My Little Ubuntu Guide

So I went ahead and decided to test this Alpha 6 version of the new 8.04 Ubuntu release scheduled for April sometime. I have to say, this is a HUGE improvement over Gutsy. It feels like this is the correct step up from Feisty and that Gutsy was what Windows ME was to Microsoft! Remember, stuff broke more!

So anyway, I’m not going to do the normal review everyone is doing, instead I want to focus on some of the granular changes that impressed me. I will however, do a quick overview of the obvious:

Obvious Changes

1. Hibernate Works with the Restricted FGLRX driver (thank goodness, because ATI’s official driver is still buggy).
2. Wireless is now handled by the b43 module for Broadcom chipsets (as opposed to the bcm43xx, now deprecated)
3. Software is more up to date, using Firefox 3 Beta 4, which is WAY COOL! It has features like the option to Save and Close, which saves your tabs and tell it to always do that…a “Smart” bookmarking system that keeps track of your most visited, etc., sites, cleaner and easier to use interface, etc….
4. Security is more advanced in the system, handling access rights to certain Admin tasks better.
5. The Tracker indexing service is much improved and easier to use/access.
6. A new Wifi feature called “Edit Wireless Networks” that allows you to see the most recently/common wifi networks you connect to and edit their settings, security, etc.

Now for the subtle changes

1. Disk checking is improved and actually gives you smart feedback on bootup when it runs, telling you the percentage it’s complete, what stage it’s in, etc. It also has a Skip option! Very nice.
2. When you mount an ISO image the system recognizes this and automatically places a CD icon on your Desktop! Awesome!
3. Regarding the install CD, you have the option to do an install, where it boots right into the install process, saving a lot of time by not loading up the desktop.
4. Compiz has new features and options, one I like is when you click an icon in your task bar to open the app, a tiny image of the icon zooms out, neet effect.
5. Remote Desktop Viewer added, which allows you to connect to other Ubuntu systems running with it enabled. It appears to be VNC so you could probably connect to any system running VNC…anyone know for sure?
6. File copy is much better, allowing you the option to Merge if there are folders with the same name. Also gives a nicer progress indicator and still has the Replace and Skip options.

So that’s the summary so far. I’ve had success running everything except Wifi. It’s buggy still. Sometimes it works and other times I can’t see any networks around! Weird. Also, it’s only successfully connected me to Open networks so far, any feedback from any of you on this? I’ve gone through what feels like millions of variations to fix this and so far still not 100%.

It is Alpha however, so I’m not shocked by this. Also, another notable bug is that the Restriced Drivers Manager, now called Hardware Drivers, crashes after FGLRX and Wifi have been installed.

Oh, here’s something else VERY important. When you install the Wifi b43 module, don’t use the Hardware Drivers panel to do it. It doesn’t do a complete job and you won’t have Wifi. Instead go to a terminal and install it manually:

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

Then choose Yes when it asks if you want to download and install the firmware.

That’s it for now…I’ll update as I go along.

CDs are still in the works. I’m in a crunch right now thus the delay.

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So after compiling a zillion kernels I got fed up and decided to try the latest and greatest ATI driver. And what do you know, AIGLX is working great now! Smooth as silk and speedy too…

Until I get a cleaner and more accurate how-to up, refer to this post I did earlier: http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/2007/12/30/how-to-ati-w-compiz-hibernate-and-suspend-working/

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UPDATE: Ok, after the initial custom kernel build everything broke. But that was my lack of foresight. So I’m doing it again, this time using the SAME KERNEL that was on here. (I accidentally installed the latest stable kernel rather than the current which broke all my restricted driver stuff and modules, etc.) I’m also grabbing a copy of the Alpha 6 release of Hardy Heron based on some reports that this may be more stable for testing.

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Sorry for the delay in posting everyone, I’ve been taking care of my wife and little girl who both came down with the flu. Then I got a little bit of it myself on Saturday, but I’m getting better now!

Today I did my first custom kernel for my Dell 6400. Keep in mind I’m not a bit kernel customizer so I may need to do this a few times to get it right, but I will get it right. The primary purpose of this is to fix the SLUB issue that is causing Hibernate and Suspend to fail. I also want to do a custom kernel with each new release to make the boot process a little “lighter”.

The deb file is almost complete from the compiling with SLAB used and this should fix all the power issues. Once I’ve tested it on my system, if it works, I’ll make it available for download.

Also, if anyone wants to take the time to determine the exact hardware on the Dell 6400 I’d love you to post it in a comment. This will be very helpful in creating the custom kernel and trimming out all the unnecessary stuff.

Thanks!

