So let me get this straight. A problem was found, but no solution was on a relevant wiki. A solution was found elsewhere later. Great! So then why is it that instead of putting the solution on the wiki, it's placed in an article which subsequently complains that the wiki doesn't have this information?

Is the Dell wiki locked down against editing (would be really stupid, but not unbelievable)? Has the article author forgotten how to type up an article after this one? What's the deal here? :-)

Yes indeed, it would be nice to have your job..

We have this every time Ubuntu release a new version. "It looks shiny but the upgrade failed"

Novice users should wait for a bit for others to find the bugs and perhaps watch the forums for mention of their particular hardware. No OS (any OS) upgrade can go smoothly all of the time on all of the hardware due to the massive diversity of the platform and the endless possibilities of configuration etc that may have been done to the existing OS.

Worked perfectly for me after the torrent took 3 days to get the virtual machine image downloaded.

Unzipped the file, booted first time, connected to the intarwebs and just worked.

I'm impressed. If I didn't have a Mac I'd seriously be looking at moving to Ubuntu for my daily work.

Gutsy's upgrade will be a lot cheaper than Tiger's:-)

MS: be afraid. Ubuntu's very easy to use when moving from Windows. I'm sure you could use a different desktop wallpaper and call it Vista and most of the unwashed masses wouldn't notice the difference!

One of their salesdrones just told me they'd rather not sell me their software, and that I should stick to their "open source" crippleware. Not enough servers to make the effort.

Users shouldn't have to know how to run the xorg reconfiguration, or much about th e computer in order to get mainstream features working (desktop, network, removable disks). Users did have one option that they really should employ more often, and that is the Ubuntu Live CD. I've used the Live CD to check it out first to make sure that nothing radically changed, and that at the very worst I'll have to do with Microshaft and do a re-install.

I installed Ubuntu on a new model HP business computer, dual core and hardware security functions, etc. It installed and ran perfectly, even the WiFi.

Ubuntu was the only one of the Linux Distros which I tried which installed fully, or at all. Most refused to proceed, presumably because they couldn't recognise the hardware, while others locked up and/or, in particular, would not configure the WiFi successfully.

My big problem is that my laser printer is just a paper weight with any Linux Distro.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_100.14.19.html

Nvidia drivers and installation setup does Xorg.conf and everything for you. Can't promise anything though not a Ubuntu user sorry.

Lets not forget that Ubuntu has a release schedule of 6 months, so another version is not far away.

Also compare this to Linux on the desktop of just 2 years ago, and even in that time things have moved far with people like Dell involved now.

And finally given that journo's are writing about this and generally saying 'its too not bad and when it did go bad there were solutions'...

How many reasons does it take to ditch the expensive (redmond) OS for a free one that is 99% there.

I'm sorry, but Ubuntu copying the Microsoft upgrade proceedure where you lose your desktop- it's just not good enough!

Wait, they didn't disable the command line. So windows is still in front!

Nearly every MS upgrade release I have seen has been seriously pants, often leading to a re-install from scratch to get a useable system, or a seriously crippled result at best.

Actually, to qualify that, I have NEVER seen a satisfactory system upgrade in Windows, in the last 14 years. Which is why I always insist on fresh installs. Hell, a lot of people recommend fresh installs every 6 months, just to keep the carp running reasonably well!

Years ago, Dell created the Dynamic Kernel Module System (DKMS) for Linux. It dynamically loads a new kernel module for things such as Ndiswrapper, and graphics cards. These drivers need kernel modules that most Linux distros provide as a separate package that must be matched to the kernel being installed. With DKMS, however, none of that is needed. It takes care of the module for you. Why doesn't Dell insist on Ubuntu using DKMS, a system it created to solve this very problem? Mandriva and PCLinuxOS both use it and it works very well, and saves users from this kind of nightmare.

I have used the 32 and the 64 bit on my Acer 5100. I am now using the 64 bit and loving it! At this moment I am downloading the Edubuntu just because I want to try it. I have used the Gnome and Kde... just about every combination I can think of. Why? Just for fun.

I really do love the 64 bit Gnome flavor. I am finally able to use this high powered laptop without wasting all the time and computer resources running just to keep Vista fed and running. I mean, my desktop is available in seconds, my wifi is running before I can click my Firefox. With Vista I can get a cup of coffee while Vista is still starting.

I do wish that better documentation concerning Linux was available. One where people really assume that a new user doesn't know diddly about the terminal, or the slightly different file structure or how to install programs that aren't available through Add?Remove or some other graphical means... Oh, yeah, I got one of those, but it tells me I don't have access rights to run it. Yikes! Another hour online trying to find out about that.

