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The Consultant - Advisor

The Consultant - Advisor Guide

This section of the manual is for consultants and advisors for language workers using Wasta.  By "consultant" we are referring to a typical expert in any of the many language domains in the Pacific Region.  Examples would be a "Back Translation" consultant, where you have been teaching peers, possibly in the use of Paratext and the setup of Paratext to do a superior back translation for checking purposes later.

Other examples of consultants are Literacy, Linguistic, and Translation consultants in general.  There are others.  The point of this section to teach such an expert in their domain, how to help common language workers be successful using the Wasta system.  On these pages is the extra knowledge you would need to set up a Wasta system and help others maintain their language work.

The Consultant could be an expatriate or a well trained PNGan national specialist serving in a consultant/advisor position.  This, in fact, is the future of the work, at least in PNG Branch in the Pacific Area.  Just as with the language worker persona, Wasta tries to hide a lot of complexity from the Consultant User, such that he/she does not really have to think about underpinnings of the OS and how things work.  The consultant can concentrate on teaching the end user aspects of the language domain-- the real work at hand--  and how to use certain tools.

The System Setup:  What is Expected of You

Since you will be the expert in Wasta for another, there are certain skills (outlined here) that you should be familiar with.  Certain basic operations, and even "hidden commands" that the normal language worker would not know about.  You will be the one most likely to setup and support many of our National Training Centre (NTC) students in certain classroom environments related to your specific domain.

Since you might be the one to actually teach someone a skill related to technology then you are expected to "turn on" the presentation of the tool, in a "just in time" manner, perhaps as part of your duties for a course of instruction.  So for example, the normal Wasta email program, called Thunderbird, would normally be fully installed but totally hidden from a user, until the time has come to "teach" this user how to do email.  It is assumed that the consultant/ advisor would know how to add Thunderbird to the presentation in Wasta and make a simple icon on the desktop facilitate that activity in the future.  In a similar way, you, as consultant should know how to make changes to the user's desktop;  to add an icon to the desktop to launch and application, or to add a menu item in the main menu.  You should also be able to "hide" an application, if you feel that having that application "present" poses a threat to the success of the language worker and his or her work.  You are the judge of such things, and the helpful advisor for the language programme.

The Basics

How to see all the applications installed in Wasta

Ideally, the Language Worker only "sees" the applications that he/she has been taught in class.  All other applications would be normally hidden from the desktop and also the Main Menu.  At any time you can launch the Main Menu by clicking on the "Menu" item on the toolbar, or press the "Windows key" on computers that have such a key on their keyboards.  So, as you approach Wasta for the end user, the full menu of applications that are actually present might already be suppressed and appear to be unavailable.

Of the few "secret" commands that the Consultant would know about, one is called Wasta-menus config.  You could type this under a terminal window (Ctrl + Alt + T), or quickly by pressings the Alt + F2 keys together at a "Run Prompt" command dialog

Adding an Icon to the Desktop

So, the first thing we would want to do for NTC students is modify the desktop to only present two useful programs: Paratext and LibreOffice Writer. The simplified screen would look something like this:

 

 

Choose the desired interface language
Choose the desired interface language

Note that only two icons are present, ready to click, however a dozen more programs are actually "ready to go" someday, once the end user is trained for them.  In our NTC courses, most of the instruction centers around either Paratext oriented tasks, or the ability to write a memo in a simple Word Processor.  So these are the only icons we want in "default" mode for now.

But what if you want to add a new Desktop icon, say "Adapt It" to the desktop? 

Menu Right Click Item To Desktop 635

Click on "Menu" item in lower left toolbar  (Alternative: press the Windows key)

Observe all the installed programs in the system, and their categories.  Find "Adapt It" and right click.  Finally select "Add to desktop" and you are done.  Note that any icon can also be placed to the favorites bar, or the vertical section on the left hand side here. The "panel" refers to the "toolbar" at the bottom of the display area.  You can "click drag" any desktop icon to a new position on the desktop and it should stay in place for next time.

The Standard "Run-Command" Prompt

In Wasta pressing these keys Alt + F2 will give the standard "Run command prompt".  Any number of command scripts and programs can be started this way.  The commands that run programs are normally entered with all lower case letters. For instance, the mail program, Thunderbird could be launched by typing in that program name as thunderbird.  It is important for the Consultant to remember this option, to be able to issue certain helpful commands.  For example, the Language Workers does not really need to know where the data files are in the system and therefore the file manager called "nemo" is hidden from view.  But for the Consultant, there might be a task that he/she wants to perform and needs the Nemo file manger to do the work.  So, if one wanted to file manager launched easily, you could press Alt + F2 followed by nemo and Enter in the prompt supplied.

Launch Nemo 440

The command line dialog looks like that shown above.  Any program or script can be launched this way, plus there are certain "secret" commands discussed below that the Consultant should know about.  These useful tools (commands) have been made for the Consultant already, but are "hidden" from the Language Worker.

Wasta Menus: Hiding Standard Menu Items

There are two hidden commands under Wasta-custom-png that affect the display of menu items and their categories.  There is a "standard set" of available programs in the system, the Consultant would normally want to suppress most of them using a command system called "wasta-menus".  These commands can be run either from a terminal session (simultaneously key-presses Ctrl + Alt + T or the Alt + F2 run prompt shown above.

You have 2 main commands:

1) wasta-menus config

Type Alt + F2 to get the run command prompt, then type wasta-menus config and press the Enter key. Before allowing you to access Wasta Menus Configuration the Wasta system will ask you to enter the password for the computer user:

Authentication Needed To Run Wasta Application

Enter the password for the computer you are working on and click on the "Authenticate" button. The Wasta Menus Configuration dialog will appear. This is a nice little dialog box for ENABLING, DISABLING, or REMOVING a user's Wasta Menus.  More on what a "wasta-menu" is below.

 

Wasta Menus Config

Of the many Linux programs that are presented as a default under Wasta, the Consultant can now suppress a set of these which will no longer display when Wasta-Menus is switched on.  Click the "ON" button to turn on the Wasta Menus, then click OK. If you want to revert to the "normal" or the default settings for Wasta-custom-png, then turn Wasta-menus "OFF".

 

After Wasta Menus 646

The result of Wasta-Menus turned "ON" above.

Notice how many standard applications have been removed from display here.  But not all.  The developers felt that the remaining set of applications might be more common to all Language Workers and now the Consultant and Language Worker can work from this reduced set of possibilities.  This is also a safety net of sorts, keeping more dangerous utilities far away from the Language user and even the Consultant user.  The Consultant would normally know the hidden commands for adjusting menu items, but now even those more dangerous applications have been suppressed, even helping the Consultant not to make drastic mistakes.

2) wasta-menus add-app

Type Alt + F2 to get the run command prompt, then type wasta-menus add-app and press the Enter key. Here again, before allowing you to access Wasta Menus Configuration the Wasta system will ask you to enter the password for the computer. This second command wasta-menus add-app allows the Consultant to add a menu item and change its display status.

 

Wasta Menus Add App

The above illustration, show how to add the Character Map application from normal Linux, by putting a tick in the check box next to the Character Map application.

This is the GUI to add additional apps to a user's "Wasta Menus".  After you "add an application" the system already knows what category of application it is for the menu system.  A category example found under the Main Menu would be "education".

Further Reductions or Simplifications:  The Minimalist Presentation

What if you want to subtract other menu items at this point.  For the PNG Branch, NTC courses, the teaching philosophy is to only display in the Wasta menu system those tools that have been taught adequately to the students.  Some "first-time before a computer", students, can be easily overwhelmed with "too many choices".  These are users who have just barely learned how to manipulate a mouse and are, for example, studying "Basic View" in Paratext, while doing a primitive vernacular data example of Genesis chapter 1.  We might want to remove even more options on the menu for such users, because they have not yet learned how to do, say email, which would involve Thunderbird training.

So even with Wasta Menus turned "ON" we might want to suppress even more standard programs.

To perform Main Menu and sub-menu (category) editing, start by right-clicking on the Menu button (lower left corner of the screen) and select the Configure... option. The following dialog appears:

 

Open Menu Editor 1 802

Then click on the "Open the menu editor" button as shown above. The following dialog will appear:

 

Open Menu Editor 2 677

This dialog presents the various categories and programs that are shown under the present Main Menu. You can navigate to see the menu items by clicking on the categories listed in the left pane of the dialog. The items that appear in the right pane are the various programs displayed for that category under the present Main Menu.  Items that have ticks in their check boxes are the ones that Wasta Menus now allows you to see, unless you have that feature turned off (the tick removed).  In this example, we are turning off the display of Firefox because we don't really want the end user going to the Internet to Browse on a mobile phone network that costs per megabyte of use.  But we are planning to teach the user how to do email, on the same phone network using a Digimodem or a Smart-Phone with data services.

 

Minimal Main Menu 840

Above is the "bare bones" Minimalist presentation of Wasta with most of the remaining programs suppressed or not displayed by the Main Menu.  (Note: as of this writing, one cannot easily remove the "lock screen" icon on the left)

For the National Training Courses (NTC) we plan to have a standard "Wasta-custom-png-uka" live-distro that will be rather minimalist in approach, and the Consultants will be able to add programs back into the GUI presentation as needed with a simple check-box as shown here.  We explain how to do this here in this section, the Consultant's section.  Note that thus far, the Consultant does not need to know anything about the "deep level" structure of Linux at all, to setup Wasta for another Language Worker.

Intermediate Tasks

Hidden "Consultant" Level Commands

We have already mentioned a few of the "secret" Consultant level commands:

  • wasta-menus-conf
  • wasta-menus add-app

TODO: Illustrate other consultant level commands

 

Creating an Auto-Logon Service for the Language Worker

It's possible that for some user scenarios, the Consultant feels that teaching how to Log in is an unnecessary challenge for the Language Worker and especially if there is only one worker, and the language machine is reasonably secure.... This section shows how to suppress the normal logon prompt at boot time.  If this is desirable in your situation, then the procedure is as follows:

First you will need to turn "OFF" wasta-menus.  See the section in this manual on how to do that.

This will allow you to select programs that are normally hidden from the Language Worker.

Then look under the Main Menu:  Administration > User Accounts - Gnome.   Click the User Accounts - Gnome to launch that app.

Autologin 1 780

The "automatic login" status cannot be changed or switched to a new state without first unlocking the dialog.  That is shown here by clicking on the "Unlock" button in the upper right hand corner.  You will be prompted for the computer user's password to proceed further.