John Westbrook
www.MyLittleUbuntuGuide.com

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Ok, the Gutsy CD is currently being built and I’ll be testing it shortly. After tests I’ll need to see about it’s size and if it will fit on a CD. I’ll keep you all posted!

John

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Ok folks, good news!

I installed the latest driver from ATI yesterday and…wholla! I can Hibernate and Suspend!

No need to rollback the kernel!

So tonight I’ll be doing a fresh install and using the new ATI driver. I’ll then do some testing and create a bootable install disk from the results that is custom for all you ATI users!

Talk to you soon…

John

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Ok folks, I’ve been running Gutsy successfully, somewhat, so far. I’ve gotten Compiz working perfectly to my liking and every other application is flawless. Except of course, Hibernate and Suspend. I’ve tried several techniques to getting it to work to no avail.

There is some talk out there about going back to a previous kernel, etc. I’m not going to do that. To me that defeats the purpose of progress here. I want to figure out how to make things work moving forward, even if it means waiting for the next kernel to come out.

There is a bug report that you can follow along on this issue over here: Bug Report

In the mean time, if any of you run across any other work arounds, leave a comment please! :)

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Ok, I’ve made some progress. As of now I’m running the “official” compiz and it’s working exactly as my hacked version was before. The system seems very stable, all my apps work great.

Only thing still on the agenda to fix is Hibernate/Suspend.

From what I’ve read on the bug report about that issue is they are not fixing it till the next release. I think we can get this working however without having to revert to the old kernel. I’ll continue working on it and keep you all posted.

Until I get a new CD with the Compiz stuff working, here’s a quick and dirty tutorial:

1. Enable all software resources EXCEPT the Trevino ones. To do this, click System > Administration > Software Sources and uncheck the following under the “Third-Party Software” tab:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy
http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy (Source Code)

2. Now install compiz and all other “parts”:
sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-bcop compiz-core compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-gnome compiz-plugins compizconfig-settings-manager emerald libcompizconfig-backend-gconf libcompizconfig0 libdecoration0 libemeraldengine0 python-compizconfig librsvg2-common gnome-compiz-manager libgnome-compiz-manager0-d

3. Now download and unzip the fusion icon:
wget http://www.mylittleubuntuguide.com/files/fusion-icon.tar.gz
tar -zxvf fusion-icon.tar.gz
cd fusion-icon

4. Now we build it:
make
sudo make install

5. Now re-enable the Trevino sources by returning to System > Administration > Software Sources and checking the two “trevino” repositories under Third-Party Software. Close and choose Reload.

6. Now install Emerald Themes:
sudo apt-get install emerald-themes

7. For good measure let’s make sure Emerald is handling the window decorations:
emerald &
Now right click the blue icon that appears in the upper right on your task bar and click “Select Window Decorator” and ensure “Emerald” is checked. If it’s not, check it.

That’s it! Now restart compiz and you can change the settings in System > Preferences > Advanced Desktop Effects Settings

Note: You can get all of your virtual desktops back on the cube by changing the General Options setting in Advanced Desktop Effects Settings, under the tab “Desktop Size”, change the “Horizontal Virtual Size” to your liking.

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The first Beta Custom CD for the Dell 6400 is now available for download. You can get the Gutsy CD here:
DOWNLOAD DELL 6400 GUTSY CD

You can get the MD5 file here:
DOWNLOAD MATCHING MD5 FILE

Be sure to report your errors and successes!

Remember, this version will allow you to do Wireless out of the box, ATI is installed out of the box, and Compiz-Fusion works out of the box. However, Suspend and Hibernate do not work in this version. I’m still working on that issue and Ubuntu may get ATI to fix the fglrx binary before I get a work around, so my bet is things will be working soon anyway.

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Ok folks, I’m uploading the first custom CD for Gutsy. It will only be in English, so if you need another language request it here.

This CD will include the binary fglrx drivers, xgl, and the advanced Compiz-Fusion settings manager for customizing your experience. It will also have the BCM43xx Wireless driver installed and the firmware already installed.

After you install your system from this CD, there is no need to enable the Restricted Drivers for the BCM43xx wireless to work. The ATI will show enabled and the BCM will show disabled (unchecked) but ignore that for now. It works.

You can even use wireless in live CD session, just click the network monitor icon and select/connect to your wifi.

The ISO will be finished uploading in 1 hour or less, so about 2:45 PM EST. I’ll announce it’s location at that time. Thanks!

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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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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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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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Ok, for those of you who have been having a problem with the CD not booting and going to a black screen, even with the ATI drivers, try this ISO out:

Click Here

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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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