My Little Ubuntu Guide

The problem with Suspend and Hibernate in Gutsy is that Gutsy is using CONFIG_SLUB=y in it’s kernel instead of CONFIG_SLAB=y, which Feisty used in it’s kernel. This is a problem with the fglrx driver, which worked fine in Feisty. Anyway, you can read more about this bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.22/+bug/121653.

For now, here’s a fix, but it comes at a cost. Temporarily anyway. As I said, the FGLRX driver (i.e. xorg-driver-fglrx) doesn’t work right with the new kernel, BUT the ATI driver from www.amd.com does. The trade off is your Compiz-Fusion.

I’m going to try to get Compiz working with the official ATI driver as I get more time to work on it. But for now if you want Suspend/Hibernate you need to be running the official ATI driver.

So what you do is:

Preparation
Install Build Tools:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential debhelper debconf dh-make fakeroot libstdc++5 linux-headers-generic


Installation

Build Ubuntu packages from the installer by opening a terminal, entering the directory that you saved the installer to, and running:

bash ./ati-driver-installer-.run –buildpkg Ubuntu/gutsy


where is the version number of the driver you downloaded. This will take a short time. After finishing, the installer will create several debs. Use the command “dpkg -i ” to install the debs:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb


After installing the kernel source and xorg driver, you will now need to compile the fglrx kernel module in order to get 3-d rendering. Do so with the following commands:

sudo m-a prepare,update
sudo m-a build,install fglrx-kernel
sudo depmod
sudo rm -f /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb


Configuration

Now open “System -> Administration -> Restricted Drivers Manager” and select the enable box for “ATI accelerated graphics driver” and hit apply. Reboot now.

At next boot, Ubuntu will load an old version of fglrx, so you have to blacklist it by changing the following file as so:

sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Now change it to say:
DISABLED_MODULES=”fglrx”

You’re finished! Now Reboot Again.

You are now running the ATI official driver with Direct Rendering working. I’ll figure out how to get Compiz to work with this soon.

After any kernel updates

After every update of the kernel (linux-image-), you will need to recompile the kernel module (make sure to get the latest linux-headers too) as explained under the installation section. After you recompile the module, you can regain direct rendering by logging into a console (ctrl+alt+f1) and typing:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop (kdm if you use Kubuntu)
sudo rmmod fglrx (even if this command fails, go on)
sudo modprobe fglrx
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start (again, Kubuntu users type kdm)


That’s it. Should work to get your Suspend/Hibernate working for now in Gutsy. As I said, I’ll update when I find a fix for all with the compiz working too.

Later!

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Ok, I’ve installed and as said in the previous post, things look good. however they are not perfect. Let me outline some issues I’ve found:

1. Graphics
The ATI restricted driver is detected during install, however you must install it by clicking “Enable” in the Restricted Drivers manager. When you do this three packages are installed: xorg-driver-fglrx, libstdc++5, and gcc-3.3-base. These three do not make the built in Compiz Fusion work however. They only enable your default resolution.

To get Compiz Fusion working you have to additionally install xserver-xgl. This will then allow you to boot into XGL and use the built in effects. I’m not sure yet if you need to write a custom startup XGL script or not. I don’t think so and will test this shortly.

2. Wireless
The Broadcom wifi issue has been fairly well addressed in this release. Again, it’s a driver that is restricted and must be enabled in the Restricted Drivers manager. During the process you’ll be prompted to either provide the location of your firmware or download it…choose to download them and it will complete fine.

3. Power Management
I’m a little annoyed by the constant dimming of my screen while running on batteries. Even when I brighten it manually, it dims after a while and when I move the pointer only brightens it a little. I’m sure there’s a way around this, just haven’t found it yet.

The other more serious issues are that Suspend and Hibernate no longer work. I’ll find out what’s going on with this and if it’s fixable in the current Kernel. But for now, just avoid attempting to do Hibernate and Suspend as it just locks up the system.

What About The Custom CD?

Now about the new Custom CD…I’m going to make it have the XGL, ATI, and WiFi drivers all installed already so you won’t need to go downloading them. I’ll also try to make it boot up into the XGL session the first time without need of enabling the drivers. That to me would be paramount.

Secondly, I’m going to find out what the hell is going on with these power issues and address them immediately.

If any of you figure that out first, let me know.

That’s it for now!

John Westbrook

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Downloaded, burned and booted without a hitch. I installed the new Gutsy and it loaded, without the ATI driver of course, but with GUI working!

I simply enabled the ATI and WiFi drivers from the Restricted Drivers link in System > Administration and … It works great.