Autologin 2 744

Click on the button switch next to "Automatic Login" to turn it ON. Now the Automatic Login button (toggle) is enabled for use (orange indication turned on).  Click on the button to toggle the state, ON or OFF as you desire.

Finally, go back and click the "Lock" button, in the upper right corner of the dialog box.

Note that suppressing the normal Logon prompt for the user, does NOT mean there is no password for that user's account.  There IS a password necessary for certain important tasks to be performed.  The auto-logon simply automates the start-up of a new session by supplying the correct password, automatically.  The goal here is making life "simple" for the end user, but obviously we are increasing certain security risks by doing this.  The Consultant is the judge of the given language situation and the familiarity with computing principles by the Language Worker.

Finally, you will want to go back and enable wasta-menus back "ON" (see wasta-menus config above) to suppress all those many programs the Language Worker does not need to know about.  The Main Menu will return to the simplified settings that the Consultant has previously set up.

How to Update Software easily by Memory Stick or External Hard Drive

One of the most powerful new features of Wasta is the ability to do a simple upgrade of ALL the user's software applications, plus Wasta itself, and without disturbing their language data, and WITHOUT the necessity of a good Internet connection.  In fact, we can do this without the Internet entirely. 

The system for his is called "Wasta-offline" and the software to help you is already present to run in any version of Wasta.  You will be supplied with a memory stick or an external USB hard drive by the Technician for your area, or perhaps you yourself will have created a wasta-offline memory stick for various teams that you support.  The instructions for preparing your own are under the "Advanced" section of this Handbook for the Consultant. But once again, if creating the wasta-offline is too hard, then get the Technician to create one for you.

The memory stick or external hard drive has pre-loaded all the updates for the various software packages that the user already has installed in Wasta. The developers of open source software are continuously updating their software to improve it and to fix any bugs or security issues. Therefore, keeping your software up to date can involve downloading a lot of large files from the Internet, if you had adequate Internet access. If you DO have adequate (and relatively inexpensive) Internet access then you do not need to use the wasta-offline system. However, most of the users within PNG and the greater Pacific Islands are not going to be in such a situation.

To start, insert the latest wasta-offline mem stick or external drive that contains the latest software upgrades already installed.

Usb Mem Stick 600

The wasta-offline program should automatically run within about 10 seconds after you plug in the mem stick or external drive. If the wasta-offline program starts automatically skip down to the section called "When wasta-offline starts automatically" below.

Starting wasta-offline manually

In some cases wasta-offline may not start up automatically. This might be the case if the user's computer has an early version of Wasta, or is running some other version of Linux, on which wasta-offline has not yet been installed.

Type key combination Alt + F2 to receive a pop-up run command prompt  (you can enter any number of commands this way without using a terminal window)
 

Wasta Offline Start 420

If you do not get a response, it may be that wasta-offline is not yet installed on your computer. If this is the case you will need to install the wasta-offline program on the local computer before you can proceed. In most cases, the memory stick or external hard drive should have a copy of the program on its root directory. If you find it there it should be called something like wasta-offline_0.1.18_i386.deb or wasta-offline_0.1.18_amd64.deb. You should be able to double click on the appropriate deb file to install wasta-offline on your system. Once you have installed wasta-offline continue with the instructions below.

After typing in the secret command "wasta-offline", you will be prompted for the computer user's admin password:

Wasta Offline Authentication Required Password

Enter the computer user's admin password for this computer.

 

Wasta Offline1 500

The first dialog box above, warns you that you will soon be asked where on the system to find the update files. You should have the memory stick already inserted into the USB port on the side of your machine, so you can proceed with the "Yes" button at this point.

 

Wasta Offline2 842

Normally the wasta-offline program will be able to find the location of the wasta-offline folder on the memory stick or external USB drive, and it will be automatically selected as shown in the dialog above.  If no wasta-offline folder is automatically selected, you need to navigate (in the left pane) to the name of the memory stick or external hard drive that you inserted and find the folder "wasta-offline" (in the main window pane) which already has all the files representing all the libraries of updates from the Internet, but previously copied onto this memory stick/external drive.  In the example above, the name of the memory stick is called "BRI-LEXAR", and often the "wasta-offline" folder, if present, will already be selected for you.  If not, then you go ahead and select this folder.  Finish by clicking the "OK" button.

When wasta-offline starts automatically

In most cases wasta-offline will start automatically within a few seconds after a the wasta-offline memory stick or external hard drive is plugged in. The first thing you will see is an authentication dialog:

Wasta Offline Authentication Required Password

After entering the password the first dialog you will see is the "wasta Offline" dialog shown below:

Wasta Offline3 502

This dialog might seem redundant since there is only one button to click here before proceeding.  But on some systems with adequate Internet access, you might want to get software updates from BOTH the memory stick (first priority) and directly from the Internet, in cases where there are software updates that you know are available over the Internet but are not available on the memory stick or external hard drive. On systems with Internet access this dialog box will look something like this:

 

Wasta Offline3b 502

And the Consultant is expected to select which mode is best. In some countries the Internet is available, but the cost per Megabyte download is rather expensive.  Other countries the Internet is relatively free to download updates. So, on such systems with Internet present there would be an additional radio button (shown above) to choose as an option.

In our example far above... we are simply loading all updates from a relatively small memory stick, and so we simply click the "OK" button.  The processing step next will go relatively quickly.

But for many remote users having access to a FULL wasta-offline mirror, (indicated by a very large USB portable hard-drive), they won't have Internet access at the time they do their software update from the external USB mirror, so the first dialog (the one with just the OFFLINE ONLY option) is normally what they will see.  This is the typical scenario for the remote Manus Island Language Workers within PNG.

When the Consultant clicks on the OK button. The wasta-offline program then does some work in the background for a short period of time (temporarily replacing the user's sources.list file with one that points to the external USB mirror or the USB memory stick, rather than the remote Internet repositories, and then starts inventorying the updates that are available). The background work being done (using a FULL mirror) can take a minute or two, so to let the user know that something is happening the following two dialogs are shown temporarily as progress indicators during the background processes:

 

Wasta Offline Progress 1 666

The above progress indicator appears for anywhere from 20 seconds up to about 2 minutes, showing the different repositories that are being scanned and "added" from the external mirror. As soon as the scanning process is complete the following progress indicator appears for about 6-12 seconds (with elapsed time changing until complete):

Wasta Offline Progress 2 502

As soon as the background work is done the progress indicators automatically disappear and the following message is presented to the user:

 

Wasta Offline4 502

At this point we are ready to do what appears to be a "normal" update procedure.  Important: You must leave this dialog "open" and unfinished as you go on to the next steps.  Wasta-offline has basically re-arranged the expected places to find updates at this point, but if you "Finish" too early, then the system reverts back to its original mode of looking for updates off the Internet instead.

There are many ways to "update" in Wasta Linux, but here we will describe the tool called "Update Manager" which is a very common way to upgrade software packages in the Ubuntu/Wasta Linux systems. 

It is possible that the Technician for your project has given out a USB memory stick with useful updates for you to "download" (really transfer) over to the Language Worker's computer.  It's also possible, that the entire Ubuntu/Mint repository of possible software has been given to you instead.  If such a "mirror" of the Internet has been given, then instead of a small memory stick, there will be a larger USB powered portable hard-drive given. This copy or "mirror" of the Internet files, could be as large as 280 Gigabytes! Quite large indeed.

 

Wasta Offline Initate Manager 432

Above:  The Consultant has hovered his/her mouse pointer over the Update Manager icon found on the lower right corner of the desktop.  The system is reporting back there are 12 recommended updates available and they are a 72 MB in total.  This is the how large a transfer would have occurred over the Internet, if you had used that approach.

A single click on the shield shaped icon (see above image) starts up the Update Manager. Prior to running the Update Manager asks the user for his password for authentication (the user did this above when wasta-offline starts up, but needs to do it again here, since the Update Manager is part of the system acting independently of wasta-offline):

Wasta Offline Authentication Required Password

After authenticating click on the OK button. The Update Manager will appear and may look something like this:

Wasta Offline Update Manager 800

Above: The Update Manager dialog, with lots of details about various package (program) updates.

The user then interacts with the Update Manager which might look something similar to this depending on the updates that are available from the offline mirror or the USB memory stick.  At this point the user need only click on the "Install Updates" button in the toolbar at the top of the dialog. The Update Manager remains in the background and "downloads" the necessary updates from the memory stick or attached external USB drive as indicated by this progress indicator.

Wasta Offline Progress Indicator 452

and then the above indicator disappears and it installs the software updates, as indicated by this progress indicator:

Wasta Offline Install Software Indicator 476

and when all software updates have been completed, the indicators are gone and this dialog is displayed:

Wasta Offline Update Complete 301

When the user clicks on the "Close" button, the Update Manager automatically closes too, leaving the still-open message box the user saw at the beginning of the update process (and left open during the software updates):

Wasta Offline4 2 502

Finally, this dialog should still be open.  Click "Finish" button to complete the process and close the above message. At this point the system has returned back to "normal" and will look for updates, as before, by using the Internet. If the system were somehow brought to a town and connected, then it would already be ready to receive downloads and updates via the Internet. Since the user just completed the update process, they can "Safely Remove" the external USB hard drive mirror or the USB memory stick.  ("Safely Remove" usually means a left mouse click operation, however usually such drives can just be unplugged from the USB port, without any problems)

Wasta Linux Has Many Regional Versions

The standard distribution media is a bootable USB memory stick inserted into any notebook or laptop.  It is always possible to do all work running completely off the USB memory stick and even have language data preserved, however you will find the Wasta system quite sluggish in this mode.  Better to test first that everything is working well with the given hardware, and then go ahead and install Wasta onto the target machine.

There are many regional versions of Wasta distributed at a certain level.  So example there is a "base" version of Wasta for Northern India that might be different in some aspects than the one designed for the PNG Branch in the Pacific.  Further there might be a very specific version in support of the National Training Centre (NTC) students in support of standard course work.  So, for the purposes of this Handbook section, be sure you have the proper version of Wasta for your region.  Examples in the PNG context would be "Wasta-custom-png-uka" for NTC students, and "Wasta-custom-png-manus" for all the language teams that use Wasta on the province of Manus Island.

