mapping NTFS partitions to Linux? dual-monitors?

[J Macker]

Alright, so I'm a WinXP native man... it just works well.
although, I have wanted to learn linux for quite some time, so I downloaded & installed Ubuntu.

So, a couple of primary issues preventing me from trying to use it more:
1. Can I use the partitions I have already created on all my IDE & SATA hard drives on this installation?
2. my second monitor displays garbled junk, I presume since it's because I don't even know how to install the nVidia drivers. How can I get it working in span mode?
3. I've been a winamp junkie for quite some time, but have recently started using Windows Media Player 10 to sort & manage the rather daunting collection. Is there a useful utility for sorting & modifying the mp3 tags and my entire collection in the Linux environment?

alright, I've basically lost the motivation to learn linux, even though I know it would be good to switch for primary use.
I'd like to learn, but keeping the gaming capabilities and everything sorted out keeps me from continuing my linux pursuit.

any advice & answers would be appreciated.

[HHunt]

1. It's fairly easy to set up read-only access to NTFS partitions. It's possible to write to NTFS, but it's rather ugly. Avoid if possible.
edit: Read this (http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountntfs).
2. I've only ever installed the nVidia drivers on FreeBSD, so sorry, can't help you. It shouldn't be very hard to find out with some creative googling.
edit: Read this (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia).
3. There are a few. I use amarok, which is quite good. It should be in synaptic.
(Or is ubuntu one of the distros that doesn't want to distribute an mp3 decoder for licensing reasons? I'm sure there's some ubuntu guy here that can answer that.)

[MorfiusX]

(Or is ubuntu one of the distros that doesn't want to distribute an mp3 decoder for licensing reasons? I'm sure there's some ubuntu guy here that can answer that.)
There should be something if you add universe and/or multiverse to your package list.

[eeyrjmr]

Alright, so I'm a WinXP native man... it just works well.
although, I have wanted to learn linux for quite some time, so I downloaded & installed Ubuntu.

So, a couple of primary issues preventing me from trying to use it more:
1. Can I use the partitions I have already created on all my IDE & SATA hard drives on this installation?
Yes you can access NTFS partitions in Linux (as well as Ext2/3 partitions in Windows)
You should have NTFS in your kernel (if not not much to apt-get it)

This is my /etc/fstab to automount my winXP partitions
jrb@Fluid ~ $ cat /etc/fstab
# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/fstab,v 1.14 2003/10/13 20:03:38 azarah Exp $
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage
# efficiency). It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to
# switch between notail and tail freely.

# <fs> <mountpoint> <type> <opts> <dump/pass>

# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/hdb1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/hdb3 / ext3 noatime,user_xattr 0 1
/dev/hdb2 none swap sw 0 0

/dev/cdrw /mnt/cdr iso9660 noauto,ro,user 0 0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd iso9660 noauto,ro,user 0 0

/dev/hda1 /mnt/w2k auto noauto,ro,umask=0,user 0 0
/dev/hda5 /mnt/progs auto noauto,ro,umask=0,user 0 0
/dev/hda6 /mnt/xport auto rw,noauto,user 0 0

/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0
/dev/usbkey /mnt/memstick auto noauto,rw,user,noatime 0 0

#'//lkgd718d2/ADMIN 1/Documents' /home/jrb/Documents smbfs auto,username=admin,passwd=,uid=1000,umask=000,user 0 0


# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
none /proc proc defaults 0 0

# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
# use almost no memory if not populated with files)
# Adding the following line to /etc/fstab should take care of this:

none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc defaults 0 0

The kernel driver is kinda safe(ish) to write to NTFS, bu tI would not trust it. There is Captive-NTFS that will write to NTFS (be it a bit slow). There is a full-speed, full-write NTFS driver for linux from a company but it cost to use that driver


2. my second monitor displays garbled junk, I presume since it's because I don't even know how to install the nVidia drivers. How can I get it working in span mode?

installing the nVidia drivers are very easy by hand (nice and easy with gentoo ;) ) but if I remember correctly there was an annoying sequence you had to go through with Ubuntu.
You need to kill the Xserver, then apt-get it then restart X-server
sounds daunting but it isnt really.


3. I've been a winamp junkie for quite some time, but have recently started using Windows Media Player 10 to sort & manage the rather daunting collection. Is there a useful utility for sorting & modifying the mp3 tags and my entire collection in the Linux environment?


I quite like "easytag" for ID3.2 editing, it is very easy to use. As to players I am torn between. BPMx and XMMS-2 (both are very much beta, but useable). BMP (the pre-cursor to BMPx) is extreamly good and fuxes alot of problems with plain XMMS

alright, I've basically lost the motivation to learn linux, even though I know it would be good to switch for primary use.
I'd like to learn, but keeping the gaming capabilities and everything sorted out keeps me from continuing my linux pursuit.

any advice & answers would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]

[Tweakin]

For audio stuff look into amarok like already mentioned, it is great. If you want to go back to a WinAMP feel BMP is probably your answer. For actually getting the restricted formats to work in Ubuntu, you will need to read this wiki entry (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats).

What has been said about NTFS is accurate. I will add that I use the kernel NTFS support for reading my Windows NTFS partition and have never had a problem.

[J Macker]

So any read/writing with NTFS partitions is difficult, & slow.

Is there a file system I could use that would allow good performance under both WinXP and Linux?
I have the space to move the music collection to another drive and then format it into something else

[eeyrjmr]

So any read/writing with NTFS partitions is difficult, & slow.

Is there a file system I could use that would allow good performance under both WinXP and Linux?
I have the space to move the music collection to another drive and then format it into something else

no reading is VERY good, you wont notice the difference, write however...

The kernel version is fast but is unstable and you risk hosing yr system, CAptive-NTFS is veeeeery slow but works.

And as I said there is a drive you can buy that gives you full r/w at full speed

[Tweakin]

So any read/writing with NTFS partitions is difficult, & slow.

Is there a file system I could use that would allow good performance under both WinXP and Linux?
I have the space to move the music collection to another drive and then format it into something else

I would use FAT32 in a situation like this. You are limited by size, but you have full support both ways. I believe there are a number of tools for Windows to R/W from a few different Linux compatable file systems, but I havn't personal tried any. Google would be a good idea here. You are looking for EXT2, EXT3, ReiserFS, XFS, or JFS (the common linux file systems).

If all you need to do is read mp3's from an NTFS drive, though, the kernel read feature should work just fine.

[The_Mage18]

I recommend the Captive-Static NTFS solution. Yes it is a bit slower than full speed but it's about the same difference as an IDE 7200rpm drive vs. a 4500rpm drive. Small files you really won't notice much of a difference. Larger files will take a little while.

I use the Captive drivers for listening to MP3s and watching videos on my XP partition under Fedora/Suse/Mephis/Other distro I'm trying at the moment and haven't had any hiccups, skips or stuttering and Windows still works afterwards. I can't vouche for the kernal drivers, I simply never used them.