[conspire] (forw) Re: Ubuntu help?

[Edmund Biow]

On 05/18/2012 05:13 PM, conspire-request at linuxmafia.com wrote:
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 16:35:18 -0700
> From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> To: conspire at linuxmafia.com
> Subject: [conspire] (forw) Re: Ubuntu help?
> Message-ID: <20120518233518.GV20111 at linuxmafia.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15
>
> ----- Forwarded message from chaz at chazbrenchley.co.uk -----
>
> Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 23:59:09 +0100
> From: chaz at chazbrenchley.co.uk
> To: rick at linuxmafia.com
> Subject: Ubuntu help?
>
>
> So, the position is that I bought a cheap HP box, on the assumption
> that there'd be nothing in there too new - but it has an ATI video
> card, which seems to make every distro trip up. A standard boot from a
> Live CD just produces a black screen; if I boot with "nomodeset" in
> the boot command I get a basic screen - the VESA driver, I think -
> which looks awful. I know I ought to be able to download fglrx or
> alternatives - but that's the second half of the problem, that I can't
> get internet access. I stupidly assumed that all PCs these days would
> have a wireless card. Not so. So I bought a USB plug-in, and Ubuntu
> 12.04 recognised it out of the box, and found the network - and won't
> connect. Keeps asking for the password, which I supply (correctly),
> and it dithers for a couple of minutes and asks again. Other people
> have had this, and the internet suggests various remedies, which I
> cannot make to work. Sob.
>
> So: is this the sort of problem with which you are willing to engage?
> And if so, roughly, what's the going rate? I feel like I've failed
> Geek 101, which really distresses me, but...
>
> - Chaz
>
>
I realize you were hoping for more hands-on kind of help, but we might
be able to make some suggestions about what you can try at home if we
knew specifically what the problematic hardware actually is.  Maybe send
us the output from this command:

  lspci |grep VGA & lspci |grep -i net

Of course you can also buy your way out of the problem, it isn't too
hard to find inexpensive bits of hardware that work with Linux out of
the box if you read the reviews, e.g.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315091
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166047

Generally if you find something that has been around for more than a
year the chances of out-of-the-box Linux support is greater,
particularly if you want to use the open source driver. It is easier to
make the nvidia proprietary driver work than the fglrx one, but probably
the radeon open source driver is more robust than the nvidia nouveau one
at the moment. Deal sites like techbargains.com and slickdeals.net are
good places to look for discounts.

Ed






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