The advantage of the "regional variants" of Wasta are many, but the administrator can concentrate on having only the necessary, most useful applications, pre-installed on the distribution memory stick, ready to work, and there can be customizations in the library of installed, usable language keyboards that are "ready-to-go" once Wasta is installed on the target notebook.

Advanced Tasks

The Concept of "Admin" privileges

This concept is not new to modern MS Windows users, but some Windows systems have the user always running with higher privileges and therefore very vulnerable to virus attacks.  All that in the name of "convenience" for the end users.  In the Wasta or Linux world, this is simply not allowed and goes a long ways to defeating rogue virus attacks.  But this means that the consultant must learn a few new tricks along the way, to help the end user.

Launching a Terminal Window

At any time you may press the Ctrl Alt T keys together to launch a Terminal Window:

 

Press the Ctrl, Alt and T keys to launch a Terminal Window
Press the Ctrl, Alt and T keys to launch a Terminal Window

The Terminal window looks similar to this:

A Terminal Window
A Terminal Window

If you know the Linux OS that Wasta is built upon, many powerful commands are at your disposal from the Terminal Window, leading you to "Technician" status in terms of abilities (See the Technician Guide). 

We mention it here in for completeness.  Normally the Consultant does not really need to run Linux commands in a Terminal Window, or even the "secret" commands this way, but rather can use the Alt + F2 Standard Run dialog instead.

File Management Using Nemo

if the Consultant needed to copy over language data files to move the data to a new computer, then he/she would want to know the basic file structure of Wasta, and where to copy the data files from, in the hierarchical file system of Linux.  For this you would need to know Nemo, but you will find it very much like the MS Windows Explorer utility in Windows.  The new part is understanding just where the common data files might live on the system.

The features of the Nemo File Manager are covered in the Language Worker's Manual. Below are links to the specific sections of the Language Worker's Manual. Click on a topic below to go to that part of the tutorial in the Language Worker's Manual. After you read the tutorial topic you can click on your browser's Go Back button to return to this part of the Consultant-Advisor Manual:

Preparing and Updating a wasta-offline memory stick for regional software updates

If a memory stick (or an external hard drive) has already been prepared and updated, the instructions for using it to update Wasta machines in a remote area are given in the section above titled: How to Update Software easily by Memory Stick.

This section describes how you as a consultant can use the wasta-offline-setup program to prepare a memory stick with a wasta-offline local-cache that can be used to accumulate software updates from one or more already updated computers. The memory stick can then be carried to a remote area (without good/inexpensive Internet access) and plugged in to one or more wasta machines to update their software (offline) using the wasta-offline program.

(to be written)

Installing Wasta onto a New Machine

As a consultant it is quite possible that someday you will be called upon to receive the latest Wasta for your region and install it for the Language Worker.  This is the person that presumably you are there to help in the Language Programme.  BUT, most likely, your prior computer experiense is with MS Windows and not Linux Mint (the foundation of Wasta), and therefore the basic procedures for a "fresh" install of Wasta will be foreign, and maybe intimidating.  Have no fear... it is relatively easy to do.... but different as you will see below.

Initial Preparations:  Tasks in Common

The following steps assume you have a USB flash drive containing an appropriate Wasta Linux installer. It can be one that was prepared as described at the Wasta Linux Homepage at:

http://itconnect.info/group/linux-desktop/page/wasta-linux

Ask a Wasta technician to create a bootable USB flash drive for you if you don't have access to one. The above web site tells "How to creat a bootable USB from an ISO Image" (see *** NOTE 1 of the discussion there). These procedures assume you have already created, or have access to, a Wasta Linux installer on a bootable USB thumb drive.

Boot to a "Live Session" of Wasta Linux

Read through this whole paragraph before trying to boot the computer. Insert the Wasta Linux Installer USB flash drive into the computer and start up the computer with your fingers poised over the function keys so that you can press the proper function key to access the boot order menu - before Windows starts to boot. The proper key to press to interrupt the normal boot process varies with different computers. It is usually the F12 key, but could be F2, the Enter key or some other key. Some Lenovo computers allow you to press the Enter key to "interrupt" the boot process and change the boot device. Usually the first power-on screen will tell what keys can be used to get into a boot order menu or the setup menu. You want to get into the boot order menu so that you can tell the computer to boot from the USB thumb drive instead of from the computer's hard drive. Note: On some computers it is necessary to first boot into the BIOS settings and set the boot order there to allow booting from a USB drive. This step wasn't necessary with the Lenovo x130e or x131e computers, but it might be necessary with some other computers. When the initial boot sequence has successfully recognized the USB drive, it will show the boot options menu that appears as follows:

 

The Live Boot Menu
The Live Boot Menu

Note: The title of the menu at the top will vary depending on the version of the Linux system on the USB stick.

Normally, the first menu item "live - boot the Live System" will be selected for booting to a "Live" session of Wasta Linux. This is the one to choose if not already selected. If you do not change the selection this live boot option will automatically start after about 10 seconds. Press Enter at this menu to boot to a live session - the boot process will continue for a few minutes until the computer has booted to your "Live" Wasta Linux session. The Live Wasta Linux session desktop should look like this:

 

Live session desktop with install icon
Live session desktop with install icon

Note: If the Wasta Linux installer has been customized, the background may display a different picture or image with different desktop icons.

If the desktop has overlapping icons, you can right-click on the desktop and select “Organize Desktop by Name” to straighten out the arrangement of the desktop icons and to ensure that none of them are overlapping.

If you have already resized your main Windows partition you don't need to do the next section. You can skip down to the Install Wasta Linux in the Free Space Created from the Windows Partition section, and continue with the instructions from that point on.

Ensure your Computer's Hardware Functions Properly Under Wasta Linux

Once this "Live" session of Linux has appeared, your computer is running Linux entirely from the external USB flash drive - no changes have been made to the computer's own operating system at this point. You can now explore the Linux system. Check out whether Linux has detected the basic computer hardware and ensure that the Linux system has assigned the proper Linux drivers for things like the screen display, wireless network connections, keyboard, sound, mouse, printer, etc.

You should check out the screen appearance and resolution to see if its brightness looks OK and the screen resolution is set to the machine's normal maximum setting. To make this check go to Menu > Preferences > Displays and the Displays dialog will appear:

 

Check the Screen Resolution in the Displays dialog
Check the Screen Resolution in the Displays dialog

Look at the "Resolution" drop down list, and note the reported resolution. It should be set to its max resolution for the computer. If the optimal screen resolution is not automatically set, a technician may need to install some video drivers on your computer to get the best display resolution.

Check out other things too, such as the ability to connect to any wireless system that the Windows system was using when booted to Windows. If the Windows computer used wireless to connect to a network, see if the wireless signal is detected by clicking on the wireless icon in the lower right part of the panel (task bar):

 

Wireless connection icon
Wireless connection icon

Most laptop computers have a wireless adapter. If your computer has a wireless adapter, make sure it is turned on and also that your wireless access point/router is turned on. Clicking on the panel's icon (shown above) should generate a list of detected wireless access points that looks similar to this:

 

A list of wireless connections
A list of wireless connections

If the desired wireless network name is listed in the popup menu click on it, and enter any key that is needed for the wireless security setting when the Linux system asks for it:

 

Enter the access key to connect to the wireless network
Enter the access key to connect to the wireless network

If the wireless key is long and complicated, you can click on the "Show password" box to see the actual password text as you type it in. When finished click on the "Connect" button. After a few seconds you should see the "Connection Established" notification:

 

A brief notification message will appear when the connection is established
A brief notification message will appear when the connection is established

Once you have a connection to the wireless access point/router, ensure that it can access the network or the Internet. You can check for a good Internet connection by starting the Firefox browser (Menu > Internet > Firefox Web Browser), and entering something like www.google.com in the browser's address box. The Google search site should appear if you have a good connection.

Go to Menu > Administration > System Information and click on the Summary topic:

 

Note the amount of Memory in Megabytes (MB)
Note the amount of Memory in Megabytes (MB)

Write down the amount of Memory under the Computer section and the screen Resolution detected under the Display section. In the above example the amount of memory is listed as 11999MB which can be rounded to 12000MB. You will need to refer to this figure later during the installation of Wasta Linux.

You may wish to check out how other features are working on your computer, such as the screen brightness settings. Some computers can adjust the brightness using a combination of the Fn key and one or two of the function keys (Lenovo Thinkpads use Fn + F8 to decrease the brightness, and Fn + F9 to increase the brightness).

Deciding How to Install Wasta Linux

If you have decided to install Wasta Linux on your computer, you will usually have two main options:

Deciding which type of installation is an important decision. Today Wasta Linux has nearly all the software programs that might be needed in a typical language and translation program. We recommend that you back up all your documents and other important files to an external hard drive or to some other secure place, and then install Wasta Linux as the only operating system on your computer. In this case the Windows operating system will be completely deleted from your computer, and Wasta Linux will take its place. After installation, the documents and other important files that you backed up can be copied back over to the new Wasta Linux installation on your computer.

How do you decide if you should install Wasta Linux as the only operating system on your computer? A Wasta-Only installation might be the better option if any of the following are true of your situation:

  • If your computer has Windows XP on it. Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft with updates and security fixes so it will rapidly become a significant security problem.
  • If your computer does not have at least 15GB of unused space on its hard drive and you want to try Linux.
  • If you are tired of having your computer threatened by viruses, trojans, and other security issues, and tired of having its performance degraded by anti-virus programs running in the background, and tired of being distracted by fragile, sluggish Windows Updates.
  • If you are tired of being locked in to one proprietary vendor - paying a high price to Microsoft for licenses to use their operating systems and software, and find it difficult in your region to even find non-priated copies of Windows software.
  • If you want to identify with those who treasure the freedom we have while living and working in the world of Linux and open source software, and enjoy being able to give valuable software tools away to your friends without being hindered by restrictive licensing agreements.

If you want to make Wasta Linux your only operating system on this computer you can go ahead and follow the instructions below for Installing Wasta Linux as the Only Operating System.

How do you decide if a dual boot installation is a better option for your situation? A dual boot installation might be better if all of the following are true of your situation:

  • If there are certain must-have Windows programs that you are certain have no equivalent on Linux.
  • If your must-have Windows program cannot be run within Linux using the Wine emulator.
  • if you have at least 15GB of free space on your hard drive (preferably more).

