I am new to Linux (Kubuntu 7.10). The OS loads quickly, has nice eye candy, but comes with it’s own set of headaches.

Issues:

Wireless connection with a rt61. Finally works after changing drivers to seamonkey.

Wireless does not start on startup. There seems to be a complicated workaround that I have yet to try.

Shutdown hangs when connected to the internet. Still haven’t solved this one.

Overall, I can live with installing new drivers, but a simple shutdown should be automatic.

You have to install in safe graphics mode, then press f6 and add “nolapic acpi-off” to the install params (before the –).

I’d also make sure to get the bios up to date. You can flash it to A22, then to A32 (can’t do the whole jump at once).

My only real issue is that it takes eons to boot up, but other than that, it’s made use out of a tired old laptop.

I am a computer literate (since 1983!) and run 3 hard disks and two screens on the same machine. I cleared one disk’s partition ready to install Ubuntu. Upon the ‘guided’ install screen (this after several restarts and blank screens), I get presented with three disks. Too bad that two have the same size, so which is which? Back to windows to check the partition sizes.

Now that I know which one to go for, suddenly the order of the disks had changed. The bootable Windows disk (which used to be disk 3) is now disk 1. Suspicious!! So back to windows to double check.

Another Ubuntu boot. Do I want import from Administrator and my Windows user name? Yes - tick, tick.

Enter my username and a password. So used to Windows, so…

Nope! Username needs to be without any capitals.

OK. New username. No not accepted. Reboot (as in select ‘restart’. No go whatsoever. Need to turn power switch off/on).

Having been burned once, I get to the username again and try a single word username (no caps, nothing fancy). Password is a 5 letter lower case common word. No luck. Username needs to be in lowercase (!) and I’m no allowed to enter an “empty password” (of seven lowercase letters!!). CTRL ALT DEL - select restart. Nothing happens (does anyone remember the game ‘Adventure’?).

So out goes the 700MB download CD, in goes a Ubuntu aversion and as much as I hate windows, it’s ‘nice to be back’.

FF

(hehe, he thought it was “polish”, as in what one might do to a car >.

It actually is.