Not perfect of course. Enabling their new built in Effects didn’t work until I installed XGL server and booted into it. However, got a message saying that from now on I need to boot into the default normal session and XGL will auto start…interesting. I may not have needed to create a custom start script afterall. We’ll see.

Right now I’m creating a custom boot disk that will have the ATI and WiFi drivers pre-installed. We’ll be testing a lot of these and I’ll make it available for download when it works.

Later…

PS: If it didn’t boot into the GUI before for you, I suggest downloading a fresh copy, it may be they made updates after you tried.

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I’m downloading the Gutsy release now. Sounds like the issues you all are having are identical to the previous release. This is good and should make it easy to fix.

The problem is the ATI driver. If ATI would be easier to work with this wouldn’t be an issue. Oh well, I’ll just continue fixing things for them!!!

I’ll keep you all posted. Just started downloading and it should be down in about 9 minutes, then I’ll burn and boot.

I’ll do a post tonight to update everyone.

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I don’t know how many of you have read up on the latest release of Ubuntu: 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). You can read about it HERE. This is a step in Linux history that will change everything! On the 18th I’ll be downloading the official CD and doing a fresh install. If anything is needed to make it work smoothly I’ll create a custom CD and announce it here within a day of that date.

See you there!

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Yes Rhona, even your husband is devoting a blog post to you on your birthday!

Ok, so here’s the deal for those of you who don’t know Rhona. She’s my wife, duh, and she is totally awesome. I’m not just saying that because she’ll be reading this, I mean it. And today is a very special birthday for her. It’s her last birthday in the 20s.

Yeah, sorry hun, I’m STILL younger than you!

Now let me share some more cool things about my wife that many of you may not realize. Rhona Westbrook is a very accomplished author. She’s published much of her work and is currently working on a major book. Although I have not read the book, seeing it’s more words than I’ve probably spoken in my lifetime, I hear (from her and others) that it’s awesome.

I’m so proud of all that she’s accomplished in the past 2 years on this. She has gone from being into reading and interested in writing to becoming a legend of sorts over on LiveJournal.com! Check out her blog at rhonawestbrook.livejournal.com. You’ll love it!

Rhona is funny, intelligent, sexy, an amazing mom and a literary genius. Let me just sum it up to say that I’m very proud and honored to be Rhona Westbrook’s husband.

Happy Birthday baby! You’re the best!

-John

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Hey everyone,

Sorry for my absense. It has been very busy lately. To all of you who have made offers on the laptop, thank you. Fortunately, I was able to keep it and no longer need it sold. Sorry if you wanted it!

Our new puppy that we got for our daughter is so awesome. It’s a little Sheltie, very intelligent and very cute. I’ll put some pics up later.

As for linux, I haven’t had much time to do anything with it lately, so I’ll update when I have. I still need to read through all the comments…I’ll get to it!

Talk later!

John

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Many of you are noticing that your install is not working, at least not when you run the FinishUp script. This is due to www.GetAutomatix.com being down. I’m not sure what the status is and why they are down, but I’ll look into it.

Until further notice, DON’T run the script. I’ll let you know when they are back up.

Cheers!

John

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It’s true. I’m selling the 6400. Why?

Ok, here’s the story.

My wife and I have had a beautiful Doberman since we were married in 2000. His name was Hoss. He was the sweetest, most caring and loving dog you could ever imagine.

Hoss recently was diagnosed with a heart condition, common in Dobermans, which involves his heart enlarging. In fact, now that this happened we discovered that 50% of Dobermans die of this condition. Most before they reach a ripe old age.

Because we rescued Hoss from a Kill Shelter in Southern Cal. we don’t know who the breeder was and even didn’t know how old he was. But when we got him he was estimated to be 2 years old. That was 7 years ago.

Last night I took Hoss to our vet to have him put to rest. That’s the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in years. Emotionally this has been very trying and with a 4 year old daughter involved it’s even more challenging. How do you tell your little girl that Hoss died, when she doesn’t even understand death?

We knew we were going to have to put Hoss to sleep, so we decided to get a puppy BEFORE this. To be very transparent, money has been tight recently. And we wanted to get our daughter a puppy that would be a good fit, and have longevity so she doesn’t have to experience another loss like this, at least to the extent that we can handle.

My wife found the cutest little 9 week old sheltie boy. I’ll post pictures later. He was $600. However, well worth it and with the most adorable personality, or doganality. He’s 10 weeks now and my daughter absolutely loves him. She sits in his little pen and plays with him every day, takes him outside, helps to potty train him, etc.

He’s AKC registered and his dad is a champion. With all the vet bills for Hoss in his final days and the puppy costs, I’m forced to take some pretty drastic measures. So I’m selling my laptop. I don’t know what a good price for it is, I’ll have to figure that out. But below are the specs.