If all of the above are true of your situation, then you may decide to install Wasta Linux as a "Dual Boot" option. In order to install Linux alongside Windows we must shrink down the size of the disk partition(s) devoted to Windows to make space to install Wasta Linux and to also have space to create new data in the space reserved for Linux. If you want to preserve your Windows operating system, and have the option to boot into Wasta Linux, you can go ahead and follow the instructions below for Installing Wasta Linux to Dual Boot with Windows.

Regardless of which installation method you have decided on, in the instructions below we will tell when you get to the "Point Of No Return", that is, the point at which proceeding further will actually make permanent changes to your system. Before you get to the point of no return, you will always be able to cancel or quit the installation process without making any changes to your existing computer's system and its files.

IMPORTANT: You should always back up your important files before continuing with either type of installation.

Installing Wasta as a "Dual Boot" machine leaving MS Windows in Parallel

Before Installing Wasta we must Resize the Main Windows Partition

To make room for the Wasta Linux system, we need to "shrink" the main Windows partition on the computer. The Linux GParted program can handle this operation without destroying any data or Windows system files, but the process requires care to ensure that it is done properly. The installer has an option that will attempt to automatically shrink the Windows system and install Wasta Linux along with Windows into a dual-boot configuration, but it uses some default values for partitions and partition sizes that may not be appropriate for every situation, so I will here describe how to use GParted manually to get both Windows and Wasta Linux configured as you want it to be done. The steps that follow assume you are still running in a "live - boot" session. Remember you can safely go through steps a through e below without any permanent changes being done to the computer. Before you do step f, you will have a chance to abort the installation process without making any changes to the computer.

a. Start the GParted program by clicking on Menu > Administration > GParted. Enter your password when prompted.

b. GParted shows a graphical representation of the existing partitions on the primary hard drive (/dev/sda), with each partition detailed within the table below the graphical representation. The screen will look similar to this:

 

GParted showing partitions of a typical Windows installation. The sda2 partion is displayed in the graphic above the partition list
GParted showing partitions of a typical Windows installation. The sda2 partion is displayed in the graphic above the partition list

Note that on a Windows computer, there will often be several partitions with "ntfs" shown as their Type in the "File System" column in the list of partitions. All partitions with "ntfs", "fat32" or "fat" Type are Windows partitions.

In Linux, each partition is located on a "device". All partitions are identified with a number at the end of the device name, so you will see partitions named /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda3, etc. In the "File System" column of this table, the computer's Windows partitions will be listed as "ntfs". Other columns of the table represent the "Label", "Size", "Used", "Unused", and "Flags". All this information helps us to decide how to shrink Windows to make space for adding Linux partitions. For a computer that comes with Windows 7, there may likely be 3 partitions already in use and occupying all of the hard drive's space. Those Windows partitions might be labeled something like "SYSTEM_DRV", "Windows7_OS", and "Lenovo_Recovery". Look at the "Size" and "Flags" column values.

The partition that Windows 7 uses as its "boot" partition is identified as "boot" in the "Flags" column, and it will probably be at least 1.4GB in Size. There will likely also be a partition labeled as a "...Recovery" partition which will probably be in the tens of Gigabytes in Size (our Lenovos have a 15-20GB "Lenovo_Recovery" partition). Most of the remaining hard drive space will belong to the main "Windows_OS" partition which may be several hundred GB in Size, depending on the capacity of the hard drive itself. The label names for the partitions and how many partitions are used can vary by manufacturer. (Note: You might see an ntfs partition indented under an "extended" file system - which is a logical partition that can contain one or more additional partitions. Hence one or more of the Windows' ntfs partitions may be located within an "extended" logical partition. A computer can have up to 4 primary partitions, but one of those must be reserved as an "extended" partition in order to act as a "logical" container for cases when one wishes to add additional partitions to the hard drive. Windows has to boot from a primary partition, but Linux can boot from either a primary or an extended partition. We will consider more factors about partitions below.).

c. Highlight the main Windows partition by clicking on that row of the table. It will normally be the "ntfs" partition that is the largest partition, and should have the most available unused space shown in the "Unused" column. On Windows 7 systems it may be labeled as "Windows7_OS". If the Windows' largest partition has less than 15GB of unused space there really isn't enough space left on the Windows system to shrink Windows down and allow enough space to install the Linux partitions and store documents and other files. If that is the case, then you should quit now, you will not be able to install Wasta Linux to dual boot along with Windows. As far as the installation of Wasta Linux on this computer, your only options would be to:

  • Remove unnecessary files (such as space-consuming videos) and/or programs from your Windows computer to leave at least 15GB of unused space on it for creating a dual boot system.
  • Replace the hard drive on the computer with a larger hard drive, transferring the Windows image from the old hard drive to the new larger one, creating enough unused space on the hard drive.
  • Forget about Windows! Just use Wasta Linux on this computer. Installing Wasta Linux will be easier too if you remove Windows entirely from your system. If you opt to do this, skip to the instructions for Installation Instructions for Installing Wasta Linux as the Only Operating System.

d. With the main Windows partition highlighted (the "ntfs" partition that is the largest partition with the most unused space), click on the "Partition" menu and select the "Resize/Move" menu option. If the "Resize/Move" menu item is grayed out for the highlighted partition, it means that one of the following conditions exist:

  • The Windows partition needs to be "Unmounted" before the Resize operation can be done (select "Unmount" from the Partition menu. Afterwards select "Resize/Move" from the Partition menu),

  • There is not enough space on the partition to change its size, or

  • Creating free space from that partition will not result in usable space due to the number and type of partitions that already exist. If the main Windows partition has plenty of unused space, you may need to delete a non-critical partition such as the "...Recovery" partition before you can execute a "Resize/Move" operation to get usable free space (select the "...Recovery" partition then do Partition > Delete). Remember: At this point no actual changes have been made to your Windows partitions. You can still Cancel at any time without making any changes up until you click on the "Apply All Operations" button on the tool bar (in step f below).

After you select the Resize/Move" option, You will see a dialog that shows a graphic of the partition being resized, followed by edit boxes that indicate the desired amount of "Free space preceding" the partition, the "New size" of the partition, and the "Free space following" the partition. The dialog will look similar to this:

 

The Resize/Move dialog before making free space
The Resize/Move dialog before making free space

Note that the "Free space preceding" and the "Free space following" values are initially set to zero. You will be shrinking this partition by making the "Free space following" size large enough to be able to create the Wasta Linux partitions.

e. Resize the right end of the main Windows partition to free up space. When a partition is resized, any existing files that are in the way have to be moved before the space can be made free. Since Windows tends to put its files at the beginning of the partition, it is usually faster to resize a partition so that its free space will be made at the "back" or "following" the newly sized partition. In such cases, fewer files will have to be moved out of the way to make the free space available. Look at the amount of "Unused" space, and decide how much of that unused space to leave with the Windows system, and how much of it can be devoted to Linux. For example, if there is 200GB of unused space on that partition, we could designate half or more to become free space for Linux, and the remaining unused space to stay with the existing Windows partition. You should leave enough space with Windows so that at least 10% of its remaining partition is unused space after the resize operation. There is a black arrow at the right end of the graphic representing the partition. You can drag that arrow towards the left with your mouse, thereby freeing up space at the right end of the partition. The values in the "New size" and the "Free space following" edit boxes adjust automatically. After you set the "Free space following" value to what you want, the dialog will look similar to this:

 

The Resize/Move dialog after dragging the right arrow left to free up about 60000 Megabytes of space at the right/back end of the main Windows partition
The Resize/Move dialog after dragging the right arrow left to free up about 60000 Megabytes of space at the right/back end of the main Windows partition

Click on the "Resize/Move" button to add this change to the "pending operations" list. Remember: At this point no actual changes have been made to your Windows partitions. You can still Cancel at any time without making any changes up until you click on the "Apply All Operations" button on the tool bar (in step f below).

f. Now you are at the all-important point of decision. If you are NOT sure you want to shrink the amount of space on your hard drive that is available to Windows, then you should select File > Quit from the GParted program now. If you really DO want to shrink your Windows partition to the New size (in order to install Wasta Linux along side Windows) you can continue. This operation will permanently reduce the size of your Windows partition. After making sure your settings are what you want, click on the "Apply All Operations" button in the tool bar. This button is in the toolbar near the top of the GParted main window with a green tick mark and looks like this:

 

Click on the green tick toolbar button to proceed with the Resize operation
Click on the green tick toolbar button to proceed with the Resize operation

The changes may take a long time to complete, especially if very many files have to be moved out of the way when freeing up space. Wait for the resize operation to complete. When the process is complete the display will show a new row in the table (and in the graphic) that says "unallocated" with its "Size" indicating the approximate space that is now free after the resize operation. We will use the unallocated space to create the Wasta Linux partitions, but first we should allow the Windows system to do some cleanup now that we have shrunk its partition.

Close the GParted program and restart the computer allowing Windows to boot up. Windows will start to boot and it should detect that its file system needs to be checked before it completes its boot up process. This check can take a while to complete. After Windows finishes its check and boots up, restart the computer a second time to make sure that Windows can boot up normally.

Now boot again using the Wasta Linux flash drive. You can follow the instructions above in the Boot to a "Live Session" of Wasta Linux section, then once the Live Session is running again and the Wasta Linux desktop is showing, continue here with the actual installation of Wasta Linux below.

Install Wasta Linux in the Free Space Created from the Windows Partition

Now we are ready to install Wasta Linux in the free space we made on the computer's hard drive in the previous steps. This section assumes that you have booted up the computer into the "live - boot" session of Wasta Linux, so that the live session desktop is showing on the computer:

 

The Wasta Linux Desktop showing with the Install icon (red arrow)
The Wasta Linux Desktop showing with the Install icon (red arrow)

The first action to actually install Wasta Linux in the free space you created on your system is to double click the "Install wasta Linux 14.04.1-64-bit 17" desktop icon:

 

Double Click on this icon to start the Wasta Installation Process
Double Click on this icon to start the Wasta Installation Process

and wait for first install wizard window to appear. It will be for selecting the language for the installation, and will look like this:

 

Choose your desired interface language
Choose your desired interface language

"English" should be selected by default. Click "Continue".

The next install wizard page appears for selecting the keyboard layout and will look as follows:

 

Choose your desired keyboard layout
Choose your desired keyboard layout

Select the appropriate keyboard layout for your computer. The Manus computers all have an English (US) keyboard layout, so ensure that "English (US)" is selected and click "Continue".

