Ubuntu ... french to english

[shacker]

as a complete newbie to linux, how do I change the language from French to English.
I know I have to go to Applications/Terminal & type in one of these >

dpkg-reconfigure locales (got this far with a list of languages)
and edit /etc/environment (just get an error in a language I cant understand)

now thats easy to say but what "exactly" do I need to type

"ubuntu 6.6 / gnome"

once helped with this problem I will be back for more

ps...I thought Linux was seen as a rival to Windows? but having to install/uninstall & do virtually anything else using effectively a version of "dos" I wont hold my breath to see it go anywhere near Windows in my lifetime

[mrrangerman43]

apt-get install locales

Open a terminal window and type that command prefixed with sudo, like so sudo apt-get install locales you will be prompt for a passwd.

dpkg-reconfigure locales

Same thing here, although Ubuntu I think gives you a grace time after the first sudo is used. So if dpkg-reconfigure locales doesn't work prefix it with sudo.

edit /etc/environment

When you use dpkg-reconfigure it should edit /etc/environment, if it doesn't use Ubuntu's default editor nano and do it manualy.
sudo nano /etc/environment

Hope that helps.

[shacker]

I have managed all of that so far but how do I change the language from "french to English"

now thats easy to say but what "exactly" do I need to type to change to English

tried & tried various ways but still cant do it, I assume you have to learn "dos" all over again to use Linux..seems to be a backward step using Linux & certainly not the way forward...

its back to windows for me...
thanks for your help Rangerman

[mrrangerman43]

I assume you have to learn "dos" all over again to use Linux
its back to windows for me...

Isn't dos windows?

The power of linux is in the command line, though you can do most anything you want with a gui frontend. I wonder if you knew everything about windows when you first started using it? But hey freedom is what it's about and you are free to use whatever OS you want.

[shacker]

Fair comment (windows dropped dos when XP was released a couple of years ago)

Will give it one last go...
"exactly" what needs to be typed in to the command lind line to get the language to change from "French to English"

My reasons for asking for help is that I have to access a French based ubuntu but cant read French & as this is my first stab at Linux it makes it twice as difficult

[mrrangerman43]

I've never had to change languages on a system, I know you can do it for some apps, but I'm not sure about a complete system. When I get home I'll check on one of my older systems to see if it can be done, that way if I hose it it wouldn't be a big deal.

[Alpine CH]

May I ask why you are using Ubuntu 6.0? There is a new version out , Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 and if you install that one, during the installation, you can select the language (I am this works since I used the English installer to have my system in Dutch). This would for sure solve your problem.

I also quickly checked went to my Ubuntu 7.04 and there was in the System > Preferences the option Languages (Its the third one in the main menu, then the first or second in the submenu where languages is mentioned). There you could set your native language or anything else. Try searching there.

And don't give up on Linux that easily. It might be a struggle at the start, but from a certain moment you'll get comfortable and then you'll see it was really worth the effort.

Good luck.
Cheers,
Bart

[Satanic Atheist]

What exactly is in French? Is it the GUI or the command line that's foreign?

My /etc/environment file says the following:

LANGUAGE="en_GB:en_US:en_GB:en"

LANG="en_GB"

If you are in America, then I suspect the following commands will work for you:

cat "LANGUAGE=\"en_US:en\"" > /etc/environment
cat "LANG=\"en_GB\"" >> /etc/environment

Then log off and log back in and see what happens.

Note that the "\" character in those two commands "escape" the special quote function of the double quotes so that they can be used as "normal" characters and not interpreted as the end of the quote for cat.

Also note the ">" mark - this is the output redirector. If you ignored the "> /etc/environment" part, cat would simply output to the standard out (the screen, in this case). The redirector tells it to output to a file. The single ">" mark destroys the file (so might be wise to make a backup) by overwriting all the data with the new input. The ">>" mark appends to the file, so the line just appears after what's already in there.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I don't want a flame-war, and this might not be appropriate to post here, but I feel I need to clear up some misconceptions.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Linux is not DOS.

Admittedly, the command prompt (CLI - Command Line Interface) can be very daunting to people used to having fancy graphics and menus to do everything for them, but Linux is far more superior that DOS ever was.

