Testing
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Testing
9.04 is here and it’s obviously been awhile. Many new things in Ubuntu, better hardware support, less bugs, and Ubuntu has gone many places since then. Ubuntu has invaded the lucrative netbook segment with adoption by many large vendors.
If you have not heard about Dropbox let me tell you firsthand it’s by far the best file sync utility to keep your files synced up between your Linux, Mac, and Windows machines and also making them accessible through the web. After the initial upload all changes to the files are uploaded rather than the file itself all over again. You can roll back a file to any previous version and you can share your folders to a workgroup or your friends or even the public.
Head on over to http://www.getdropbox.com and see the preview and sign up for some free space. There are Ubuntu .deb files for easy installation (Even 9.04) and the development is active. It uses Amazon’s S3 cloud platform for the backend and it’s very efficient and robust.
Press Alt-F2 and type update-manager –devel-release
Update Manager will update and show a button saying new release available.
Once you’ve upgraded wait about 24 hours and update again and you “should” have the full version of 8.04 LTS plus any recent updates.
Of course some will just want to start fresh as well.
I have to say that this is by far the buggiest beta release of Ubuntu I’ve ever used. I question if it’s a good idea to release on the stated date or to push it off for a few more weeks.
First off sudo does not work because it’s looking for the hostname and if it’s not Ubuntu or in the hosts file it locks you out of doing most administrative tasks. The fix is to boot into recovery mode as root and edit the file and reboot.
Second synergy is completely broken to the point it requires it to be started as root to even be usable. That’s fine, but I’d rather it’d be fixed to work properly. Also let me discover the issue above.
Trying to load up the hardware drivers under System > Administration > Hardware Drivers crashes.
Also the network configuration, firefox, and even the update utility have all crashed on me.
To say the least I feel that this release is still Alpha quality and to call it a Beta release does nobody any good. I hope they decide to push this off for a bit to resolve some of these issues. I’ve probably burned up that crash report tool in the short time I’ve upgraded and hope that updates will eventually fix some of these problems.
Also does anyone else think it’s time for a little visual upgrade?
We’ll between updates in parallels my Ubuntu 7.10 which was a upgrade from 7.04 quit working so I decided to start off fresh. After a few problems I believe I’ve come up with a doable combo. Personally this should just work and the Parallels guys need to get their act together with Linux support. Fortunately I’m a tolerant person and like the challenge of getting something working. Using the 7.10 i386 desktop ISO file I selected safe graphics mode. Another option may be a text based installer on the alternate cd, but so far safe graphics is working. One problem will be that the main screen will freeze. No big problem. Hit ctrl+alt+f1 and hit enter and you have a prompt.
type: startx
Eventually the desktop will pop up. Start the installer and it should finish after you answer all the questions.
I’d like to appeal to the Ubuntu(Xbuntu) community today. With news that Intel has defected from the $100 laptop for every child organization, and apparently did everything to thwart it in it’s own interests, we could do better by developing a highly supported reference distro for low powered devices like the XO, internet tablets and such. Ubuntu is an organization uniquely situated to bring forth the kind of open source and professional resources needed to benefit this project and spread Linux to needy children all over the world. Intel and Microsoft are clearly scared of the spreading influence of the OLPC program as seen that their only desire was to introduce their “Classmate” which was powered by Windows. Kids and poor countries would benefit more to have a Linux based computer and systems to learn to use and build around than an Wintel based system that they might likely spend more time fixing and defending against all the little issues that come about because of Windows itself. The Ubuntu community has been great at building a distribution that “Just Works” and to see a focus on the smaller devices out there would greatly benefit everyone involved.
Sorry guys my experiment with a Wiki was less than I had hoped for. I’ve been extremely busy, but have restored the website and will be adding new stuff over the next week or so.
You have probably noticed after your fresh install of Ubuntu that there may be a icon indicator in the upper right corner (Gnome) of your screen. This is the system updates available indicator and it’s there to let you know it’s time for an update. To update your system all you have to do is click on it and enter your password and just follow the instructions provided. (Basically click next or okay to progress through the installation). Once it’s done your system is updated with the latest software updates and security patches.
Since having google start to spy on the website I’ve noticed a trend with viewers. I’m going to assume that the #2 spot of firefox users on Windows are people who’ve hosed their systems in some manner and are looking for help.
First tip with X-Windows or X for short is to remember to make a backup of your original /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.orig.bak
That way if there is any time that you end up at the command prompt and cant get X up you dont have to reboot into Windows or jump on the other machine to see what went wrong.
Once you have copied the original back to /etc/X11/xorg.conf issue the following commands to restart X.
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
or for KDE users
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart
You should see a bit of flashing screen and then be welcomed back by a graphical login prompt!
What if that does not work?
Lets consider you just added a new video card.
If the first was a ATI card and the new one is a Nvidia card you have to do two things.
ATI cards typically use the Driver “radeon” setting in the xorg.conf file under Section “Device”. You will have to edit the file.
After backing up your original of course!
sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
hit the backslash / key
type in the string you wish to find in this case radeon and hit enter
you should get to a uncommented line that looks like this
Driver “Radeon”
hit escape move to the R in radeon and hit the x key until radeon is gone and you have “” left.
hit the right key to put the cursor under the second ” and then type i for insert then type in nv so it looks like
Driver “nv”
once that’s done hit escape again. then type a colon : and then type wq for write quit.
If you screw up just type q! after hitting escape and then colon to quit without saving. Vi is a bit scary at first but recovery is easy if you remember to save a copy before and also to save only when satisified with your changes. q! will be your best friend!
Once that’s done follow the above instructions for restarting GDM or KDM and hopefully you’ll be greeted with your X login screen again.
If you’re going the other way from Nvidia to ATI (I really pity you since driver support is still pretty crappy) just reverse the driver strings.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas!