Reinstalled Lucid Lynx

I upgraded my old CRT monitor with new LCD monitor. Ubuntu identified my monitor and I did not have to configure anything. My old monitor had a generic driver for monitor and Nvidia driver for my video card. After usage for some time, a message appeared that recommended change of driver for my video card suitable for my new monitor. I pressed "yes". When I re-booted, only wallpaper appeared and all others vanished including menus. I could not operate my PC. I thought of booting through recovery mode and correct through command line operation.

I must admit that I felt lazy to do that. Instead I adopted the route of fresh install of Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04). When I upgraded last to Lucid Lynx, I had some unwanted apps also residing in my PC. A fresh install has made my PC a lot clean. Loading all my apps could be done mostly through "Ubuntu Software Center" or "Synaptic Package Manager". A few, that could not be installed through these two, could be installed through Debian package Installer. It is like MSI installer in Windows.

My Ubuntu is back in full productive mood!

Ubuntu 8.10 – Intrepid Ibex

It has been quite long, since I posted my blogs. It is not that I did not have any new experience with my Ubuntu.I had few interesting and some unpleasant experiences. I will recount them here. My last blog was posted when I was using a stable version of Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04). I had three issues that required some digging to resolve them. However, the last issue could not be resolved. All these issues were related to drivers of my PC components.

• Wireless Network connection: I have a wireless router at home and my desktop has a wireless network adapter. There is still no Linux driver for this component due to manufacturer’s restrictions. There is a workaround. By installing ndiswrapper software, one can convert Windows driver file to work in Ubuntu Linux. This is the link that gives instructions on the work around. This work around worked in my PC properly.
• Accelerated graphics card: My PC has GeForce4 MX 440 graphics card. Here too, the generic driver was not enough for the card to work properly. Then, after some research, I found that EnVy software was the solution. I downloaded the software and installed it. After installation, the software took care of installation of suitable driver. The card worked after this action.
• Creative Live Webcam: This webcam also did not work at all. I did a lot of search and found few solutions, but they also did not work. I gave up on this at last. My Ubuntu did not have a working webcam. Please note that this webcam was working properly in Windows XP.

Everything was well with my Hardy Heron. As an inquisitive person, I decided one day to try the developer version of Intrepid Ibex. I set up my Ubuntu to auto-upgrade to latest alpha and beta releases of Intrepid Ibex. Few updates worked fine without any problem. Alas! After few updates (which were happening every other day), one update hanged. I had to power-off my PC. After shut off, my Ubuntu refused to boot at all. I had to either reload stable Hardy Heron or beta version of Intrepid. Since stable version of Intrepid Ibex release was only few weeks away, I decided to wait for the release of stable version.

I downloaded the stable version of Intrepid Ibex, when it became available. The fresh installation was very smooth, partly due to improvements in Intrepid Ibex and partly due to guidance from my earlier blog about Ubuntu installation. The three issues noted above were resolved after installation, but easily.

• Wireless Network connection: The instructions and the required debian packages were saved in a removable device. I was thoughtful to save them for the rainy days. I installed ndiswrapper and the proper driver. Wireless connection started working without much labor.
• Accelerated graphics card: This posed some difficulty. Envy was not available for Intrepid Ibex. I had to include restricted extras package in the repository. Then I had to install nvidia-glx-96 package through synaptic package manager. Now, graphics card is working. I can enjoy the games and advanced desktop effects. It took some effort and time to make this work, but the worth the effort.
• Creative Live Webcam: The happiest experience was with this. I did not do anything. It started working automatically. Developers of Intrepid Ibex have done something for it. Hurrah!

Now, I have a stable Intrepid ibex. I am slowly loading required additional applications. I have first added Google Mail offline as my first additional application. I am a fan of Google, but most of the Google applications do not work in Linux. Gmail offline and Google Earth are the exceptions. My experiences with Ubuntu is becoming more and more enjoyable.

A clean install of Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

As noted in my previous post, I installed development version of Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). I was getting automatic notifications for either partial upgrades or updates. I was installing these files as and when notified. After one of these upgrades, I encountered following bugs and I reported them in in Ubuntu forums and Launch Pad sites.

1. I started getting an error message stating that the system could not configure some of the system files due to dependency problems.
2. My wi-fi connection failed and I could not connect to the internet through Ubuntu.
3. Driver for my Nvidia graphic card was not working.
4. Under location in calendar applet, time shown against Mumbai is Pakistan Standard Time.
5. My Creative webcam was not functioning.

I carried out the following actions after going through bugs tracking and various other sites.

1. A person asked me to try and install Linux kernels again. This did not help. I decided to format and make a clean new install of Hardy Heron and I did that. The installation was smooth and dependency problems vanished.
2. ndiswrapper is a software that converts windows drivers to linux. ndiswrapper is already in the main repository of Ubuntu and I installed it without any hassle. Later, I installed the driver of my NetGear wireless adapter. This operation also went smooth. My wi-fi internet connection is functioning OK.
3. I had to do a lot of search. Tried many suggestions in the web sites. Still, my video card driver could not be installed. While searching again for a possible solution, one of the sites, suggested to try EnvyNG software for installation of driver to my Nvidia video card. I installed this software through package manger. Then I installed the driver. It is working satisfactorily now.
4. Local time bug has been reported by many and a solution is found by Ubuntu community. Though auto selection of time zone is wrong in many cases, this can be overridden by manual selection of time zone.
5. My last bug is still not resolved. I am still groping in the dark.

A final stable version of Ubuntu Hardy Heron is scheduled on 24 April 2008. I am contemplating whether to go for a new clean install again after a stable version is released. The following link of an article provides pros and cons of going in for new clean install. http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/hardy-heron-clean-or-dirty