Ubuntu questions

If there is a weakness in the Linux distros, it may be wireless support. I have heard a few mention this in the past. Also have heard mention of problems on laptops with power management, although only from one person. Sometimes in Linux you have to spend some time "debugging" things and tweaking and researching support forums till you find answers. That's all part of it. Perhaps you can pick it up again and dig into the issues further if your interest remains....

 

I installed Ubuntu onto my old Dell Inspiron 5100 awhile back. The old notebook did not have integrated wireless, but I had a D-Link Wireless G PCMCIA card. I plugged it in, installed some "non-open-source" drivers, and left the card in. The notebook powers up and down and recognizes the card and the network on each startup.

I have noticed that if the AC power cord gets disconnected, the battery indicator stays on battery, but the fly-over tip says it is on AC after plugging it back in.

 

Yes if everything permits in the near future, I may purchase a desk top and run ubuntu and connect the ethrenet port from the router to the desk top Then i can have each machine dedicated to its own OS and will not have to worry as much when the kids or wife want to go online.Since my laptop is off limits to my happy clickers family.

 

Kerodo, I tried the OzOS live CD on my laptop last night. You are right as it is very slick but I could not find where the hardware settings were. My Atheros wifi wasn't recognized (I kind of expected this as I had the same problem with Ubuntu in which I also had to use "non open source" drivers to make it work) and I was looking around for something that might would set it up. I am not used to Enlightenment as I used to be a Gnome fan (though they share some elements though).

 

Hi Mitch,

I have not had to fiddle much with hardware here in Oz, so I'm not sure. I am in Vista right now but I will have a look later and see if I can find the settings and config. The only thing I had to do here was manually download and install my ATI drivers, then run the ATI config to tell Xorg to use the drivers. Other than that, nothing else... I found it odd as Ubuntu and Kubuntu both prompt you for the proprietary drivers, but Oz didn't. I suspect it's the same with any network related drivers, you'll probably have to install manually and then figure out how to let the system know they are there... Let me see what I can find also, I will check it out tomorrow....

For now, the Oz forum is here: http://cafelinux.org/forum/index.php

There aren't many posts yet, but someone there may know how to handle it all.....

 

I find it sometimes pays to check out alternative distros. For example i tried installing the standard ubuntu on one of my laptops only to run into some nasty problems. I then tried linux mint which is a modified version of ubuntu and it runs great with no problems.

 

Actually with standard wireless cars it works out fine, its with other cars that the problem arises. Makers like Realtek, Netgear, Linksys, Intel and others pose no issues, others need 3rd party drivers which are there but just need to be searched.

 

Yep, I think that most issues can be solved if one searches for solutions and/or is willing to do some manual driver installation....

 

It gets even more interesting with wireless cards that have free drivers, but the firmware is part of the windows drivers, freely distributeable, but not open source, so in the case of my broadcom wireless card, there is a tool to extract the firmware (because it cheaper to buid the device without RPM to store the firmware ...) out of the windows driver archive and incorperate it into the open source linux drivers. It is all automated, but it adds complication to being able to distribute actual working wireless drivers and I suspect the issue could be similar with other manufacturers.

PS, I use Linux Mint (a fork of ubuntu).

 

You guys should be trying Kubuntu Intrepid to see KDE 4.
I think when it goes stable i'll probably ditch Gnome for good. Man, that's a desktop!
Pity the naming scheme

 

I agree. KDE 4 is great!

Panagiotis

 

And it's not just the shiny stuff, it's what Kontact promises, and other applications. It seems KDE is on to something big.

 

Mandriva 2009 is coming with KDE4 and is also a good alternative to Kubuntu.

 

Do you have links (saves me googling) ?

I had various issues with KDE (In different distros), that has prevented me really trying out KDE, things like the current Kubuntu having high memory usage and certain processes crashing on startup (installed version, not livecd), Open Office and Firefox feeling out of place (compared to Ubuntu). Just lots of niggles, probably more to do with how the distro has configured/built KDE than KDE itself.

 

I read Linux Format. But i do recall reading something online, i'll see if i can find it for you.
One idea that stuck is that, both KDE Office and Kontact integrate several programs, and you would work with them as if it's one single program (sort of!)

 

I found these links that mention some of the keywords. Since i think these are some of the best publications online, they might do the trick.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9946
http://polishlinux.org/kde/kde-4-preview-rev-723381/
http://www.linux.com/feature/114235

 

Yep, I have loved KDE4 ever since it first appeared on a few distros. SuSE has a nice setup with KDE4, I also like Kubuntu as well. It just seems so much nicer all around than the tired KDE 3.5. My experience with it so far has been good too, in so far as I have not noticed too many bugs of any consequence.....