easy way to solve this, so, with
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: reservations, retry the detection loop three times with a 'sleep 3' in
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: between in the event that no devices are found, in the hope that that
[16:29] <CIA-4> cdrom-detect: improves matters (LP: #586036).
[18:04] <michaelforrest> ev: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfkkjjcj_101gnkrpg5v
[18:39] <shadeslayer> hi is there support for GPT ( http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GPT  ) in the kubuntu installer
[18:46] <cjwatson> yes, but what exactly are you looking for?
[18:47] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: ok,ill be partitioning my entire 320 GB HD for a reinstall of Kubuntu and Arch
[18:48] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: so i read on the arch wiki that their installer supports it,was wondering if kubuntu supported it as well
[18:48] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: so i can manually make more partitions right?
[18:48] <cjwatson> our installer won't normally offer GPT as a choice when you're creating a new partition table, but it should work just fine if the disk is already using GPT
[18:49] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: ah ok,i was planning to format it with the Ubuntu Live disk before hand,they have something called Disk Utilities which can do that ;)
[18:50] <shadeslayer> s/disk/cd
[18:50] <cjwatson> sure, gparted will be able to dso it
[18:50] <cjwatson> do it
[18:50] <cjwatson> there are ways to do it with the Kubuntu installer if you're an expert
[18:50] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: thats my backup option,since im confident that gparted will do the job :P
[18:51] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: hmmm..
[18:51] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: how?
[18:51] <cjwatson> if you use the alternate installer and boot in expert mode then you'll get the option
[18:51] <cjwatson> not necessarily a good idea though, it asks a lot of confusing questions
[18:51] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: meh.. leave it then :P
[18:52] <cjwatson> anyway, all you need is to create the partition table with something like gparted
[18:52] <cjwatson> you can leave all the rest of the partitioning up to the Kubuntu installer
[18:54] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: cool.. ill probably partition the disk as i go along installing arch and kubuntu
[18:54] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: one more thing
[18:54] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: does ubuntu support BTRFS?
[18:54] <cjwatson> no, not in 10.04
[18:54] <shadeslayer> for the / partition
[18:54] <shadeslayer> :'(
[18:55] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: anyway to get it to work?
[18:55] <cjwatson> no, but I just fixed the worst blocking problem in grub2 upstream
[18:55] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: ah.. its a grub issue?
[18:55] <cjwatson> I really really wouldn't advise it.  If you're qualified to put all the bits together then you don't need my help
[18:55] <cjwatson> grub is one of the issues
[18:55] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: ok,what else?
[18:55] <cjwatson> 10.10 should make it easier
[18:56] <cjwatson> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/foundations-m-btrfs-support
[18:56] <shadeslayer> hmm.. 10.10 is alpha :P
[18:56] <cjwatson> yes.
[18:56] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: they wont release a live cd for alpha will they :P
[18:56] <cjwatson> yes, we will.
[18:56] <cjwatson> alpha-1 won't have this grub patch though.
[18:56] <cjwatson> be patient!
[18:56] <cjwatson> btrfs is still heavily experimental upstream
[18:57] <shadeslayer> hmm.. ok :P
[18:58] <cjwatson> the reason we're trying to put bits together at the moment is so that we can start experimenting with the useful features and adding support for them in things like upgrade tools so that things are ready for when it's stable enough in the kernel, not because we want to recommend it for use by users
[18:59] <shadeslayer> hmm.. because its faster that ext4
[18:59] <cjwatson> it's a little bit more complicated than that
[18:59] <shadeslayer> ok :P
[19:00] <cjwatson> right now, unless you're actively developing btrfs itself or tools based on it, you shouldn't use it
[19:00] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: hmm ok thanks for the ton of info :D
[19:00] <cjwatson> you're welcome
[19:24] <shadeslayer> cjwatson: oh btw is there a way to boot the alternate CD off a USB drive?
[19:25] <shadeslayer> nvm..
[19:27] <shadeslayer> seems that its not supported
[21:42] <the-dude> cjwatson: thanks for the url earlyer its bookmarked now :) and it was usell
[21:42] <the-dude> usefull
[23:21] <cjwatson> the-dude: cool