Inspiron 6400
Intel Core Dou Processor at 1.6 Ghz
2 GB RAM
160 GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
DVD-+RW/CD-+RW
ATI 1400 Graphics w/ 128 MB Dedicated
15.4″ Display (1280×800) w/ TrueBrite
Firewire
Card Reader
VGA and S-Video Out
Audio In/Out
9-Cell Batter (Up to 5.5 Hours)

comes with:
Ubuntu Installed
Power Supply
Warranty Good till 12/09/2007

If you throw in some extra bucks I’ll include my hard case

anyway, make offers and I’ll figure out a price to start from as I research what’s out there.

thanks for listening to my very long and somewhat “preachy” post.

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I’m beginning the build of Gutsy tonight. Yes, thought I’d get my butt in gear! The crazy week has slowed down finally, so I can focus a bit more on this project.

Again, if any of you have suggestions, don’t hesitate to make them! Just comment below.

Cheers!

John Westbrook

P.S. There will be an outage planned for this site, starting tomorrow night, and going into Friday mid-day. The reason? I’m replacing the WordPress site with a more robust backend to handle all the content. It’s actually going to be really cool, I’m going to seperate everything into much easier to navigate sections, such as a “how to” section, a “scripts” section, a “Download” section, the blog, and a forum! It will take anywhere between 5 hours to 15 hours for the transfer of content and design to finish. Unfortunately it’s rather complicated to create the site offline, so everything will be done online.

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Ok, I’m not being totally lazy. I’ve just been pursuing some other interests, like making a living! Man this week was busy! I did a ton of stuff including some information product launches. So I’m sorry I’ve been off the job here, but I’m going to get back into things and start on that Gutsy CD.

By the way, reports of the CD working on HPs also!

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The new CD is live and is at:
http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/iso/livecd.iso

Tested and it works great!

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While I’m working to get the new CD working properly, I’ve updated the FinishUp script, so when you use the current CD to install and run the FinishUp script from the Desktop, you’ll get Compiz-Fusion and all the other fixes mentioned yesterday.

Also, while you wait, enjoy these shots of my system and just a couple of the cool things Fusion does:

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UPDATE: As usual, ran into some snags. Now I’m getting a blank screen on boot!!! WTF?!? Anyway, no biggy, I’ll try something else and I could have missed a step…

Ok, after testing the new CD seems to work without a hitch! Yeah!!!

Now, I received a post question on UbuntuForums.org from Shaun suggesting I include compiz-fusion. Apparently I’ve been so caught up in other projects I’ve missed the incredible new strides taken in compiz! This blows the plain old Beryl out of the water!!!!

So, I’m including it on the new CD! Thanks Shaun!

Along with that the new CD will also do the following:

Fix Suspend Problem (Suspend works!!!)
Fix Horizontal Scrolling of Touchpad
Fix Blank Screen on Some Systems During Live CD Boot

If you find anything else broken please report it ASAP. I’m going to test my new CD today and it will be available for download by this afternoon.

Cheers!

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The CD is not working for some of you 6400/1501 users and I think I know why. Recently John, an Ubuntu user trying to get the CD working, tried it. It didn’t boot. But, when he selected the VGA option it did.

Now, when the Live CD boots it creates the Xorg.conf file on the fly. So here’s my theory: The script that creates the xorg file doesn’t work on some systems/resolutions.

So the fix would be to hard code the xorg file into the CD and remove the dexconf script completely from the picture. I’m going to try it tonight and will upload the CD image. Once it’s up I need some of you to be “guinea pigs” for this test. Any takers please email me!

Thanks!

John

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After some complaints about the md5 files not matching up, I’ve created new ones. Also please note that the DVD and CD ISO’s are moved to a new location:

Dell 6400 Ubuntu Live CD Image: http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/iso/livecd.iso
Matching MD5 File: http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/iso/livecd.iso.md5

Dell 6400 Ubuntu Live DVD Image: http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/iso/livedvd.iso
Matching MD5 File: http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/iso/livedvd.iso.md5

Cheers!

John

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Ok, I finally got a Live CD image working. You can download it from the link above.

What it does is everything a normal Ubuntu Live CD does except mine comes with ATI working, Broadcom 43xx wifi working (dell 1390), and Beryl installed … and it preinstalls beryl when you install from it. Then it places a “FinishUp” icon on the Desktop so when you log into your new system you can first run that and it does all the updates, upgrades, and installs Automatix2 so you can enjoy any of the software available to you!

It’s sweet!

Check it out!

John

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I just created and tested the new DVD iso.

