What have you tired.
You do not see the need to run Ubuntu. This is a windows solution.
To try:
-- run from your recovery partition.
-- run from your statup cd/dvd. Look into Utilities or applications pull down.
-- You would get the same thing by booting up in single user mode.
Some hints about terminal and single user mode.
Try from terminal. /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
Try single use mode
This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
Basically, you hold down the command + s key then powering on your machine. The command key has a little apple symbol on the lower left. It is between the alt/option key and the space bar. On a PC keyboard, it will be the windows key, I think.
You can delete of things from Darwin but you must be very careful. Use the rm command to delete a file. The file is permanently deleted.
Here is an overview of the terminal commands. Lets assume that your account has a short user name of mac.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
#What is my short user name? Type the whoami command.
mac $ whoami
mac
mac $
#How to list all of your disks.
# The ls command is for list
mac $ ls /Volumes/
Audio CD Macintosh-HD Spotless Tiger-ext
mac $
# Let's say your flash drive is named Spotless
# cd is change directory
mac $ cd /Volumes/Spotless
# pwd is Print Working Directory. A directory is the Unix name for a folder. You are always in a directory.
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/Spotless
mac $
# The ls command is for list
# l is long
# F is type of file where / is directory. For directories, the slash is pasted to the end of the name.
mac $ ls -lF
total 134704
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x 83 mac staff 2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files/
drwxrwxrwx 12 mac staff 408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards/
drwxr-xr-x 9 mac staff 306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009/
... trimmed ... What does all this mean?
drwxrwxrwx
d = directory
r = read
w = write
x = executeable program
drwxrwxrwx
||  |  |
|| | all other users not in first two types
|| |
|| group
||
|owner
|
What type of entry is this? d = directory, - = file, etc.
Every Unix resource: files, folders, etc has an owner, group, other
A Unix resource has one owner.
A Unix resource has one group. A group contains a list of users.
To gain access to a file, you can be the owner, in the group, or not the owner and not in the group hence you end up as other. The owner, group, or other has read, write, or execute permissions.
# l is long
# a is all to show hidden files & folders
mac $ ls -lFa
total 134736
drwxr-xr-x 41 mac staff 1496 Dec 22 17:11 .
drwxrwxrwt 8 root admin 272 Dec 24 13:55 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 15364 Dec 23 12:52 .DS_Store*
drwx------ 4 mac staff 136 Jan 22 2009 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt 5 mac staff 170 Sep 14 16:36 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wx 4 mac staff 136 Dec 31 1969 .Trashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x 83 mac staff 2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files
drwxrwxrwx 12 mac staff 408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards
drwxr-xr-x 9 mac staff 306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009
... trimmed ...
# mv is move or rename
mv -i the-name the-new-name
# You can just rename the file back to what it was with mv command.
mv -i old-name new-name
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
mv is move or rename
For cryptic comments, you can always uses the manual command which is man. For example:
man mv
# Type the letter q to quit.
In case you have spaces in your filenames or directories, you need to escape them. See examples:
mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
mac $
mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
Do you know about tabbing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
Press the up arrow key to see the previous command(s).
To edit a command, use the left arrow key to more left and the right arrow key to move right. Use the delete key to delete the key to the left. Type a letter to insert.
history to see many previous commands.
mac $ history
1 pwd
2 man ls
3 history
You may copy then paste from this list.
----------------------
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2692161&tstart=0
Robert
my user name is mac.
Hear is how to list all users on your computer. The l is the lower case L:
mac $ ls /Users
Deleted Users audio mac
here is how I deleted a file from my trash can.
mac $ cd /Users/mac
mac $ pwd
/Users/mac
mac $ cd .Trash
mac $ pwd
/Users/mac/.Trash
mac $ ls -alh
total 217120
drwx------ 140 mac staff 4K Feb 15 16:33 ./
drwxr-xr-x 113 mac staff 3K Feb 14 17:53 ../
-rw------- 1 mac staff 21K Feb 13 23:36 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3K Feb 12 23:24 .bash-backup-copy-initial-dot-copy.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 1K Feb 12 23:24 Differentiate Between Models 23-28-21.html
...
-------------------------- delete the file youpi_key.html --------------
mac $ rm -i youpi_key.html
remove youpi_key.html? y
mac $
Deleting files with special characters
The terminal command processor allows you to use the wildcard character question mark (?) to substitute for any actual character. This is one way of deleting files with special characters in them. Use the wildcard character question mark (?) in place of the special character. Add to the option -i to the remove command to be prompted before the deletion.
mac $ ls
aa"hi aaahi
mac $ rm -i aa?hi
remove aa"hi? y
remove aaahi? n
mac $
--------------------------
ls -aolRe /Users/mac/Desktop/add_Group.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff - 987 Feb 8 22:18 /Users/mac/Desktop/add_Group.html
--------------------------
Here is one way to delete a directory.
mac $ mkdir new
mac $ cd new
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/see/new
mac $ cd ..
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/see
mac $ # Delete the new directory.
mac $ rmdir new
mac $
You may used the rm command with a -R option to delete directories with files in them.
mac $ ls -dlF data-dir
drwxr-xr-x 6 mac staff 204 Mar 8 22:49 data-dir/
mac $ ls -l data-dir
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 0 Mar 8 22:49 a
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 0 Mar 8 22:49 b
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 0 Mar 8 22:49 c
drwxr-xr-x 2 mac staff 68 Mar 8 22:49 d
mac $ rm -iR data-dir
examine files in directory data-dir? y
remove data-dir/a? y
remove data-dir/b? y
remove data-dir/c? y
examine files in directory data-dir/d? y
remove data-dir/d? y
remove data-dir? y
mac $
man rm