Ubuntu 8.04 serious issues?
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I have been trying to use the latest version of Ubuntu, version 8.04, and I have come into a few serious issues. I know it is still in beta form but if these errors are not corrected there is no way I can fully switch over on my laptop. First off there are few new things that I like, for one Wubi integration just makes too much sense not to do and the installation takes under 30min and is a real joy to do. Also on of the things I really like is the new sense of polish I see throughout the system, its still not pretty but it has more of a continuous fell about it.
Ok now to the biggest issue I faced.
My laptop has a Dell 1390 wlan wireless card that up to 7.10 was a hassle to get running but with the integration of the new restricted drivers I was able to get it to run with two clicks and a reboot, but not so much now. Ubuntu still finds the card and installs the drivers, I think, but before it lets me click the “use” checkbox it tells I need to restart, which I did but it keeps telling me to restart, a never ending loop of restarts is never fun to run into. The only I did with Ubuntu was install it via Wubi which may lay my problems because the wireless light was already one during the installation and first run, unlike with 7.10 in which the light didn’t come on until after I installed the drivers. I will be testing this issue later in the day with Kubuntu and will update this post if anything is different.
Hopefully this issue will be fixed before its released this later this month.
10 Comments
Stephan
April 2nd, 2008
at 10:08pm
It may be fixed, but only if someone else is having the same problem and has reported it. I would recommend going to the Ubuntu forums and posting about this, either someone will have had the same issue and will know a fix, or you should be able to get some help.
Luckily the amount of hardware Linux supports out of the box is massive now. The great thing about it is that you can just put in the CD and your hardware will be there. There are no driver CDs necessary. My laptop, my work laptop and my wife’s computer are all fully supported with no extras. That’s quite nice compared to installing, then installing drivers, then hundreds of windows updates. Most annoying is when you can’t use the Internet to get the drivers as there is no ethernet card driver. That really is a pain! On my laptop under Ubuntu 6.10, I had no wireless (till I looked up how to do it on the Ubuntu forums) but at least ethernet still worked!
In my opinion, it’s just due to the way Windows has been sold with most computers in the past. This is now changing, but it meant that hardware manufacturers didn’t need to care about supporting anything other than Windows. Like I said though, this has changed drastically! Computers are for sale without Windows and nvidia, ATI etc make products that work under Linux, as if they didn’t, they wouldn’t sell as many products. Money is what it’s all about anyway.
Anyway, I’m ranting… the short answer is to go on the Ubuntu forums and check out what the status of support for your hardware is. From the sounds of it, it is now supported, just a glitch that needs ironing out. At least you can get it fixed. Just imagine going to Microsoft’s forums and asking this. Oh wait, you can’t!
Someone who cares
April 3rd, 2008
at 3:04am
Did you file a bug report to let them know so they can investigate and fix it before release?
Argiod
April 3rd, 2008
at 11:02am
On needs to keep in mind that Ubuntu, along with all Linux Distros, is a work-in-proress. Until mainstream software producers ‘get with it’ and start supporting us, we will always have some compatibility problems. On the whole, though, I find Ubuntu to be the finest Linux platform I’ve tried. I still need VMWare to run programs that simply do not have Linux implimentations. But for sheer security when surfing the web, Ubuntu wins, hands down.
Matt
April 4th, 2008
at 3:12pm
Argiod I understand but my issue is that it was 100% compatible with the previous version of Ubuntu, so it seems like a step back to me.
Stephan
April 9th, 2008
at 9:56am
Why were the comments for this webpage removed?
Matt
April 9th, 2008
at 7:06pm
Even though you post a comment it doesn’t stay, I have to approve it fist.
I get a LOT of spam.
Adrian
April 18th, 2008
at 4:42pm
I have the same issue. Dell 1501 ran nicely with 7.10 installed, now I can’t use the wireless interface. It is detected I guess because it is showing in the NICs list but it does not stay selected.
Kerry
May 1st, 2008
at 8:20pm
I am having the same problem with my Dell Inspiron 1705. Ubuntu 7.10 saw the wireless card (Dell 1390) and worked with no problems, but 8.04 LTS is not making use of the network card. I see it in the hardware list, but I can never get the hardware interface for the wlan to come up.
Alex
May 24th, 2008
at 7:05am
I ordered the cd for free but when I used it, it said there was an apic problem. So i reboot and say no-apic and gives m a command line. I don’t get it.
Matt
May 24th, 2008
at 7:08am
Alex thats why I run Ubuntu in VMware fusion.