The next install wizard page will appear after the installer takes some time to check the available space on your computer. Its appearance will depend on whether it detects an available Internet connection (for downloading updates during the install process). This page will look similar to the following:

 

The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access
The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access

If your computer has the minimum required space, is plugged into a power source, and is connected to the Internet, all three items should have a green tick. The minimum you want to see here is the top two items checked with a green tick. The third item (available Internet connection) can be ticked or not - it is not critical to have an Internet connection available during installation - hence the third option can have an X beside it instead of a green tick mark. Click “Continue”.

If wireless networks are detected, but you did not set up a wireless connection earlier before starting the installation process, the next page will give you another chance to set your wireless up before proceeding with the installation. You can leave the button selected on this page that says “I don't want to connect to a wi-fi network right now.” (or give it the proper security key if it is now handy). Click “Continue”.

The next install wizard page wants to know how you want Wasta Linux to be installed on the computer, especially in relation to any existing operating system such as Windows - or a previous Linux installation(s). The appearance of this dialog will vary depending on what operating system(s) are already on the computer. If you are installing Wasta Linux on a computer that only has a Windows operating system this dialog may look similar to this:

 

Always select Something else
Always select Something else

The dialog may have two or three choices available. The first option is usually the default selection - but we will do something different - read on. The second option is usually worded to the effect of "Replace with Wasta Linux" or "Erase disk and install Linux Mint". Again, we will do something different whether or not we are setting up the computer for dual booting with Windows. The last option is worded as "Something else”. Regardless of what is initially selected we will select this last option, which allows us to view the Windows partitioning, the free space we made available, and determine the exact partitioning of the computer's hard disk for Wasta Linux within that free space (in the next step). Ensure this third option "Something else" is selected, then click “Continue”.

The install wizard now runs a partitioning program called Gparted. When it appears, it shows a graphical display of the existing partitions that are on the computer's hard drive. Its appearance and the number of partitions displayed in the dialog will depend on what partitions currently exist on the computer. You should see that there is now a large chunk of unallocated space that you made in step above - the result of shrinking the main Windows partition.

Before we proceed to the "Install Now" button click stage, we need to tell the partitioning software what Wasta Linux partitions we want it to create in the free space we made available earlier - along side the existing Windows partitions.

Note: Depending on how many primary partitions that Windows used, it may be necessary to create a new (extended) partition at this point in the unallocated space. If GParted calls the space "Unusable" instead of "Unallocated" or just "free space", then an existing Windows partition - such as the "Recovery" partition - would need to be deleted, allowing you to create a "new partition table" that can be used to contain the Linux partitions you are creating in the steps below. If you can highlight the "free space" line that appeared after shrinking the Windows partition, and the "Add" button is enabled, you should be good to go for the following steps!

When GParted appears it will look similar to this:

 

The Windows partitions are listed along with the free space we created for the installation of Wasta Linux
The Windows partitions are listed along with the free space we created for the installation of Wasta Linux

Set up the Swap partition:

Highlight the “free space” line (as shown in the illustration above)

Click on the "+" button which is the “Add” button. Another dialog will pop up that looks like this:

 

Enter 2000 (or the value of MB you determined which represents double the amount of RAM memory) in the Size box
Enter 2000 (or the value of MB you determined which represents double the amount of RAM memory) in the Size box

Highlight the existing number in the "Size" edit box, and change it to the number you wrote down earlier when you ran the Menu > Administration > System Information program and click on the "Summary" category and look under Memory to see how much memory is installed. If your existing RAM memory is 1000MB (1GB) you can enter double that number or 2000. If the existing RAM memory is 2000MB (2GB) you can enter the number 4000. If the existing RAM memory is 4000MB (4GB) you can enter 8000, etc. Ideally the size of the Swap partition should be double the amount of RAM memory expressed in Megabytes (MB), but the number of Megabytes you assign to this first partition (a Swap partition) is not critical. If you are unsure, just enter the number 2000.

Click on the long drop-down list button to the right of “Use As” and change the selection it to “swap area” (scroll down in list to select it near the bottom of the list).

The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

 

Select
Select

Click “OK”.

After a few seconds the swap partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table and you will see a "/dev/sdaN Swap ..." line in the chart where N is a number representing the new partition (in the illustration the swap is assigned to /dev/sda5 - your's may vary):

 

The swap appears as a new partition in the list, with the remaining free space highlighted
The swap appears as a new partition in the list, with the remaining free space highlighted

Set up the Root partition (where the system files will go):

Highlight the “free space” line (as shown in the illustration above)

Click on the "+" button which is the “Add” button. The "Create partition" dialog box pops up:

 

Enter 10000 for the Size value of the second (root) partition
Enter 10000 for the Size value of the second (root) partition

The "Type for the new partition" can be either Primary or Logical, whatever is automatically selected.

Change “Size” to 10000 MB (10GB). This 10000MB is the space we reserve for the Linux Root partition which will contain system files and programs, but no user data.

Leave the “Use As” box set to “Ext4 journaling file system”.

Change “Mount Point” to the / selection (just a forward slash). It is at top of the list. The / is the "root" designation in Linux systems. The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

 

Set the Mount Point to  /  (which is the root partition where the Linux system files are stored)
Set the Mount Point to / (which is the root partition where the Linux system files are stored)

Click "OK".

After a few seconds the root (/) partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table. (in the illustration the swap is assigned to /dev/sda6 - your's may vary). The partition table should look similar to the following:

 

The first two partitions we've assigned (swap and /) now appear in the partition table
The first two partitions we've assigned (swap and /) now appear in the partition table

Set up the home partition (where the user data will go):

Highlight the “free space” line (as shown in the illustration above)

Click on the "+" button which is the “Add" button. The "Create partition" dialog pops up:

 

Creating our third and final partition - the Size is set to use the remaining space - leave it unchanged
Creating our third and final partition - the Size is set to use the remaining space - leave it unchanged

Leave the "Size" box unchanged. It indicates the remaining space which we want to dedicate to this last partition.

Change the "Mount Point" to the /home selection. The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

 

Creating the third and last partition - the /home partition using all remaining space
Creating the third and last partition - the /home partition using all remaining space

Click "OK".

After a few seconds the /home partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table and you will see "/dev/sda7 /home ..." or something similar listed in the chart. The partition table should now look similar to the following:

 

All three Linux partitions have now been assigned - swap, / (root), and /home.
All three Linux partitions have now been assigned - swap, / (root), and /home.

Note: The partition numbers that you see in the partition table may be ordered out of sequence and may not seem to be exactly what I've described here. That's OK.

IMPORTANT: Take a close look at the "Device for boot loader Installation:" It should show as selected the computer's main hard disk (usually /dev/sda) with the hard disk's known capacity shown in parentheses. If the computer's main hard disk is not selected, click on the arrow at the right end of the box and make sure the main hard drive (or the drive Linux is to boot from) is selected. If you have doubts about installing Wasta Linux into the three partitions assigned in the above partition list, this is your last chance to abort the process by clicking on the "Quit" button. (If you Quit, no new partitions will be created and the free space you made from the main Windows partition will revert to being empty. That free space will not be available to Windows unless you use the GParted again and resize the main Windows ntfs partition to reclaim the unused space.)

Install the Linux Partitions in the Free Space on the Hard Drive

Finally, click on the “Install Now” button. The installation will start and present you with some configuration screens while the system does the partitioning, formatting and installation of the Wasta Linux system. There will be a series of information screens appear during the installation process.

The first configuration screen will be the “Where are you?” screen that looks like this:

 

Click on your location on the world map to set the time zone to your location (or a main city in your time zone)
Click on your location on the world map to set the time zone to your location (or a main city in your time zone)

Click on the general area of the world map where you are located. For Manus and other PNG users, the time zone that includes PNG should be highlighted, so that "Port Moresby" shows on the time zone selected.

Click “Continue”.

The next configuration screen is the Keyboard layout screen which looks like this:

 

Select the keyboard layout that matches the symbols on your computer's keyboard
Select the keyboard layout that matches the symbols on your computer's keyboard

Click “Continue” to use the “English (US)” keyboard as default, unless you have a different keyboard layout on your computer. Use a keyboard layout that matches the markings on your keyboard.

The next screen is the “Who are you?” screen which appears like this:

 

Fill in this information to establish your Linux username, password for administrative tasks, and your log in preference
Fill in this information to establish your Linux username, password for administrative tasks, and your log in preference

Fill in the requested data and password. The Manus computers use data that conforms to the following:

  • Your name: Use whatever name you want for the "Your name" box.
  • Your computer's name: Manus-JahaN (Manus team computers use the Manus-JahaN where N is a number from 1 to 15 as assigned to the team)
  • Pick a user name: Manus-JahaN
  • Choose a password: (secret-word)N (an easy-to-remember secret word for Manus people with the number suffixed that matches the user name's number suffix)
  • Confirm your password: (secret-word)N

It is recommended that you leave the default setting set to “Require my password to log in”. Wasta Linux will ask you to enter your password each time you start up Wasta Linux. Doing so is more secure as it prevents someone that you might not want to access your computer from gaining access to it. Entering it at each startup also helps you to remember the password. However, if you are not concerned about others gaining access to your computer, you can tick the button that is labeled: "Log in automatically". When Log in automatically is selected, the computer will boot to Wasta Linux without asking for your secret-word, but you will still need your password for administrative actions, such as updating or installing Linux software. You can change what type of Log in that is used after Wasta Linux is installed (changing the Login options are discussed in this section).

Click “Continue”.

The next screen starts up the computer camera (if present on your computer) to allow you to take a user photo if desired. This is optional. Click "Continue" or "Take photo" then "Continue".

Wait for the installation to complete. During the installation, the installer will display several screens in slide show fashion that give some general information about Linux Mint and what can be done with it, starting with this screen:

 

First of several slide showing what you can do with Linux. Below the slides is a progress bar showing the installation progress
First of several slide showing what you can do with Linux. Below the slides is a progress bar showing the installation progress

When the installation is finished a dialog will appear that looks like this:

 

Installation of Wasta Linux is finished
Installation of Wasta Linux is finished

Click on the "Restart Now" button, and remove the flash drive after the screen goes dark at reboot.

