Installing Ubuntu on the Inspiron 1010

[The Funkbomb]

I inherited a dell inspiron 1010 with the infamous gma500 video chipset.

It came with windows xp that I wiped off. I've tried a bunch of Ubuntu related distros but the graphics are a problem.

I've also tried to install the dellbuntu 8.04 but it kept kicking me to a shell with initramfs no matter what I tried from the options list. Even the live cd kicked me into shell.

I'm installing XP again right now :( or at least trying since the cd is a nightmare.

What are my options? Is there any way to get ubuntu on here?

[mikewhatever]

Hi, and welcome,

the only Ubuntu release that should be running out of the box on the mini 10 is Hardy Heron ~ 8.04, since it has the graphics driver for gma500. I don't know anything about Delbuntu though. Other releases, Jaunty, Karmic, need workarounds to get decent graphical performance.

Here is some reading to get a feel of what you are up against:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzAyOQ
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/more-poulsbo-gma500-intel-and-community
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzY2Mg

...and here is what to try for a workaround:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1229345&highlight=gma500

You might also want to look at the latest release of Mandriva, which is supposed to have support for gma500 by default.

[The Funkbomb]

Thank you for the response.