Why can't I install Ubuntu

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by vortexfive, Oct 27, 2006.

  1. vortexfive

    vortexfive Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Hello
    I've read many messages of users succesfully installing Ubuntu.
    I downloaded the latest Ubuntu and tried to make Parallels boot from that diskimage.
    Unfortunately it's impossibly slow, I can't even get the Installer open in a reasonable time.
    I've a MacBook with 1 Gb of ram, I dedicated 512 Mb to Ubuntu.
    Windows XP works at normal speed.

    What do I do wrong? And who can help me please?
     
  2. constant

    constant Forum Maven

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    1,010
    .
    Try an older version of Ubuntu.
    .
     
  3. vortexfive

    vortexfive Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    I tried Ubuntu Dapper Drake, that should be stable, shouldn't it.
    Stupid question: where do I get an older version, there's no link on their site.
     
  4. random.tard

    random.tard Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    I am running Ubuntu 6.10, which was upgraded from 6.06 ("Dapper Drake") yesterday. I also have a MBP with 1GB ram, but only dedicated 256mb to the Ubuntu VM.

    Peformance is more than acceptable. Perhaps there is something with your configuration?

    Also, I never run Parallels and ANY Rosetta-translated applications at the same time. Running both on only 1GB of memory is terribly frustrating.

    To check if you have any active translated apps, open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities and look in the "Kind" column for anything that says "PowerPC." If that column is not shown, ctrl-click on any column to add/remove.

    I have noticed that MS Entourage is the usual culprit, as it leaves the following processes/daemons active even when closed:

    Database Daemon
    Alerts Daemon

    These can be quit (if necessary) via the Activity Monitor application.
     
  5. ZeeG

    ZeeG Member

    Messages:
    24
    I also installe Ubuntu Edgy and had no problem as you described.
    The only problem I'm having through is, when I shut down ubuntu linux, it doesn't go back to parallels main screen (where the settings and info are shown). Instead, it remains in black screen.

    BTW, I chose "other linux kernel 2.6" when I installed ubuntu 6.10.
     
  6. vortexfive

    vortexfive Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Argh, I noticed that it only works for me with "linux kernel 2.6" and 256 mb of ram.
    But now the installer crashes my macbook at about 60 percent. I get a nice kernel panic every time.
    The Ubuntu 6.10 installer hangs too, at 17 percent, while checking packages.

    Do I have to use another configuration?
     
  7. hkoster1

    hkoster1 Member

    Messages:
    43
    I just installed Ubuntu Edgy in a Parallels VM on my MacBook. I have posted a note on that on my website, http://www.xs4all.nl/~hajk -- check it out for some hints on your problems.
     
  8. vortexfive

    vortexfive Bit poster

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    7
    there's nothing in it about preventing the installer to give a kernel panic.
    this can only be done after installation, and I never got that far.
     
  9. heafnerj

    heafnerj Member

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    27
    I want to install kubuntu 6.1 (note the k) so I tried it first on my WinXP PC. Every time the installer got to the partitioning phase, it just locked up and I had to power off and restart. It never got past that point and I gave up after six attempts. The CD image verifies correctly. I'm now afraid to try it under Parallels. Any suggestions?
     
  10. hkoster1

    hkoster1 Member

    Messages:
    43
    The Ubuntu installer (using a version of GParted) has had problems with installing in existing HD partitions. Easiest would be to install after wiping the whole HD (not an option to people dual-booting with Win XP) or to install in the largest contiguous unallocated space. This last could be space vacated after PartitionMagic has reduced the footprint of XP on the HD.

    Now, a Parallels VM would mimic an 8GB IDE HD in software, and you would install Kubuntu to this HD with the choice of using the whole disk. The installer will then put in a root partition in /dev/hda1 of about 7.5GB (formatted ext3) and a swap partition /dev/hda5. I foresee no problems with that, it worked fine with my Ubuntu install.
     
  11. heafnerj

    heafnerj Member

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    27
    Many thanks for the advice. I'll try it again tonight.
     
  12. quasarkitten

    quasarkitten Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    crappy workaround...

    I was able to install Ubuntu 6.10 (other linux 2.6 kernel), but after restarting it would just hang on a black screen.

    I figured it had something to do with x11 so when I saw the black screen and no more hdd activity I pressed "ctrl alt del", and then "ctrl alt backspace" (restarts/kills x11)

    Here is my flickr page that has screenshots with some of the error stuff on it.

    I was able to login a few times, after setting the "Enable custom Screen resolutions" to off but I haven't yet found a workaround which is consistent. Also by entering grub boot loader and loading the Ubuntu recovery mode I had some sucess, but sometimes I get an error about fonts not loading properly in x11.

    If you want to try this out yourself you have to:
    1. hit esc to enter grub right when the bios appears
    2. select recovery mode
    3. after things load and your shown a prompt. enter
    Code:
    startx
    4. sometimes it will work and you'll get the login page.
    5. when you want to shutoff the computer go to shutdown or just press "ctrl alt backspace" (backspace is the Delete key that is the second key above the return key. alt = opt)
    6. notice their is no option to shutdown, (this is because of the way we started x11) select logout.
    7. you be taken back to the command prompt. to shutdown type
    Code:
    shutdown now -h
    8. it will tell you when it has shutdown. after this hit the power button.

    Hope someone finds a fix. I tired of only running vista and xp. I wish it was easier to install unsupported linux distros and versions.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2006
  13. rachaelr

    rachaelr Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    I've been running both ubuntu 6.06 and 6.10 on my macbook (1GB ram) with no probs at all....
    Installed off the live cd, using the 'other linux kernel 2.6' option, then resized the x display as per some other thread on this forum.

    Think i use 256MB RAM - for some reason, increasing the RAM allocation for virtual machines above this sometimes slows everythign down - guess MacOSX still wants the lions share for itself :)
     
  14. bytesplit

    bytesplit Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    I also had many problems installing different OSes. They always used to simply stop after some period of time. The cursor hangs and it just stands. I fixed this with a zap of PRAM (although I can't seem to know if x86 Macs still realy got one).

    After that I got Ubuntu 6.06 installed just fine. The life system came up to X11 just right away. A problem was the upgrade to 6.10, which hosed my Xorg fonts and made it crash. So the screen became black after kernel boot messages and nothing happened. If one now pressed Alt-F1 to F3, one can switch through the different consoles (so actually X11 should be on F7 IIRC). Switching to a working console gave me a possibility to fix X11 ( a package error) and all was fine.

    I now have Xorg running at the full 1440x900 and it runs just quite usable on my MBP 2/2. I have to add that I exchanged the hard drive with a new perpendicular 160 Gig one. HD reads and writes are always a problem in both emulation and virtualisation.

    So as a conclusion, as Mac hardware isn't that different among us users, Linux will work in Parallels if all is good. Start with resetting the PRAM or resetting the firmware.
     

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