When the computer boots, it now has more than one operating system available to boot from: You will see a boot menu that looks similar to this:

 

An operating system boot menu will appear on dual-boot systems
An operating system boot menu will appear on dual-boot systems

Typing the Enter key, or simply letting the timer run down to zero will cause the computer to boot to the Linux Mint (Wasta) operating system (the first item in the list).

If you press any key (other than e or c) it will cause the count down timer to stop. You can use the up and down arrow keys to select the "Windows 7" selection and then press Enter to cause the computer to boot to the Windows system. Each time the computer boots, Linux Mint is the default operating system to boot into, unless you select the Windows 7 operating system at this boot menu. The "Recovery" option and the Memory Test options are operations that a Technician might need to use in case of more serious technical problems in the computer.

Since this is the first time to boot into the Wasta Linux system, the initial log in screen will look like this:

 

The initial Login screen. Click on your Username (in this case Manus-Jaha1) to select that user
The initial Login screen. Click on your Username (in this case Manus-Jaha1) to select that user

Click on your actual user name ("Manus-Jaha1" in the above case). The log in screen will change so that your user name will be automatically highlighted in future log ins, and it will just ask you for your password. The log in screen for future logins will look similar to this:

 

The usual Login screen asking for the password
The usual Login screen asking for the password

Enter the password you assigned for the user back during the installation configuration's "Who are you?" screen (secret-name1 in this case).

When the computer finishes your login process, the desktop will appear, which looks like the "Live session" desktop shown at the beginning of this document - except that there will not be an "Install ..." icon among the desktop icons, and the Wasta Linux system itself, of course, is now running from the computer's hard disk.

After Installation Setup

Once the system has started up, you can set the background image: Right-click on the desktop and select “Change Desktop Background”. Click on the little + button to add a background picture to the list. For the Manus computers, navigate to open the “Pictures” folder. Then, double-click on the "manus_jaha_background_images" folder. This folder has 15 Manus-Jaha backgrounds. Select the one that agrees with the N number used in the user name above. Scroll down in the background pictures to select the appropriate background picture. Select Advanced and from that drop down list choose the “Stretched” option to make the Manus-Jaha image better fit the screen.

Configure other post-install settings. While most software and resources are immediately available for use, some programs like Paratext and Adapt It will need additional setup and configuration before they can be used by a Language Worker.

Installing Wasta as the Primary and Only Operating System

This section assumes that you have determined that you want to install Wasta Linux as the primary and only operating system on your computer. If you are undecided, please see the section on deciding on how to install Wasta Linux.

To Install Wasta Linux as the only operating system on this computer please follow these two initial steps before continuing with the installation steps below:

While still booted to a Live Session of Wasta Linux, complete the steps detailed below.

If you have done the above two initial steps, you should see the Live Session desktop which looks like this:

 

The Live Session Desktop with Install icon at the upper left corner of the desktop
The Live Session Desktop with Install icon at the upper left corner of the desktop

The first action is to double click the "Install wasta Linux 14.04.1-64-bit 17" desktop icon (red arrow):

 

Click on this icon to start the Wasta Installation Process
Click on this icon to start the Wasta Installation Process

and wait for first install wizard window to appear. It will be for selecting the language for the installation, and will look like this:

 

Choose your desired interface language
Choose your desired interface language

"English" should be selected by default. Click "Continue".

The next install wizard page appears for selecting the keyboard layout and will look as follows:

 

Choose your desired keyboard layout
Choose your desired keyboard layout

Select the appropriate keyboard layout for your computer. The Manus computers all have an English (US) keyboard layout, so ensure that "English (US)" is selected and click "Continue".

The next install wizard page will appear after the installer takes some time to check the available space on your computer. Its appearance will depend on whether it detects an available Internet connection (for downloading updates during the install process). This page will look similar to the following:

 

The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access
The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access

If your computer has the minimum required space, is plugged into a power source, and is connected to the Internet, all three items should have a green tick. The minimum you want to see here is the top two items checked with a green tick. The third item (available Internet connection) can be ticked or not - it is not critical to have an Internet connection available during installation - hence the third option can have an X beside it instead of a green tick mark. Click “Continue”.

If wireless networks are detected, but you did not set up a wireless connection earlier before starting the installation process, the next page will give you another chance to set your wireless up before proceeding with the installation. You can leave the button selected on this page that says “I don't want to connect to a wi-fi network right now.” (or give it the proper security key if it is now handy). Click “Continue”.

The next install wizard page wants to know how you want Wasta Linux to be installed on the computer, especially in relation to any existing operating system such as Windows - or a previous Linux installation(s). The appearance of this dialog will vary depending on what operating system(s) are already on the computer. If you are installing Wasta Linux on a computer that only has a Windows operating system this dialog may look similar to this:

 

Always select the Something else option
Always select the Something else option

The dialog may have two or three choices available. The first option is usually the default selection - but we will do something different - read on. The second option is usually worded to the effect of "Replace with Wasta Linux" or "Erase disk and install Linux Mint". Again, we will do something different whether or not we are setting up the computer for dual booting with Windows. The last option is worded as "Something else”. Regardless of what is initially selected we will select this last option, which allows us to view the Windows partitioning, delete those Windows partitions freeing up all of the disk space for use by Wasta Linux, and determine the exact partitioning of the computer's hard disk for Wasta Linux within that free space (in the next step). Ensure this last option "Something else" is selected, then click “Continue”.

The install wizard now runs a Linux partitioning program called Gparted. When it appears, it shows a graphical display of the existing partitions that are on the computer's hard drive. Its appearance and the number of partitions displayed in the dialog will depend on what partitions currently exist on the computer. You should see that there is at least one Windows partition, perhaps more.

Before we proceed to the "Install Now" button click stage, we need to delete the Windows partition(s) to completely remove the existing Windows system. Then we will create three Wasta Linux partitions in the space freed up on the hard drive.

When GParted appears it will look similar to this:

 

GParted showing the Windows (ntfs) partitions
GParted showing the Windows (ntfs) partitions

Note that on a Windows computer, there will often be several partitions with "ntfs" shown as their Type. All partitions with "ntfs", "fat32" or "fat" Type are Windows partitions. If you are installing Wasta Linux on a computer that has no operating system - as for example after replacing an old hard drive with a new empty hard drive - then the "New Partition Table" button will be enabled, and you will need to click on that button and create a new partition on the empty drive. Once that is done you would see just a single entry in the above table - usually /dev/sda - followed by a "free space" line. If this is the case, you can skip the "Delete the Windows Partitions" section below, and go on to the "Set up the Linux Partitions" below it.

Delete the Windows Partitions

Since these instructions are about totally replacing the Windows system with Linux Mint, we will tell the partitioning software that we want to delete the existing Windows system partitions, removing them entirely. To remove the Windows partitions we will select each one in turn, and use the "-" button which is the same as a "Delete" button to remove the partition and free up the space that Windows assigned to that partition. Some older versions of GParted have the "Delete" button, newer version have a minus ("-") button. Look carefully at the dialog and identify those partitions that have the Type shown as "ntfs". Then delete each "ntfs" partition as follows:

1. Highlight the /dev/sda1...ntfs line.

Click on the "-" (or “Delete”) button. Wait for the display to update showing some "free space".

2. Highlight the /dev/sda2...ntfs line.

Click on the "-" (or “Delete”) button.” Wait for the display to update, now showing more "free space".

3. Highlight the /dev/sda3...ntfs line (if it exists).

Click on the "-" (or “Delete”) button. Wait for the display to update, now showing more "free space".

4. Highlight any additional lines (if there are any) that are of Type ntfs, fat32 or fat.

Click on the "-" (or “Delete”) button. Wait for the display to update, now showing more "free space".

After Deleting all of the Windows partitions the display should look something like this:

 

All Windows partitions are set for removal. The disk is now entirely free space
All Windows partitions are set for removal. The disk is now entirely free space

in which there are no partitions listed, but just "free space" on the /dev/sda device (the main hard drive).

Next, we tell the partitioning software what partitions we want it to create for the new Linux Mint system.

Note: Don't click the “Install Now” button yet. First you need to set up the Linux Mint partitions by doing the following:

Set up the Linux Partitions

Set up the Swap partition:

Highlight the “free space” line

Click on the “Add” button. Another dialog will pop up that looks like this:

 

Create a new partition in the free space
Create a new partition in the free space

Highlight the existing number in the "New Partition Size in megabytes" edit box, and change it to the number you wrote down earlier when you ran the Menu > Administration > System Information program and click on the "Summary" category and look under Memory to see how much memory is installed. If the existing RAM memory is 1000MB (1GB) you can enter the number 2000. If the existing RAM memory is 2000MB (2GB) you can enter the number 4000. If the existing RAM memory is 4000MB (4GB) you can enter 8000, etc. Ideally the size of the Swap partition should be double the amount of RAM memory expressed in Megabytes (MB), but the number of Megabytes you assign to this first partition (a Swap partition) is not critical. If you are unsure, just enter the number 2000.

Clickk on the long drop-down list button to the right of “Use As” and change the selection it to “swap area” (scroll down in list to select it near the bottom of the list).

The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

Note: The screen shots below are from the Wasta Linux installer based on Linux Mint 13. The newer Wasta Linux installer is based on Linux Mint 17 in which the dialogs may have a slightly different appearance, but they work the same as those shown.

 

The size is set to 2000 and the Use as set to swap area
The size is set to 2000 and the Use as set to swap area

Click “OK”.

After a few seconds the swap partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table and you will see a "/dev/sdaN Swap ..." line in the chart where N is a number representing the new partition:

 

The swap partition has been assigned and free space selected
The swap partition has been assigned and free space selected

Set up the Root partition (where the system files will go):

Highlight the “free space” line (as shown in the illustration above)

Click on the “Add” button.

The "Type for the new partition" can be either Primary or Logical, whatever is automatically selected.

Change “New Partition Size” to 10000 MB. This 10000MB is the same as 10GB of space we reserve for the Linux Root partition which will contain system files and programs, but no user data.

Leave the “Use As” box set to “Ext4 journaling file system”.

Change “Mount Point” to the / selection (just a forward slash) at top of the list. The / is the "root" designation in Linux systems. The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

 

The second partition is the root partition, 10000 MB in size, and mount point of /
The second partition is the root partition, 10000 MB in size, and mount point of /

Click "OK".

After a few seconds the root (/) partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table and you will see "/dev/sda2 / ext4 ..." or something similar listed in the chart. The partition table should look similar to the following:

 

The swap and the root partitions have now been assigned, and free space is selected
The swap and the root partitions have now been assigned, and free space is selected

Set up the home partition (where the user data will go):

Highlight the “free space” line (as shown in the above illustration)

Click on the “Add" button.

