Ubuntu 8.04 this Thursday


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What are the differences between the Desktop client and the Server version other than support lifetime?

The last time I tried it (6.10 I think it was), the server didn't use or install X (or anything that wasn't necessary for a server) by default, it used the standard Debian text-based installer and just installed either a basic system (i.e. kernel and GNU tools) or a LAMP setup.

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Been messin with 8.04 a bit. Two bugs I have been researching which actually seems to have been happening in earlier releases:

Apparently Nvidia drivers cause a pink glow where the compiz shadow is supposed to be. This can also vary upon background as the glow can be lime green.. etc. Hoping Nvidia comes out with an update to fix it... its the nvidia-glx-new driver which causes the problem. I've tried downgrading both with Envy and manually with no luck. I think the version is 169.09 or *.12. Supposedly the root of the problem is nvidia-utils. Pain in the ass though....

The laptop computer will actually freeze and the caps and scroll lock LED's will flash continuously. Everything is locked down. The only way to get out is to reboot with the power button. In reading, the belief is that it occurs when the CPU max's out. Usually happening while firefox is running.

Other than that it seems to be working great. These two items are a damper for me because I think one of the ideal items in linux is the ease of gui customization and the fun affiliated with it. And having your computer crash 3x a day is far worse than Windows.. so if those crash happy ads want to keep rolling... fix the software!

:D

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^^^ Great gravy! :blink:

Locking up? And 3 times a day, at that?!?! I wouldn't accept that. What is going on, because that is not normal? What specific condition(s) must be met to get that to happen?

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Been messin with 8.04 a bit. Two bugs I have been researching which actually seems to have been happening in earlier releases:

Apparently Nvidia drivers cause a pink glow where the compiz shadow is supposed to be. This can also vary upon background as the glow can be lime green.. etc. Hoping Nvidia comes out with an update to fix it... its the nvidia-glx-new driver which causes the problem. I've tried downgrading both with Envy and manually with no luck. I think the version is 169.09 or *.12. Supposedly the root of the problem is nvidia-utils. Pain in the ass though....

The laptop computer will actually freeze and the caps and scroll lock LED's will flash continuously. Everything is locked down. The only way to get out is to reboot with the power button. In reading, the belief is that it occurs when the CPU max's out. Usually happening while firefox is running.

Other than that it seems to be working great. These two items are a damper for me because I think one of the ideal items in linux is the ease of gui customization and the fun affiliated with it. And having your computer crash 3x a day is far worse than Windows.. so if those crash happy ads want to keep rolling... fix the software!

:D

Have you tried the "Wubi" version? before I tried that I couldnt get my graphics to install or anything, installed wubi and its golden except I cant seem to get my dual monitors working.. or being able to adjust the screen resolution (its stuck at 1920x1200)

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Been messin with 8.04 a bit. Two bugs I have been researching which actually seems to have been happening in earlier releases:

Apparently Nvidia drivers cause a pink glow where the compiz shadow is supposed to be. This can also vary upon background as the glow can be lime green.. etc. Hoping Nvidia comes out with an update to fix it... its the nvidia-glx-new driver which causes the problem. I've tried downgrading both with Envy and manually with no luck. I think the version is 169.09 or *.12. Supposedly the root of the problem is nvidia-utils. Pain in the ass though....

The laptop computer will actually freeze and the caps and scroll lock LED's will flash continuously. Everything is locked down. The only way to get out is to reboot with the power button. In reading, the belief is that it occurs when the CPU max's out. Usually happening while firefox is running.

Other than that it seems to be working great. These two items are a damper for me because I think one of the ideal items in linux is the ease of gui customization and the fun affiliated with it. And having your computer crash 3x a day is far worse than Windows.. so if those crash happy ads want to keep rolling... fix the software!

:D

As for the shadow problem (on my computer it manifested with no shadow at all), people are already fixing it by replacing a library. Some others are installing xorg-xgl (I think), and others fix it by installing the latest nvidia drivers. Apparently it only just happens on geforce 8 series.

As for the laptop locking down... not sure what to say. Did you check the logs afterwards? You could try the REISUB thing to reboot the computer instead of the power button.

1. Hold down the Alt and SysRq (Print Screen) keys. 2. While holding those down, type the following in order. Nothing will appear to happen until the last letter is pressed: REISUB 3. Watch your computer reboot magically.

Each character you press has a function (including properly unmounting the file systems). Once you hit 'b', it reboots

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^^^ I recall that "SUB", the S syncs drives, the U unmounts them, and the B boots the PC again. What are the REI?

EDIT: Shouldda googled first. :pinch:

R gives back control of the keyboard

S issues a sync

E sends all processes but init the term singal

I sends all processes but init the kill signal

U mounts all filesystem ro to prevent a fsck at reboot

B reboots the system

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When the keyboard LEDs flash like that it means there was a kernel panick.

Well either the kernel panicks out of the box or because of one of these items: restricted Nvidia driver or emerald

This happened to me this morning after a fresh install and only gettng these two items done.

As for the shadow problem (on my computer it manifested with no shadow at all), people are already fixing it by replacing a library. Some others are installing xorg-xgl (I think), and others fix it by installing the latest nvidia drivers. Apparently it only just happens on geforce 8 series.

The shadow which more-so looks like a glow is not as easily visible under the menu panel. It is easier to make out on the background of a window which is open or around text popups. I have also read that this is primarily a problem for geforce variants, but this laptop has an Nvidia Quadro mobile card. I'm sure they all use the same 169.12 (link) as shown. I could indeed shutdown differently, but that is not a fix only a workaround.

