New Ubuntu pains

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Oh yeah, the strange thing is that the resolution is perfect on the old desktop (same brand) with Mint. I can go up to 1600x1024. Maybe the solution is just hooking up the right machine.
By the way others with Nvidia card had the same problem without a statisfying solution:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=19908
 
I must say, after a week with LL / ubuntu 10 - It's my preferred OS now. I'm getting noticeably superior performance, and superior open-source apps, too. The latest application to pleasantly surprise me is "just" a game: Kigo is the most elegant virtual goban I've ever seen- I really love it. I get a bigger kick out of discovering great software when it's not wrapped up in marketing hype, and I'm amazed at the growing productivity of the open-source business model.

I hope you find a solution to the hardware woes soon, Syz. I think Linux and open-source are in the midst of a significant evolutionary jump.
 
Well, finally some good news. I installed Mint on the Notebook and it works! I mean everything, even the wireless, out of the box! The speed is about 2.5 times faster than with XP, resolution is whatever I want. This is the first Linux distro I really like. Unfortunatelly it looks like it isn't compatible with my newer desktop's Nvidia videocard, but I guess the 800x600 resolution will do for emergency situations..

Oh yeah, the steps to install it on a notebook without a CD drive:

1. Download the Mint .ISO file.
2. Download Unetbootin, open it.
3.Find the place where the .ISO was downloaded, click on it and also click on the USB drive (has to be at least 1G) where you want to load it.
4. Put the USB into the Netbook (or if it was there, restart it), make sure that when the notebook starts it boots from the USB (F11 on mine) and follow the installation instructions.

With all the downloads and such takes about an hour. One can actually buy a preloaded USB drive at Amazon where Mint is already there for about $18, if the above instructions are too complicated...
 
Syzygys said:
Well, finally some good news. I installed Mint on the Notebook and it works! I mean everything, even the wireless, out of the box! The speed is about 2.5 times faster than with XP, resolution is whatever I want. This is the first Linux distro I really like. Unfortunatelly it looks like it isn't compatible with my newer desktop's Nvidia videocard, but I guess the 800x600 resolution will do for emergency situations..

Oh yeah, the steps to install it on a notebook without a CD drive:

1. Download the Mint .ISO file.
2. Download Unetbootin, open it.
3.Find the place where the .ISO was downloaded, click on it and also click on the USB drive (has to be at least 1G) where you want to load it.
4. Put the USB into the Netbook (or if it was there, restart it), make sure that when the notebook starts it boots from the USB (F11 on mine) and follow the installation instructions.

With all the downloads and such takes about an hour. One can actually buy a preloaded USB drive at Amazon where Mint is already there for about $18, if the above instructions are too complicated...
Click to expand...

Was that a persistent install? Ie can you save changes made and keep the the next time you boot?

I'm currently playing with Ubuntu 10.04 installed persistenly on a 2GB SD Card using Pendrives 'Universal USB Installer' and it works great (working on MSI Wind netbook so no CD Drive). Considering its booting off the Card Reader its suprisingly quick.
 
ElectricFetus said:
Welcome to the Open source cult, members fee: $0 :D
Click to expand...

Fee: pain :)

By the way I am more like just tinkering with Linux, because I like to do so as long as it doesn't cause too much suffering. I won't really use it instead of XP.
I already noticed one extra problem: somehow the battery management is screwed up. The battery is still fully charged, but Mint says that only 2% power left and behaves accordingly.
 
Pinwheel said:
Was that a persistent install? Ie can you save changes made and keep the the next time you boot?
Click to expand...

Yes, and as you mentioned below I am using MSI Wind too. In my previous post I mention the battery problem, well, most of the time I use it from the grid, but that would be a problem if I were using from battery all the time. I actually wanted to compare energy consumption of XP and Mint but I guess I can't.
Also there are quite a few updates aviable and you might want to download them. When you run it from the disk there is no point downloading updates...

(working on MSI Wind netbook so no CD Drive). Considering its booting off the Card Reader its suprisingly quick.
Click to expand...

When I installed it, I went with the "Install side by side" without manually doing the partitipation. It might bite me in the ass later, but this was the easiest way. With earlier Ubuntu versions on desktops I did the manual partitipation.

Again I see 2 advantages for using Mint (well, Linux generally):

1. It makes an XP machine (specially an old one) faster. This isn't true with my Vista laptop that has the same speed as Ubuntu KK. I have them dual booted but I don't use KK because there is no speed increase.

2. No fear of catching viruses when visiting questionable websites. (if you do such a thing.Or if you have smaller kids who don't know better.). :)

Otherwise I don't see why one would want to use it...

Now yesterday on the desktop I tried to burn a DVD using Mint, but I couldn't figure out where the unzipped file went, so I didn't. I am not very good at following instructions, I just like to click away...

P.S.: Mint 9 RC has been ready for download a few days ago, although that is supposedly not a stabil version yet... My advice is that don't switch too fast to the newest version.
 
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Pendrives 'Universal USB Installer is terrific and supports a whole range of Linux distros including Mint 8. I might give it (Mint) a go on another 4Gb SD Card.
 
Syzygys said:
Fee: pain :)

By the way I am more like just tinkering with Linux, because I like to do so as long as it doesn't cause too much suffering. I won't really use it instead of XP.
I already noticed one extra problem: somehow the battery management is screwed up. The battery is still fully charged, but Mint says that only 2% power left and behaves accordingly.
Click to expand...

One interesting thing i noticed and has been true for many years now is that sleep mode (which i think is MS invention) just does not work well with Linux. Some versions dont work at all and some just get corrupted after awhile.
 
Well, the Sleep mode doesn't work well with XP either. I use Hibernation instead. Although I think the Hibernation also doesn't work well with Linux. When I close the lid on the netbook it is supposed to Hibernate but it doesn't...
 
Another thing isn't working, the display brightness. Once I adjust it it starts to fluctuate between two values flashing the screen. Not pretty.
Also after unplugging it, the notebook immediatelly goes on powersaving mode and dims the display, but I can't even bring it back not even with plugging it back.

Sorry guys, but not ready for primetime... I really wanted to like this, but just not working correctly...
 
ACPI is my only niggle- my laptop's battery life dropped from about 1:45 (win7) to 1:15 (Lucid). But considering the way that updates keep rolling in, and considering how the popularity of ubuntu/kubuntu/gubuntu is accelerating, I expect the hardware-specific tweaks will come.

Installation has become easier than windohs and OSuX for me. Customization has been way more fun, with far more possibilities than with the corporate brands. As soon as it becomes possible to sync my iPhone to it, my Mac G5 will become strictly Linux too.
 
ElectricFetus said:
Interesting, but I don't think thats a problem an things like todays netbooks and smart phones, heck not a problem for my little Dell.
Click to expand...

Maybe not but that is why people need to be sure their hardware supports an OS and if it does not you cant really blame the OS for not working.
 
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