Fix for slow virtual desktop switching with Nvidia 96.* and Ubuntu 9.04 August 14, 2009
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Ubuntu, Uncategorized.add a comment
I have a dual-cpu Sun W2100z workstation I really like. It’s getting rather old, but it’s pretty fast for things like programming and Internet use. Until the release of Ubuntu 9.04, the machne was running fine. After installing the new release it was pretty obvious that the X performance was terrible. Things like glxgears ran fine on this dual screen setup, but things like switching virtual desktops (I use the shortcut ctrl+alt+arrows a lot) took a few seconds when windows were maximized. Sadly, the free driver didn’t work with the 3300 x 1050 resolution I use.
After playing around with the millions switch and config options of the nvidia driver, I found a working setting:
nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=2
To enable this permanently, you can add it to System – Preferences – Startup Applications:
(put “nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=2″ (without “”) in the command field).
Bug: Ubuntu 8.10 and older nvidia video cards October 31, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: bug, nvidia, ubuntu bug, workaround
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EDIT: Workaround not longer needed as the drives has been fixed on the Ubuntu repositories.
Yeah. New Ubuntu release. Traditionally, this means upgrading without reading the release notes.
<Curse>. This is what it says (I read today):
nVidia “legacy” video support
The 71 and 96 series of proprietary nVidia drivers, as provided by the nvidia-glx-legacy and nvidia-glx packages in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, are not compatible with the X.Org included in Ubuntu 8.10. Users with the nVidia TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce3, and GeForce4 chipsets are affected and will be transitioned on upgrade to the free nv driver instead. This driver does not support 3D acceleration.
Users of other nVidia chipsets that are supported by the 173 or 177 driver series will be transitioned to the nvidia-glx-173 or nvidia-glx-177 package instead. However, unlike drivers 96 and 71, drivers 173 and 177 are only compatible with CPUs that support SSE (e.g. Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon XP or higher). Systems with older CPUs will also be transitioned to the nv driver on upgrade.
The “nv” driver does not support my dual-monitor 2 x 1680×1050 resolution. After looking for some workarounds (compiling kernels) and at the point of a downgrade to 8.04, I found an easy solution.
Ubuntu 8.04 on an HP Compaq 6710b laptop July 16, 2008
Posted by claudio in GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: 6710b, GNU/Linux, Hardware, HP, laptop, Linux
1 comment so far
EDIT Oct 13 2008: Fix for wireless problem (sometimes difficult to connect to Access Point)
HP gave us hplip linux drivers for their printers, so when I needed to buy new computer stuff I bought HP (laptop and color laser network printer). Everything (screen resolution, graphics hardware acceleration, wifi, etc) works out of the box. No surprise really, as all these components are Intel with known open source drivers.
Anyway, there is one little thing you need to do make of this laptop a dream GNU/Linux laptop. (more…)
Dual monitors on Ubuntu 8.04 bug July 6, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: bug, dual monitors, gnome, Ubuntu
6 comments
Nowadays, the GNOME screen resolution setting allows you to configure multiple screens pretty easy. It seems to work just fine. However, it’s a front-end to the X config an as such it has some problems. In my case, it allows me to clone my main monitor (is that useful to anyone?), but not to extend my desktop over both monitors.
The problem is related to the frontend not passing the errors from the underlying system (xrandr), so you don’t get any hints why it does not work. Maybe my home setup is kind of strange as I use two different resolutions (an LCD 1280×1024 connected though vga and the laptop 1024×768 screen as a second monitor), but still it shouldn’t be that uncommon. I enable the dual monitor setup when useful (gimp), but most of the time I find the different resoltion annoying. At work I use two 1680 x 1050 LCDS.
Anyway, the solution to enable a dual monitor is pretty simple. (more…)
Ubuntu on IBM Thinkpad T23 May 29, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: GNU/Linux, ibm, Linux, t23, thinkpad, Ubuntu
3 comments
For the googlers out there: Ubuntu 8.04 – and for that matter the previous versions as well – works completely out of the box on this laptop.
Ubuntu on HP nc6230 laptop May 28, 2008
Posted by claudio in GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: GNU/Linux, HP, laptop, Linux, nc6320, Ubuntu
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This is just a wrapper post for all the people googling for installing GNU/Linux on a nc6320 laptop:
Ubuntu 8.04 runs just fine on this laptop (bluetooth, card reader, 3D compiz effects, etc, etc). The install is very easy and straight forward. There are two things you need to fix: enabling the mic and pump up the wifi speed. The only thing I haven’t tried is the fingerprint reader (I find it silly).
Broadcom wifi (BCM4312) speedup to 54mbit/s on Ubuntu 8.04 on a HP nc6320 laptop [Now FIXED on Ubuntu] May 21, 2008
Posted by claudio in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Shell.Tags: bcm4312, bcm43xx, nc6320, ndiswrapper, Ubuntu, ubuntu bug, wifi
20 comments
EDIT May 27th 2008: FIXED how to make the changes permanent.
EDIT June 4th 2008: Don’t forget to install as well linux-ubuntu-modules (in this case linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22-14-generic) when upgrading your kernel.
EDIT Oct 16th 2008: The restricted driver included in Ubuntu has been FIXED and the card works out of the box when enabling it through System-Administration-Hardware Drivers. Thanks, Ubuntu!
It’s probably a regression: on this laptop the broadcom wifi worked fine on the previous Ubuntu releases (although limited to 24mbit/s) and now I see the speed is stuck to an unacceptable 1mbit/s. I guess that’s the price you pay for hardware from companies that are not open source friendly. (more…)
Sun Workstation w2100z and Ubuntu 8.04: no keyboard or mouse May 5, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: bug, sun, Ubuntu, w2100z
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When upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 (or when booting with the live disk), my workstation (Sun w2100z) lost the keyboard and mouse (both are usb). Both were present and enabled at boottime (I chose the language and keyboard layout at boot time of the live cd). Luckely, the problem is solved.
Microphone on Ubuntu 8.04 on a HP nc6320 laptop April 28, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Ubuntu.Tags: bug, GNU/Linux, Linux, nc6230, Ubuntu
6 comments
There is a bug on the sound setting for my main machine, a HP nc6320 laptop. Everything seems to work fine on GNU/Linux except the microphone.
This is the chipset of my soundcard (in case you have the same problem on an other type of machine):
claudio@brisbane:~$ lspci |grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