Set the "Type for the new partition" to Primary.

Leave the "New Partition Size" indicating the remaining space (don't change it - the partition manager enters the remaining space).

Change the "Mount Point" to the /home selection. The Create partition dialog should now look similar to the following:

 

Creating a /home partition using the remaining space
Creating a /home partition using the remaining space

Click "OK".

After a few seconds the /home partition will appear as a new partition in the partition table and you will see "/dev/sda3 /home ..." or something similar listed in the chart. The partition table should now look similar to the following:

 

All the desired partitions (swap, / and /home) have now been assigned
All the desired partitions (swap, / and /home) have now been assigned

Note: The partition numbers that you see in the partition table may be ordered out of sequence and may not seem to be exactly what I've described here. That's OK, as long as partitions are assignedthere is a swap partition that's about double the size of the computer's memory.

IMPORTANT: Take a close look at the "Device for boot loader Installation:" selector should show the computer's main hard disk (usually /dev/sda) with the hard disk's known capacity shown in parentheses. If you have doubts about installing Wasta Linux into the three partitions assigned in the above partition list, this is your last chance to abort the process by clicking on the "Quit" button. If you Quit now, the Windows partitions will not be deleted and no new Linux partitions will be created on the hard drive. The hard drive will revert to having its original Windows partitions and no changes will have been done on the computer's hard drive.

Install the Assigned Linux Partitions on the Hard Drive

Finally, click on the “Install Now” button. The installation will start and present you with some configuration screens while the system does the partitioning, formatting and installation of the Wasta Linux system. There will be a series of information screens appear during the installation process.

The first configuration screen will be the “Where are you?” screen that looks like this:

 

Click on your location on the world map to set the time zone to your location (or a main city in your time zone)
Click on your location on the world map to set the time zone to your location (or a main city in your time zone)

Click on the general area of the world map where you are located. For Manus and other PNG users, the time zone that includes PNG should be highlighted, so that "Port Moresby" shows on the time zone selected.

Click “Continue”.

The next configuration screen is the Keyboard layout screen which looks like this:

 

Select the keyboard layout that matches the symbols on your computer's keyboard
Select the keyboard layout that matches the symbols on your computer's keyboard

Click “Continue” to use the “English (US)” keyboard as default, unless you have a different keyboard layout on your computer. Use a keyboard layout that matches the markings on your keyboard.

The next screen is the “Who are you?” screen which appears like this:

 

Fill in this information to establish your Linux username, password for administrative tasks, and you log in preference
Fill in this information to establish your Linux username, password for administrative tasks, and you log in preference

Fill in the requested data and password. The Manus computers use data that conforms to the following:

  • Your name: Use whatever name you want for the "Your name" box.
  • Your computer's name: Manus-JahaN (Manus team computers use the Manus-JahaN where N is a number from 1 to 15 as assigned to the team)
  • Pick a user name: Manus-JahaN
  • Choose a password: (secret-word)N (an easy-to-remember secret word for Manus people with the number suffixed that matches the user name's number suffix)
  • Confirm your password: (secret-word)N

It is recommended that you leave the default setting set to “Require my password to log in”. Wasta Linux will ask you to enter your password each time you start up Wasta Linux. Doing so is more secure as it prevents someone that you might not want to access your computer from gaining access to it. Entering it at each startup also helps you to remember the password. However, if you are not concerned about others gaining access to your computer, you can tick the button that is labeled: Log in automatically. When Log in automatically is selected, the computer will boot to Wasta Linux without asking for your secret-word, but you will still need your password for administrative actions, such as updating or installing Linux software.

Click “Continue”.

The next screen starts up the computer camera (if present on your computer) to allow you to take a user photo if desired. This is optional. Click "Continue" or "Take photo" then "Continue".

Wait for the installation to complete. During the installation, the installer will display several screens in slide show fashion that give some general information about Linux Mint and what can be done with it, starting with this screen:

 

First of several slide showing what you can do with Linux. Below the slides is a progress bar showing the installation progress
First of several slide showing what you can do with Linux. Below the slides is a progress bar showing the installation progress

When the installation is finished a dialog will appear that looks like this:

 

Installation of Wasta Linux is finished
Installation of Wasta Linux is finished

Click on the "Restart Now" button, and remove the flash drive after the screen goes dark at reboot.

With Wasta Linux as the only operating system on the computer, a boot menu will normally not appear at boot time.

Since this is the first time to boot into the Wasta Linux system, the initial log in screen will look like this:

 

The initial Login screen. Click on your Username (in this case Manus-Jaha1) to select that user
The initial Login screen. Click on your Username (in this case Manus-Jaha1) to select that user

Click on your actual user name ("Manus-Jaha1" in the above case). The log in screen will change so that your user name will be automatically highlighted in future log ins, and it will just ask you for your password. The log in screen for future logins will look similar to this:

 

The usual Login screen asking for the password
The usual Login screen asking for the password

 

Enter the password you assigned for the user back during the installation configuration's "Who are you?" screen (secret-name1 in this case).

When the computer finishes your login process, the desktop will appear, which looks like the "Live session" desktop shown at the beginning of this document - except that there will not be an "Install ..." icon among the desktop icons, and the Wasta Linux system itself, of course, is now running from the computer's hard disk.

After Installation Setup

Once the system has started up, you can set the background image: Right-click on the desktop and select “Change Desktop Background”. Click on the little + button to add a background picture to the list. For the Manus computers, navigate to open the “Pictures” folder. Then, double-click on the "manus_jaha_background_images" folder. This folder has 15 Manus-Jaha backgrounds. Select the one that agrees with the N number used in the user name above. Scroll down in the background pictures to select the appropriate background picture. Select Advanced and from that drop down list choose the “Stretched” option to make the Manus-Jaha image better fit the screen.

Configure other post-install settings. While most software and resources are immediately available for use, some programs like Paratext and Adapt It will need additional setup and configuration.

Re-Installing Wasta Over an Existing Wasta System - Preserving the User's Data

This section assumes that you have determined that you want to re-install Wasta Linux on a computer that already had a wasta system installed on it. If your computer has never had a version of Linux installed on it, please see the section on deciding on how to install Wasta Linux.

Re-installing Wasta Linux on a computer that already had a wasta system installed on it, is similar to the above installation instructions.

Reasons to Re-Install Wasta Linux

Why would someone want to re-install Wasta Linux? There are some good reasons why you might want to re-install the Wasta system:

  • You want to upgrade a Wasta Linux 13 system (based on Ubuntu Precise) to a Wasta Linux 17 system (based on Ubuntu Trusty).
  • The user changed the Login password and forgot what the new password is, making it impossible to successfully log in to the computer.
  • The user (or someone else) has accidentally done something that has damaged the existing Wasta system so that it no longer boots up properly, or after booting, it no longer runs properly, and no one is able to fix the problems.

The Wasta Linux system can be re-installed whether it was previously set up to dual boot with Windows, or it was installed as the only operating system on the computer.

The process of re-installing Wasta Linux basically follows most of the same procedures that are detailed in the two major sections covering installing Wasta Linux above (dual boot with Windows and boot only Wasta Linux). The main difference for a re-install is in how the partitions are handled within the GParted dialog that appears after you select "Something else" during installation. Basically, you will re-assign the Linux partitions that appear in the boot menu to the same "Mount Points" that you assign them to in the other installation methods above.

With that brief introduction to the Wasta re-install process, what follows are the detailed steps.

To Install Wasta Linux as the only operating system on this computer please follow these two initial steps before continuing with the steps below:

  • Backup all of your data from this machine to an external hard drive or flash drive.
  • Identify the device names and mount points on your computer (write them down - you'll need to refer to them later in this procedure).
  • Boot to a Live Session of Wasta Linux by booting from the Installer USB Flash Drive.
  • Check your computer's hardware functions while booted to the a Live Session of Wasta Linux. Checking your computer's hardware functions is strongly advised if your re-installation is also an upgrade operation from Wasta Linux 13 to Wasta Linux 17, or a change from a 32-bit architecture version of Wasta to a 64-bit architecture version of Wasta. These changes involve a change in the Llinux kernel and/or drivers, and you will want to ensure that your hardware works well before you commit to a re-installation.
Identify the Device Names and Mount Points on your Computer

For this step we'll use the "Disks" utility which is located on the Wasta Linux Preferences menu. In older versions of Wasta Linux it is on the menu under Preferences > Disk Utility. When the program appears it will look similar to this:

The Old Wasta Linux Disk Utility program
The Old Wasta Linux Disk Utility program

In newer versions of Wasta Linux it is on the menu under Preferences > Disks. When the newer program appears it will look similar to this:

The New Wasta Linux Disks program
The New Wasta Linux Disks program

Whether you have the "Disk Utility" or the "Disks" utility, the information we want to write down is available from either version of the program. For the steps below I will assume you have the older version - the Disk Utility. Look at the utility program that best matches the version you have. The Swap partition will be labeled as "Swap". For now, you can ignore the information shown for the swap partition.

The Disk Utility shows a graphical representation of the storage devices that are available in your computer. We want to write down some informatioin - the Device information and the Mount Point information, and we want to record that information for the Linux Partitions that are found on the computer's hard drive.

You should be able to locate the swap partition (usually highlighted as the first partition on the graphical display - but it can be on any partition).

Click the mouse on the first non-swap partition to the right in the graphical display. It should become highlighted and will look something like this:

Write down the information in the red boxes for the Device and Mount Point
Write down the information in the red boxes for the Device and Mount Point

Write down the information as it is displayed on your computer for the "Device" and where its "Mount Point" is at. For the above screen shot, you would write:

Device: /dev/sda2
Mount Point: Mounted at: /

The forward slash / is known as the filesystem "root" in Linux. In this case the partition labeled as /dev/sda2 is mounted as the filesystem root (/).

Next, click the mouse on the next non-swap partition to the right in the graphical display. It should become highlighted and look something like this:

Write down the information in the red boxes for the Device and Mount Point
Write down the information in the red boxes for the Device and Mount Point

Write down the information as it is displayed on your computer for the "Device" and where its "Mount Point" is at. For the above screen shot, you would write:

Device: /dev/sda3
Mount Point: Mounted at: /home

In this case the partition labeled as /dev/sda3 is mounted as the /home partition.

