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View Full Version : [ubuntu] Ubuntu 8.10 Keyboard/Mouse Problems



tjsatter
March 1st, 2009, 06:12 AM
I've been using Linux for nearly 14 years, It works. Now have Ubuntu 8.04 on my Dell laptop and not a bit of problem with it. I recent got a friend turned onto the Virtues of Linux after hearing him curse Microsoft and I said that I don't have those problems in my Microsoft free world.

Anyway, wanting to give him the latest and greatest I downloaded 8.10 for him and went to set it up on his Dell laptop which is not the latest and greatest at a few years old nevertheless it should work ok. But we have had problems that I've never seen before and am not real clear on how to solve. On the initial install (having wiped the desk entire of the MS-Windows) started having keyboard related problem; i.e it stopped working. A search of these forums showed that this was a known bug! (HOW could such a MAJOR problem get released?!). The computer would work for a few minutes just fine before quitting on the keyboard functioning so were able to open a terminal and get updates downloaded/installed. I also did some editing on xorg.conf per some of the posts on here. Immdiate after the initial install his computer was non-functioning, but now after the updates it's useable but ...

Now his system works just fine, for a while, maybe 1-2 hours and then mouse related problems recur: he is not able to click on Applications, Places, or Sytem menues. Nothing happens when he does click on there but he can still use Firefox and can type text but still it is clear his system is not at 100% and does not yet live up to my claims although he is happy to be Microsoft free and so far beleive my claim that we can fine tune and bring his sytem up to full functionality. I do feel that the reputation of Linux and myself have been somewhat tarnished in his eyes as it has not gone as smooth for him as it's always been for me.

What can I do? Downgrade to 8.04? Wait for 9.04? I've explanied to him the difference between the .10 releases and the .04 LTS releases (and vowed NEVER to use an .10 release again)

Thank you,

tj