Just remember that Linux is aiming towards POSIX compliance (the UNIX standard) and mimics UNIX very well. UNIX is the grand-daddy of both DOS and Linux and STILL it's the powerhouse of the Internet and corporate networks the world over.

As mrrangerman43 said: "The power of Linux is in the command line" and he's right - for a powerful network server, why do you need memory-and-CPU-intensive fancy graphics that no-one is going to see? Surely that's far better being used elsewhere. I can do all my administration in Linux from the command prompt and it's much easier to administer a server by manually tweaking config files on the CLI than having to do clumsy navigation in a GUI. I can also administer other servers using SSH and don't have to worry about setting up OpenVPN and stuff. That's extremely handy for low-bandwidth links. Hell, I can even log into my server from my mobile phone and play with it in the command prompt.

Linux isn't a "rival" to Windows because it doesn't need strong marketing - it's open-source and therefore doesn't generate (much) revenue for itself.

Don't give up on it just yet - it took me a long time to get used to it, but I persevered and was secretly very impressed when I configured my first server (DHCP, I think) and then DNS. Now I'm configuring Asterisk, MySQL, DNS, DHCP and so on. I even, now, run my own personal e-mail server for the Internet from home with a personal domain name. If I wanted to do all this in Windows, it would cost me a fortune!

James

[banzaikai]

shacker:
ubuntu 6.6 / gnome

Should've gone for Fedora (I've got about 40 languages installed on this box - you never know who may need to use it), but since you're running Gnome, I'm sure this will apply (no extra typing required!)...

Boot normally.
When you get to the Gnome user login screen, glance down and note the word "Language" ("Langue", in French). Click once on this, and the pop-up selector will show all installed language packs. Hit "English" ("Anglais"), and another requestor pops up asking if you want to set it for the session only, or if you want it as default. Hit "Default" ("défaut"). Type in your username and password, and you should be good to go.

The only drawback to this is if the language packs haven't been installed, in which case, we're back to editing.

Fair comment (windows dropped dos when XP was released a couple of years ago)

And if I had a dime for everytime I had to run "cmd" and "winipcfg" in XP, I'd be driving a Lexus. Lately, I've had to do things on XP machines that I could ONLY get done through CLI/DOS. This is why there's UBCD4Win.

Don't get me wrong, I love the GUI. I've used just about every GUI designed (GEM, GEOS, OS/2 Warp, Windows 2.0-Vista, MacOS, and my still working Amigas - all nine of 'em), but the ones I use the most have all had the shell as a fallback (the Amiga WorkBench even puts the shell/cli right on the main WB window). It also explains why I'm such a big RedHat/Fedora fan: If you're coming from another GUI-intensive OS, I've found it's the best at getting all the shell commands converted to the GUI (moreso than any other distro I've tried). The *buntu distros have made strides to do this, too, but they've changed things enough that they do things... well,... funny (like no root login!?).

Not only is your statement wrong, but your argument, too. Just because we have pneumatic nail guns doesn't mean we're going to stop swinging hammers...

banzai "hitting the nail on the head" kai

[Satanic Atheist]

Originally posted by ban "hitting the nail on the head" kai:
Just because we have pneumatic nail guns doesn't mean we're going to stop swinging hammers...

Couldn't have put it better myself.

James

[saikee]

I think before logging in with a Gnome-based Debian variant, like Ubuntu, the log in screen has a facility to change the language/keyboard.

In a KDE system the language and keyboard can be changed freely in the desktop.

Anyway that is the way I install foreign distros when initially I can't read even one line (like Nepalinux (from Nepal) or TLE (from Thailand).

I believe the core system like Ubuntu and many Linux will remain in English but the interface, like GUI and others may be a slectable language of choice dtermined by the user.

[Energy Recruitm]

I have been reading and trying from many different sources.

My DNS server (register.com) lets me set multiple domain alias's such as:

hi.mydomain.net or
this.mydomain.net

My goal is to set it up so that after telling my DNS server that this.mydomain.net points to my ip address, it will be sent to a certain folder of my website, rather than my main one.

Is this possible? Some have told me no, yet some say it is possible. Any feedback is much appreciated.

[E1PHOTON]

This is an old thread about changing locales -- nothing to do with DNS.
If you want an answer to your post, please start a new thread. FWIW, I would check out virtual hosts in apache.

James