Note: The Linux file system is very flexible and can be configured many different ways. Sometimes the Disk Utility may show the root and home partitions in a different order. One or more of the swap, root and home partitions may even be part of an "Extended" partition. Hence, the above illustrations may look different than your computer's Disk Utility display. The important thing is to click on the various partitions in the graphical display until you find the root (/) partition and the home (/home) partitions, and you want to write down carefully which Device is used for root (/), and which Device is used for home (/home) - and write this information down for later reference.

Once you have the Device and Mount Point information written down, you can close the Disk Utility, and reboot your computer using the Wasta Linux flash drive booting into a Live Session.

Boot the Live Session to Do the Wasta Linux Re-Install

The following steps assume that you have already booted to a Live Session of Wasta Linux. While still booted to a Live Session of Wasta Linux, complete the steps detailed below.

You should see the Live Session desktop which looks like this:

 

The Live Session Desktop with Install icon at the upper left corner of the desktop
The Live Session Desktop with Install icon at the upper left corner of the desktop

 

The first action is to double click the "Install wasta Linux 14.04.1-64-bit 17" desktop icon (red arrow):

 

Click on this icon to start the Wasta Re-Installation Process
Click on this icon to start the Wasta Re-Installation Process

 

and wait for first install wizard window to appear. It will be for selecting the language for the installation, and will look like this:

 

Choose your desired interface language
Choose your desired interface language

"English" should be selected by default. Click "Continue".

The next install wizard page appears for selecting the keyboard layout and will look as follows:

 

Choose your desired keyboard layout
Choose your desired keyboard layout

Select the appropriate keyboard layout for your computer. The Manus computers all have an English (US) keyboard layout, so ensure that "English (US)" is selected and click "Continue".

The next install wizard page will appear after the installer takes some time to check the available space on your computer. Its appearance will depend on whether it detects an available Internet connection (for downloading updates during the install process). This page will look similar to the following:

 

The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access
The installer checks disk space, power source, and if there is Internet access

 

If your computer has the minimum required space, is plugged into a power source, and is connected to the Internet, all three items should have a green tick. The minimum you want to see here is the top item checked with a green tick. If you are re-installing Wasta Linux on a laptop, you should also have the laptop plugged into a power source during the re-installation. For re-installation on a non-battery operated computer, the second check will not appear in the above "Preparing to install Linux Mint" screen. The third item (available Internet connection) can be ticked or not - it is not critical to have an Internet connection available during installation - hence the third option can have an X beside it instead of a green tick mark. Click “Continue”.

If wireless networks are detected, but you did not set up a wireless connection earlier before starting the installation process, the next page will give you another chance to set your wireless up before proceeding with the installation. You can leave the button selected on this page that says “I don't want to connect to a wi-fi network right now.” (or give it the proper security key if it is now handy). Click “Continue”.

The next install wizard page wants to know how you want Wasta Linux to be installed on the computer, especially in relation to any existing operating system such as Windows - or a previous Linux installation(s). The appearance of this dialog will vary depending on what operating system(s) are already on the computer. When re-installing on a computer that only had a previous installation of Wasta Linux, the dialog will look similar to this:

 

Always select Something else when installing or re-installing Wasta Linux
Always select Something else when installing or re-installing Wasta Linux

When re-installing on a computer that had a dual boot option, capable of booting to Windows or to a previous installation of Wasta Linux, the dialog will look similar to this:

 

Always select Something else when installing or re-installing Wasta Linux
Always select Something else when installing or re-installing Wasta Linux

The dialog may have four or five choices listed as shown in the two illustrations above. The first option is usually the default selection - but we will do something different - read on. We do not want to either "Erase disk and install Linux Mint" nor "Install Linux Mint alongside" the existing systems (resulting in three boot-time options). Again, we will do something different whether or not we are setting up the computer for dual booting with Windows. The last option is worded as "Something else”. Regardless of what is initially selected we will select this last option, which allows us to view the existing partitioning, and reassign the existing Wasta Linux partitions - replacing it with a newly installed version of Wasta Linux. Ensure this last option "Something else" is selected, then click “Continue”.

The install wizard now runs a Linux partitioning program called Gparted. When it appears, it shows a graphical display of the existing partitions that are on the computer's hard drive. Its appearance and the number of partitions displayed in the dialog will depend on what partitions currently exist on the computer. If the computer was previously set up to dual boot with Windows, you should see that there is at least one Windows partition, and also three Linux partitions representing the previous installation of Wasta Linux.

Reassign the Wasta Linux Partitions

Before we proceed to the "Install Now" button click stage, we need to re-assign the three Wasta Linux partitions to their mount points.

When GParted appears it will look similar to this - when re-installing on a computer that previously only booted up into Wasta Linux:

Re Install 05 GParted Initial View Single Boot

or, when re-installing on a computer that previously dual booted with either Windows or Wasta Linux:

Re Install 06 GParted Initial View Dual Boot

Look at the two screen shots above carefully. Note that in both cases there are three Linux partitions - represented by one swap partition, and two ext4 partitions. Those represent the previous Wasta Linux installation. The second screen shot (the dual boot computer) has six partitions, including three Windows partitions (all of the type ntfs) and again the same three Linux partitions. We will not touch the ntfs Windows partitions. Also we will not touch the Linux swap partition assignment. All we will be doing is:

  • verifying the partition type as ext4 for the non-swap linux partitions, and
  • reassigning the root (/) and home (/home) "Mount points" for the other two Linux partitions - setting the mount points of the devices to be the same as we wrote down in the section above called Identify the Device Names and Mount Points on your Computer

The screen shots below will refer to the situation shown in the first screen shot above - the single boot option that has only three partitions. If you are re-installing Wasta Linux on a dual boot computer the process is the same - just ignore the partitions that are of the ntfs type, and focus on the Linux (ext4) partitions. So, let's get started.

Highlight the first non-swap partition that is labeled "ext4" under the type column as shown below:

Highlight the first ext4 partition
Highlight the first ext4 partition

Most likely this first ext4 partition will be the partition that was previously assigned to the root or / partition in the Wasta Linux installation (if you used these instructions when you last installed Wasta Linux on the computer). In any case, look at the information you wrote down from the Disk Utility. The important thing is that we want the device name here (/dev/sda2 in the case above - your's may be different) to be assigned the same as it was before our re-installation process started.

With the first non-swap partition highlighted, click on the "Change" button. The Edit partition dialog pops up:

Re Install 08 Edit Partition Middle Initial

Do not change the Size - leave it at its current value. Click on the little down arrow at the right end of the "Use as" drop-down button. Set this to "Ext4 journaling file system" as shown here:

Re Install 09 Set Middle Partition To Ext4

Next click on the little down arrow at the right end of the "Mount point" button. Select the / item at the top of the list (this is the filesystem "root") as seen here:

Re Install 10 Select Partition From List For Root

Click on the OK button of the Edit partition dialog. You should now see that the device Type is still ext4 and the Mount point for the device is root (/). Double check that this matches with what you wrote down for the device and its mount point:

Re Install 11 GParted Root Setup Partition For Home Selected

Now, to the right of the root (/) partition that you just assigned, there is a check box under the "Format?" column. Carefully click on that check box to put a tick in it so that it looks like this:

Re Install 12 GParted Root Setup Partition For Home Format Box Ticked

Now, highlight the second (the last) non-swap Ext4 partition in the list:

Re Install 13 Select Partition Largest For Home Then Change

Most likely this last ext4 partition will be the partition that was previously assigned to the /home partition in the Wasta Linux installation (if you used these instructions when you last installed Wasta Linux on the computer). In any case, look at the information you wrote down from the Disk Utility. The important thing is that we want the device name here (/dev/sda3 in the case above - your's may be different) to be assigned the same as it was before our re-installation process started.

With the first non-swap partition highlighted, click on the "Change" button. The Edit partition dialog pops up:

Re Install 14 Edit Partition Largest Initial

Leave the Size unchanged (it will be automatically set to use the remainder of the available disk space). Click on the little down arrow at the right end of the "Use as" drop-down button. Set this to "Ext4 journaling file system" as shown here:

Re Install 15 Set Largest Partition To Ext4

Next click on the little down arrow at the right end of the "Mount point" button. Select the /home item from the list (this is the user's Home partition) as seen here:

Re Install 16 Set Largest Partition To Ext4

Click on the OK button of the Edit partition dialog. You should now see that the device Type is stil ext4 and the Mount point for this device is now set to /home. Double check that this matches with what you wrote down for the device and its mount point. Your screen should now look similar to the following screen:

Re Install 17 GParted Root And Home Setup Install Now Single Boot

Notice carefully that the / partition is set to be Formatted, but the /home is NOT TO BE FORMATTED. We want to replace the Wasta system files, but we don't want to disturb the user's Home partition. Doing the re-installation of Wasta Linux this way ensures that your computer's user data is preserved.

If you are re-installing Wasta Linux on a machine that was previously set to dual boot with Windows, your screen should look something similar to this instead:

Re Install 18 GParted Root And Home Setup Install Now Dual Boot

Important: Check again that the device names and their mount points match what existed according to what you wrote down from the Disk Utility program. This is the point of no return. If you are not confident that you are doing the right thing click on the "Quit" button to abort the re-installation process. If you are confident that you want to proceed with the re-installation of Wasta Linux then continue to the next step below.

When you are satisfied that everything is correct, click on the "Install Now" button.

The remainder of the re-installation process is the same as what is documented above under the section called "Install the Assigned Linux Partitions on the Hard Drive".

After the Re-Installation Process is Completed

Since the user's Home directory (/home) was preserved intact during the re-installation process, many of the user settings and other custom settings should remain the same as they were before the re-installation. However, any software programs that were installed AFTER Wasta Linux was last installed and BEFORE the re-installation process, will need to be reinstalled. If a custom Wasta Linux installer was used for this re-installation process, and that custom installer was designed to automatically install certain programs such as Paratext, Adapt It, Xiphos, etc, these programs won't need to be reinstalled, but they should be immediately available for use. If a custom Wasta Linux installer was not used, then one or more of these programs may need to be installed after the re-installation of Wasta Linux has completed (including re-entering the registration information for Paratext, etc).


Contributors to this page: BChap and Bill Martin .
Page last modified on Wednesday September 21, 2016 05:26:29 GMT-0000 by BChap.

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