I have decided to wait for Nvidia to fix the problem and the update to be published by Ubuntu. The crash, if kernel based, is definitely a downer. I thought about loading up Suse the other night because of it.

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Items I have enjoyed messing with as well as fixes for problems I have faced and previously mentioned in this thread.

Fixes First:

Pink Shadows Issue -

Nvidia bug, bottom line -- packaged drivers in 8.04 and released for earlier versions. A fix until Nvidia can get it right:

Open terminal and type in this command: sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nvidia/libwfb.so.xserver-xorg-core /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so

Hit Cntrl+Alt+BackSpace to cycle X

Lock up Issue -

Since staying off my wireless network and using a sierra wireless aircard more.. I have not seen the issue at all. I mentioned it one time in the Ubuntu IRC help channel and got one question asking if I used WEP security. The answer was no.. regardless after no issues with the freeze, I realize that I had not used my wireless for at least 95% of the time. Wireless drivers for 8.04? First time I have never had to manually get my wireless working...possibility that now it works until it crashes!!!

---------------

Other items I shared with a co-worker that I enjoyed setting up and messing with:

CINGULAR AIRCARD

Drivers: check to see whether or not you already have the Sierra drivers present by open a terminal and typing: modinfo sierra. If you get something that looks like this:

filename: /lib/modules/2.6.22-11-generic/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/sierra.ko

license: GPL

version: v.1.0.6

description: USB Driver for Sierra Wireless USB modems

author: Kevin Lloyd srcversion: DF9B9270E7912A55059D7CC…

you’re good. Proceed to step two.

If you don’t, head over here to get the driver and follow Sierra’s instructions for installation.

Scripts: this is the tricky part if you’re not a Linux person, but really all it amounts to is cut and paste. Seriously. So if you’re a Linux person, just follow the instructions here (many thanks to ITGuyonline for both figuring that out and posting his scripts). If you’re not a Linux person and need a bit more hand holding, do this.

In your open terminal window, type sudo nano /etc/ppp/peers/cingular. Paste this:

hide-password

noauth

connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/cingular"

debug

/dev/ttyUSB0

115200

defaultroute

noipdefault

user "WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM"

remotename cingular

ipparam cingular

usepeerdns

Then hit CTL-O to write the file.

Next, type sudo nano /etc/chatscripts/cingular. Paste this:

ABORT BUSY ABORT 'NO CARRIER' ABORT VOICE ABORT 'NO DIALTONE' ABORT 'NO DIAL TONE' ABORT 'NO ANSWER' ABORT DELAYED

'' "ATZ" 'OK' 'AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","ISP.CINGULAR"'

OK-AT-OK "ATDT*99***1#"

CONNECT \d\c

CTL-O to write.

Last, type sudo nano /etc/ppp/chapsecrets, and paste this:

"WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM" * "cingular1"

Same CTL-O.

That’s it, you’re more or less done.

PPPTRAY ICON

Terminal:

sudo apt-get install ppptray pppstatus

DESKTOP EFFECTS

Compiz-Fusion is installed by default in 8.04.

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager (System/Preferences - Advanced Desktop Effects)

You will want Emerald which is a themer that works with CompizFusion (the new compiz/beryl combination)

sudo apt-get install emerald ( System/Preferences - Emerald Theme Manager)

Emerald Tray Icon (in terminal)

sudo apt-get install git git-core compiz-dev (some of this it may tell u that you already have, just exclude it)

git-clone git://opencompositing.org/users/crdlib/fusion-icon

cd fusion-icon

make

sudo make install

Hit Alt+F2 on the keyboard and type: fusion-icon

This will show a blue box icon in the task tray.

STARTUP ITEMS

Click System/Preferences - Sessions

You can add a new startup Item like the fusion icon. In the command field ust add 'fusion-icon' and name/comment whatever u like. Hit ok and restart.

../Many other things I have done...

Also beware the new firefox "offline mode" in 3.x (I have not verified this, but this is what is being said as 2.x does not have it). Apparently many applications look to Network Manager to determine the connection status. There is a command which can be run to stop NM and bypass this problem.

Thought I would post this back on my problems after finally figuring them out. It took me a couple of installs because of trying to compile drivers myself.. etc, but finally found the right path to get things working the way they should.

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Apparently Nvidia drivers cause a pink glow where the compiz shadow is supposed to be. This can also vary upon background as the glow can be lime green.. etc.

Yes, that happened to me in 7.10, when enabling compiz. It would go away either by:

  • changing themes
  • logging out/in
  • disabling/enabling compiz

OK, so I installed 8.04 last night on my laptop (had 7.10 before).

PulseAudio kicks in and there's no need for hacks to have sound.

I have to check if the card reader works by default now (it needed this VERY NICE solution).

Haven't installed Nvidia drivers yet (most likely won't), but it's very speedy!

The screen resolution was detected but my refresh rate is apparently -2147483Hz, on a "clone". (<_<)

I don't understand the need for nautilus-cd-burner in ubuntu-desktop. They shipped a fixed Brasero (apparently), so why the need for that?

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I'm very dissapointed that they decided to go with Firefox 3b5 as the default browser. I installed Firefox-2, then removed everything related to 3 and installed Firefox-2-gnome-support. All appears to be funtioning correctly.

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I installed Ubuntu 8.04. My first ever Ubuntu download but alas... the sound did not work. I gotta get that one sorted out!

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I installed Ubuntu 8.04. My first ever Ubuntu download but alas... the sound did not work. I gotta get that one sorted out!

Make sure you get that sorted. I've been using Ubuntu since last summer. It's a total religious experience... once you've got all the bits working! :D

Question: did your audio work when you tested on the live CD?

Question: if not, what sort of computer have you got?

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