Please don't say that I am too stupid to be using Linux. I know it, but I run it anyway. I just am saying that if you really really want it to become mainstream then it has to be as easy as Windows to install programs.

I've found the latest version of Ubuntu to be full of bugs. I've spent hours and hours getting my systems up and running and I'm wondering why I bother... XP is so much easier!¬

I know it all sounds nice, and when I retire my gaming pc I suspect I will use it for running linux, but.

I should say ' BUT' i can't change at the moment because MS has me locked into DX to play all my dam games :(

Thats all I have to add, I know none of you play games, but trust me, if there is a teenage kid in the house and you have one computer, its not gona have linux. (or at least not as the only OS on the machine.

Just my wing....

Of course, I find having only linux OS's at home is good,

for 2 reasons:

1. Because then there is no PC that can be used for serious gaming.

It helps keep a couple of teenagers from becoming game addicts,

2. It allows me (a computing professional) to play dumb when people ask for help with problems with their windows PCs. I just tell them I don't use windows and that they should probably just reinstall. I got sick of having to deal with peoples malware laden PCs. and then have them ignore simple safe computing rules and end up infected again.

Also, while ever installing and running a linux OS does require some nous, it will limit the number of noobs using it, and won't attract the attention of the exploit writers who target those noobs.

YMMV

For all of you frustrated by Ubuntu, you should really give PCLinuxOS a try! Seriously, it's much easier to setup, configure, maintain, and use. Instead of overbearing automatic scripts that know better than you do how your computer should be setup, PCLinuxOS has much friendlier scripts but also a GUI control panel to allow you to easily make system changes. It has Apt and Synaptic too, so despite being RPM based, it's free of dependency problems. Really, you should give it a shot. I guarantee you'll like/love it... It's easily the best Linux, and certainly the most new user friendly out there, but doesn't restrict power users.

I agree with Leo Maxwell's assessment, that upgrades only cause problems.

I insist on only doing a clean install. I have my /home on a separate partition. This ensures that I don't loose any of my data whilst I do the clean install of the new OS. I have tried various Linux flavours using this method (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mepis, PCLinxOS, Fedora, etc) and have returned back to Ubuntu as it had the best hardware support for my laptop (ASUS A6Rp).

I am loving Gutsy, and have not had any major issues installing or configuring it.

Hamish

"Also, while ever installing and running a linux OS does require some nous, it will limit the number of noobs using it, and won't attract the attention of the exploit writers who target those noobs."

...aaaand that's Linux's problem, right there. Fucknuts like 'Dave' who somehow get a (false) sense of superiority because they know how to use a command line.

In your own way you wankers are as bad any Mac zealot.

Grow up, FFS.

3 days to download? For christ sake get a better connection. I downloaded over 1 GB of updates in an hour and had the latest version of Ubuntu running perfectly first time. I've had no issues since upgrading, the NVIDIA drivers I need for my graphics card were updated and everything looks great.

To be honest apart from the 3D desktop effects being smoother and a couple of control functions being improved I've noticed little difference.

I have to add, if you consider yourself a novice do not upgrade for the first few months. Yes it should have just worked like it has for others, but seriously people should know better than to upgrade their machine in the first month of a release if they aren't sure they will be able to fix any problems. Additionally the live CD should let you check computability so use it next time.

I wonder if the team who are responsible for linux had the resources and facilities that the microsoft team have whether they could improve on vista (and in less time)

The problem with wishing that your OS is elitist and difficult to install is that your user base stays small. That in turn means that less people are going to develop for it and you won't be able to keep up with all the new hardware that comes out. However good you are with the command line, you need a big developer community to keep an OS going.

Conversely, develop loads of drivers and make the install easier - obviously noobs are going to start using it.

Sounds like what you really want is BeOS - really beautiful, fast and elegant but practically useless because it never reached critical mass.

I'll second that. Had all of my updates over aptitude in no time at all and a shiny new system with no problems (not even any laptop issues). Even wandered into Gnome (normally a KDE user) and had fun playing with the compiz integration. Very nahs.

So? This isn't an IT site! It stopped being that ages ago!

Linux isn't ready for the average user. Did anyone say it was?

When I tried Mandrake/Mandriva two years ago, I gave up when I couldn't get the wifi to work. But when my Windows install died irrevocably I moved to Ubuntu. It's on a on a very mellow laptop, been using it for six months (been using 7.10 as a beta for a while). It's fine.

I had to use the command line interface when I did the original install, but that was OK. I'm a techie. I like to fiddle with computers. Linux is me-ready, but I'm not an average user.

