Laptop mkII

[AF]

Ok, after much angsta nd annoyance, I ahve gotten an ubuntu install on ym laptop.

I copied over my grub config and my ubuntu setup on ym main machine, modified the partition file fstab, and the config file for grub accordingly and booted.

The Result:

It starts up, I get the Ubuntu splash screen witht he loading sequence, then halfway through clunk.

Unable to mount /sys /root/sys

Cannot load /sbin/init Target system could not find init.

*dumps to a busybox shell*

I copied the install over using 'cp -r /* /media/usb-media-1/' in a root shell on my main machine.


What exactly did I do wrong?

[HAARP]

Oh crap, you need to copy using cp -a!

Always exclude this when doing a backup/moving your system:
/media/
/mnt/
/proc/
/sys/
/tmp/*
/lib/modules/*/volatile/*

And create empty folders /proc and /sys on the target. You will also need to create empty folders in /media/ for your mountpoints.

[AF]

hmmm

I sorta figured that after it copied over my livecd....


What exactly does -a do?

[AF]

Oh and btw, if I start the livecd on my main machine but select my laptops hardrive in the hd caddy to install to, then take it and put it back in my laptop and boot with grub, will that work?

[HAARP]

What exactly does -a do?

It's archive mode. It preserves links, attributes, owner/groups, timestamps, etc. and acts recursively. Imagine everything belonging to root:root...you would be lucky if anything works.

Oh and btw, if I start the livecd on my main machine but select my laptops hardrive in the hd caddy to install to, then take it and put it back in my laptop and boot with grub, will that work?

I think so. However, it could be that the bootloader gets written to your main drive. Be careful.

[AF]

What if I disabled my two main hardrives in the BIOS and booted the livecd with my laptop drive attatched? Shouldnt my MBR be safe that way?

[AF]

Ok, done.

Ubuntu boots and get so far.

However when trying to start the X server and laod the logon screne it dumps me to a bash shell reporting:

(EE) No devices detected

Fatal Server error:
no screens found

[AF]

I just ran

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

and got an instance of X server running, rebooting

[AF]

yay, I can now see gnome running on my laptop!!!

And they said this laptop was a piece of trash that was essentially dead......