6 months - no progress

[jrz]

Wireless Problem is solved further in this thread.

As an ex-ATT employee who had used unix since it first became an OS, I had recommended that a friend who had never used a computer install a Linux OS rather than MS Windows, based on his needs which were primarily stability, working in a rain forest. Having retired and being away from computers for a number of years I had not kept up with the changes which appear to have occurred, many of which appear irrational to me. It appears that today most hardware is designed for compatibility with MS OS's, and lacking the information available to allow it to be used with any other OS's easily.
As a result we looked for a notebook computer which would fit his needs based on features and price and settled on a Compaq Presario 3000 series, (V3042AU), requesting it come with a Linux OS rather than Win-XP.
It was built and delivered with Ubuntu 6.06 LTS and appeared to have applications for every need pre-installed.
Initially he was very happy with it as was I. As he became more familiar with it we began to implement more and more of the features that could be useful to him, and began to find areas that required attention, most of which were quickly and easily solved. We quickly encountered several things which we could not easily solve, listed here:

1. Cannot record from the microphone - Desired for recording notes quickly while in the field that can later be expanded in written textually.
2. Wireless connection does not work - Often an internet connection is available only via a wireless connect as the building housing the router is unoccupied, and locked for security purposes.
3. Many video formats cannot be played - Video information being shared by others is received in many different formats which we have no control over, and as most others are using a Win-XP OS formats are a choice of those providing them.

We have spent the last 6 months reading FAQ's, emailing Compaq, NVidia, and Broadcom, searching the Ubuntu forums, and other websites, following the "Try this" offerings to no avail. We have also tried the IRC channels related to the OS, hardware, and software involved in the problems encountered, also to no avail. We have even gone so far as to format and re-install the OS from scratch, after receiving some IRC help which left the system unusable, as the one providing help quietly disappeared providing no assistance on how to undo what he had suggested would fix our problems. The greatest difficulty is trying to discern the competency of the one who claims to have the solutions to the problems you are seeking help to solve. Many, it appears feel a need to provide help when they should not. Questions often result in the same answers received numerous times previously, leaving one to believe they are just going around in circles.

I still remain convinced that Ubuntu, or Linux is much preferred to Win-XP as an OS, but am at a loss as to where reliable assistance is to be found when difficulties arise. Six months is not what I feel to be a reasonable time to be working on the same problems. I still maintain that the problems are solvable, but am at a loss as to where to find the solutions. If someone has knowledge of where to go next please inform us.

Thank you, from the forests of Thailand.