Yeah Linux is faster bla bla bla, I have spent 23 years working with PCs and every version of Windows. Despite any and all problems it is STILL easier to use Windows. I just installed Ubunto and tried for about 12 hours to get my Dell Wireless Lan to connect! I found hundreds of different sets of instructions (2 on ubuntu, one on ndiswrapper and several hundred on Google) none of which worked. On my Windows machine I just ran a CD, restarted the machine and I was on the net.

If Linux is ever going to eradicate Windows it is going to have to spend a lot more time on the User Friendly bit!

guys, really....

why do people always insist on telling everyone that they "never" patch their OS? I work in a production environment, 6 servers and 150+ desktops, patch tuesday comes around, and duly my patches are TESTED and then APPLIED, most of the time the problems we have are hardware/software incompatibility issues.

perhaps if you patched your systems once in a while (and backed them up first..I mean come on, flatten and reinstall the OS every six months? my box at home ahs been up for THREE YEARS!) then a) the OS would be safer as there wouldn't be so many vulnerable systems out there and b) your OS might not need reinstalling every six months when it falls over (because you are still running XP SP1 with no firewall/AV/Anti-malware and glaring security holes all over your system)

Flame away, I won't be checking back :-)

Coat/Door

I'm guessing I maybe had the same problem as the author with my Dell Laptop.

My 7.04 xorg.conf worked fine... but not when I upgraded to 7.10. I could use the "nv" driver but when using the "nvidia" restricted driver (needed for compiz to work), I was just getting a blank screen no matter what I tried in my xorg.conf.

Looking through the startup logs it was detecting two DFP's (the built in laptop screen and DVI connected monitor)... but no matter what I put in the config it was saying the settings for my external monitor weren't valid and instead it "auto-detected" a resolution of 1920x1200... Which is fine for the laptop screen, but too high for my external monitor to display. The only way I managed to fix it was to add...

Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT"

...into my xorg.conf, that tells the Nvidia driver to only look for "CRT" monitors. If I then plugged the external LCD in via the 15pin VGA cable it worked perfectly.

I'm still a linux noob but I tried all sorts and no matter what I did it still reckoned the settings for the external monitor were invalid and auto-detected for the laptop screen.

This is exactly why Linux is known as a hobbyist's OS. I still use Linux but at times it seems we are like a dog chasing our tail. I also can't see the reasoning in "any idiot knows you shouldn't upgrade to a new OS the first month". You mean to tell me that a stable release isn't meant to be used until "the bugs are worked out". I thought that's what beta and alpha releases were for. Not to mention with a release cycle of every six months if you wait a month or more for the OS to be usable a new one is right around the corner.

Just a little frustration.

I downloaded the upgrades over a broadband connection - about 30-45 minutes to download the upgrades, and that again to actually install it all.

I downloaded the 7.10 LiveCD/installer as a backup too, and that only took about 20-30 minutes.

How did it take 26 _hours_?????

"most of the time the problems we have are hardware/software incompatibility issues."

What other problems could you possibly have?!

In some respects 7.10 is a beta release.

Ubuntu specifies certain release which have Long Term Support (LTS). Currently it's 6.06 and 8.04 will be out next year. They're the ones which you can expect to be the most stable.

Naturally everyone hears the hype about the latest tweaks and jumps on the newest release which in most cases is stable enough but sometimes has a few niggles.

This is the difference between opensource and commercial

Commercial - if it's released you expect it to be fully tested and stable - but it usually isn't

OpenSource - if it's released it's mostly stable, but it might have some small problems

It depends which you prefer? they usually work about the same, are about as stable, but one gives the impression it's stable and isn't, and one give you the impression it's *mostly* stable and is ...

Upgrading your operating system never works, Windows, Linux, OSX any of them unless you upgrade a completely clean install with no other software and no reconfiguration...

Games are written for Windows because gamers have Windows PC's that's why games are written for the current consoles, people have them and want games for them, try buying a game for an old console? But it's a vicious circle, games are not written for Linux because gamers don't run Linux and Gamers don't run Linux because there are no games for it ...

Did you try installing the initial release of Vista and upgrading from XP? that would have failed as well, and the drivers for a lot of video cards, WiFI cards etc were buggy or missing

"Being a Linux novice and a self-serving hack, I abused my position as a reporter and e-mailed Canonical chief Mark Shuttleworth about the issue. Shuttleworth was kind enough to put me in touch with whiz Bryce Harrington. "Run - sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg," Harrington told me, and life got better."

Not being a hack, I just typed the words 'linux graphics fix' into Google, and clicked on the first result: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/how_to_fix_your_computers_graphics_with_dpkg-reconfigure. Run - sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg it told me...

Perhaps the problem here is not the 'open source "community"', but your inability to search the net for information.