Now I wanted it to have the system updates already applied, but alas, I have not successfully been able to get that working. It breaks Beryl for some reason.

BUT, I’ve updated the DVD iso with fixes to the current bugs and other issues, tested it on my system and it works like a freakin charm.

Once you install it you should first boot into a normal Gnome session, run the FinishUp script, then reboot. THEN you can change your session to Gnome-xgl and boot into the glory of Beryl! The first time I booted into my Gnome-xgl session after the FinishUp and reboot, my Beryl was loaded but I didn’t have any effects. I simply right clicked the Emerald icon, clicked “Reload Window Manager” and Wholla, it worked. I’m not sure why that happened, but on every reboot since it’s fine.

Also, the modem driver only works AFTER you apply the FinishUp script. This is a crucial step, so don’t forget it.

I’m off to upload the new iso. It won’t be at the same download location and I’ll release the name of the file once it’s up.

Cheers all!

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Ok, so those of you who subscribe were aware of the glitches. I’m repairing, HOPEFULLY, all of them now. I’ll do some extensive tests on my laptop before uploading the new iso.

But, bottom line is, I’m uploading the newest iso tomorrow.

The current one doesn’t show Beryl correctly on everyone’s system and has some applications missing, such as Cinelerra. The beryl problem was really weird, some had no borders and others had no buttons, but borders. Still others had no problems! So I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of this!

This is all very Beta right now, so hang tight with me and we’ll make this work.

Once all the bugs are worked out, we should be able to have a nice DVD to install from!

Later everyone!

John

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UPDATE: The Checksum can be matched with the md5 file, you can download it at http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/files/livecd.iso.md5
Let me know if something on the DVD doesn’t work people! Cheers!
END OF UPDATE….

The “Dell 6400 Ubuntu Live DVD” works! I’m so happy! The Beyl problem before was due to a repository not responding, probably being updated, but it’s all working now and I’ve created the ISO. I’ll be uploading it today, so this may take a while. I’ll post the link when it’s up.

If you have suggestions for applications you’d like pre-installed, just shoot me an email and I’ll consider putting them on there. To see a list of what’s on it now, see below:

What Is Installed:
1. System/Kernel Update with Reboot
2. Build/Compilation Tools
3. FGLRX Driver for ATI
4. XGL for Use With Beryl
5. Beryl by Trevino (0.3) w/ Unsupported Plugins, Video Capture Plugin, Seom, and Avant Window Manager
6. i8k Utils, GKRellm, and Sensors Applet for Hardware Monitoring (gkrellm is optional…for controlling the temp thresholds and fans yourself)
7. Automatix2 (A Super App By www.GetAutomatix.com That Allows You To Easily Install and Remove Cool Applications and Drivers)
8. Kompozer Web Editing Software, formerly NVu
9. DeVeDe DVD Authoring Software
10. gSTM Proxy Tunneling Software
11. Scanbutton Deamon (for use with Canon scanners)
12. Wireless Driver Using ndiswrapper for Dell 1390 and/or Broadcom 43xx (Any Broadcom Wireless Driver Which Uses the bcmwl5.sys / bcmwl5.inf Driver File)
13. JAVA Plugins and Software
14. Skype Chat Software
15. VMWare Server (You’ll Need a Serial, Get One for Free at www.vmware.com)
16. Multimedia Codecs
17. Kino Video Editing Software
18. F-Spot Photo Organization Software (Similar to Picasa)
19. Extra Fonts
20. Compression Tools (For Creating Tarballs and Zip files)
21. Adobe Acrobat Reader + Firefox Plugin
22. Gnome Baker CD/DVD Burning Software
23. gFTP FTP Client Software
24. GNU Cash Money Management Software
25. Liferea RSS Reader
26. Firestarter Firewall
27. ClamAV Antivirus Software
28. Audacity Audio Editing Software
29. DVD Ripping Software
30. Mplayer + Firefox Plugin
31. Totem Xine Video Player
32. VLC Media Player
33. Beep Media Player
34. Realmedia Player
35. Opera Web Browser
36. Avidemux Video Editing Software
37. Bittornado Bittorent Software
38. Bluefish Web Editing Software
39. Scribus Graphics/Publication Software
40. Picasa by Google
41. Wine (For Running Windows Apps)
42. Nautilus Scripts (For Opening Nautilus as Root, etc.)
43. Openoffice.org Clipart
44. Backup & Restore
45. GAIM Chat
46. Flash Plugin for Firefox
47. Gmail Checker
48. GIMP Image Editing
49. Thunderbird 2.0
50. RecordmyDesktop (Record Video From Desktop)
51. Google Desktop (Indexing of All Your Files for Fast Searching)

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