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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

Total Noob, Windows Preference Problem

Hi,

At work we just got an Ubuntu with Gnome server set up with BackupPC. Works great. We had outside help.

Now I want to learn Ubuntu so I installed Desktop version that I downloaded from here last night.

I installed it into a VMWare Fusion Virtual machine on my MAC. How ever there is one thing driving me nuts, In Windows Preferances I have no check in the "Select windows when mouse moves over them.

However the system acts as if that was turned on. I tried check/unchecking it No Help.

I checked it the rebooted, then unchecked it rebooted, No difference.

Anybody got any idea???? Thanks

Rich

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jonnymorris
Contributor
Contributor

This works fine for me in Ubuntu 9.10. One thing to remember is that while it will switch to the window so that you can interact with it, it won't automatically bring it to the front unless you also tick the box to Raise selected windows after an interval. I have used this setting in Irix and I ended up turning it off, I much prefer to just click on a window to bring it to the front instead.

Which version of Ubuntu and VMWare Fusions are you using?

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

Ubuntu 10.04 and Fusion the very latest.

I want to turn that behavior off also, but can't seem to. No matter what I do in the Window dialog I just cant turn this option off.

Perhaps there is some config file some where?

Thanks

Rich

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jonnymorris
Contributor
Contributor

I'm installing Ubuntu 10.04 now to see what it does for me.

Update: I am running VMWare Fusions 3.1.1 (282344) and have just installed Ubuntu 10.04, the window selection option you appear to be having trouble with works perfectly for me, there was no change after I performed an Ubuntu update.

I would suggest trying the install again in a fresh VM and see if it's still broken for you, if it is then try downloading the Ubuntu installer again.

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

I actually downloaded a 10.04 VM and opened it up and it had the exact same problem.

So I think reinstalling would not solve the problem.

Any VMWare lurkers????

Next Idea

Thanks

Rich

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

I actually downloaded a 10.04 VM and opened it up and it had the exact same problem.

What is the URL of what you downloaded and the name of the downloaded file?

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

Yes I installed VMWare tools. Forgot to answer this.

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jonnymorris
Contributor
Contributor

I am running the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 on Mac OS X 10.6.4, I don't know if the version of Mac OS I am running would make any difference (it should not). Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit Ubuntu? Perhaps there is a difference. I would not trust a downloaded VM as a benchmark, although it does suggest that the problem may not be in the Ubuntu installation but your host Mac OS or VMWare Fusions. If you can, perhaps try re-installing VMWare Fusions? Your VMs should remain untouched.

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

I think I downloaded the 32 bit version, but how can I tell.

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rcardona2k
Immortal
Immortal

The 32-bit version has i386 in the name or running uname -a in Terminal shows i686. The 64-bit version display x64 in the file name and uname -a.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

Okay I downloaded the linked Virtual Machine as well as tested against my own install from ISO Image and the Windows behave as expected based upon the settings so I really do not think this is a VMware issue however your only choices are to uninstall/reinstall VMware Tools and or VMware Fusion and or the Guest OS in an attempt to resolve this issue. FWIW I tried with other version of Ubuntu as well and under VMware Fusion 3.1.1 they have all behaved as to be expected based upon the settings. BTW I did not use Easy Install when creating my own Virtual Machines so if it's a VMware issue it could be with Easy Install but I don't have any more time to play with it.

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jonnymorris
Contributor
Contributor

This has been my experience too, WoodyZ, and I am not prepared to spend any more time downloading VMs either. I have not been able to recreate the fault under 32-bit Ubuntu 9.10 or 10.04. I installed my VMs from the downloadable ISOs (which I got direct from the official Ubuntu website), the only tweak I made before installing was to up the RAM to 1GB, but this should not affect how the window settings work.

Hawkcode - if in doubt re-install VMWare Fusions and download the Ubuntu ISO again, make sure you select the 32-bit ISO (which is the default recommended Ubuntu download). Another thing I just thought of - are you using a language version of Ubuntu other than English? This could be a bug in non-English versions.

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

Well I reinstalled and created another VM not using Easy install.

I then downloaded Version 9 and made a VM with that. Same exact problem.

All were the 32 bit version and is English.

The whole reason I wanted to do this was learn the Linux command line. Is there a way to install with out the gui, maybe that would work.

Thanks

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling VMware Fusion to see if that corrects the situation?

Since you already have Ubuntu installed you can always use a Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) to practice on the command line or or press CtrlAltF1 to shell out to a Terminal or reconfigure it to not boot to the GUI, ( in other words change the runlevel).

Note on a Mac you might need to press FnCtrlAlt+F1 to shell out to a Terminal.

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jonnymorris
Contributor
Contributor

Got me stumped then I'm afriad.

Ubuntu may not be the best for learning linux command line, there are many other free linux distributions (you could even make your own), if you just want to boot into a linux command line you shouldn't need all the office tools, web browser etc - just the linux core and maybe a nice text editor (because vi is horrible!) Without all the GUI nonsense it should be quite small. For help with using linux you should look to linux forums, the fact that it's running in a VM shouldn't make much difference to command line stuff, only thing is the (virtual) hardware it's running on will be VMWare instead of a real computer.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Given that you seem to be the only one who can reproduce this, the only thing that comes to mind would be if you're running in Unity mode (are you?) and have some weird 3rd-party input program installed (I assume the guest is fairly unmodified, so I'm talking about OS X here).

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Hawkcode
Contributor
Contributor

Not running in Unity Mode.

I do use a Logitech Mouse with their installed Driver. But nothing else.

The guest is default install.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

I do use a Logitech Mouse with their installed Driver.

Can you temporarily uninstall the Logitech Mouse Driver and use a different Mouse to test and see if the issue goes away?

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