KirbySmith
March 31st, 2010, 04:13 AM
Not the best experience so far.
9.10 installer clearly detects and adapts to my mouse, video card, MB, etc. or it wouldn't successfully present the build questions (albeit in a font size suitable for twenty-something myopes) and accept the answers. This build is on a brand new hard drive with only ubuntu on it. The CD iso was generated by Nero under Win2k at a deliberate 8X speed and verified. No bad data were listed during the build process.
Upon booting for the first time, or the nth time, I get a dark maroon background with a black window containing the ubuntu symbol and workstation name, my name, and "other..." in three boxes. There are also two icons and the date in the lower right of the screen.
Seeing that this version of a boot screen appears similar in function to Linspire's version, and not like the ubuntu 8.10 image in the pocketguide that requires typing in one's name, my working assumption was that I should hover over the box containing my name and left click the mouse. Or hover over it and click enter. Or not hover over it and click enter. Or ignore the Linspire inference and type my name. Or type my password. The result of any of these actions individually is (a) the mouse pointer still moves, (b) a thin splattering of pixels at the bottom of the window gain some color, (c) powering off the computer does change the ubuntu state to off. Otherwise nothing happens. Left or right clicking in potentially clickable areas has no effect. No combination of alphanumeric keystrokes that I've tried or Fn keys has any effect.
I have also investigated the two icons at the bottom right. If I haven't yet attempted to login by any of the ineffective methods listed above, the r.h. icon when clicked reveals a menu for shutdown, restart, etc. These two actions work. The l.h. icon, if clicked, puts a new window over the login window. If I select the higher color contrast option, this option menu becomes much more readable, but I am now limited to the capabilities of (a), (b), and (c) above, and none other, including not being able to close that window.
Given that login hasn't been successful, it is not surprising that attempting to get to a console from this condition is also unsuccessful.
It is of course possible that my particular computer (see below) may not be compatible in some way. It is normally used with Win2k, but should be migrated to Linux when Win2k is no longer supported. The popular to the point of gushing praise ubuntu seemed to be the most likely to succeed.
Thanks for any suggestions that may come to mind.
kirby
Possibly relevant aspects of the computer configuration:
MB: Lanparty UT nF4S91-400M SLI-D 1.40 (S/N U60102393)
CPU: Athlon 64 San Diego 2.2 GHz 3700+
MEM: 1GB x 2 DDR 3200 OCZP4002GK Platinum Ed. XTC 2-3-2-5
VGA: BFG 7800 GT BFGR78256GTOC
Mon: NEC MultiSync 95
Mouse: Logitech MX510
IDE1: Arco EzRAID (with only one 160 GB WD 1600AVJB drive for this, er, experiment)*
IDE2: CD R/W: Plextor 12/10/32A
IDE2: DVD ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X/48X
Floppy: Mitsumi
SATA1: other hard drives disconnected
SATA2: IOMega Zipdrive
SATA3:
SATA4:
*The ARCO is designed for both Windows and Linux, and normally makes its primary and mirror drives look like its primary IDE drive to the OS.
9.10 installer clearly detects and adapts to my mouse, video card, MB, etc. or it wouldn't successfully present the build questions (albeit in a font size suitable for twenty-something myopes) and accept the answers. This build is on a brand new hard drive with only ubuntu on it. The CD iso was generated by Nero under Win2k at a deliberate 8X speed and verified. No bad data were listed during the build process.
Upon booting for the first time, or the nth time, I get a dark maroon background with a black window containing the ubuntu symbol and workstation name, my name, and "other..." in three boxes. There are also two icons and the date in the lower right of the screen.
Seeing that this version of a boot screen appears similar in function to Linspire's version, and not like the ubuntu 8.10 image in the pocketguide that requires typing in one's name, my working assumption was that I should hover over the box containing my name and left click the mouse. Or hover over it and click enter. Or not hover over it and click enter. Or ignore the Linspire inference and type my name. Or type my password. The result of any of these actions individually is (a) the mouse pointer still moves, (b) a thin splattering of pixels at the bottom of the window gain some color, (c) powering off the computer does change the ubuntu state to off. Otherwise nothing happens. Left or right clicking in potentially clickable areas has no effect. No combination of alphanumeric keystrokes that I've tried or Fn keys has any effect.
I have also investigated the two icons at the bottom right. If I haven't yet attempted to login by any of the ineffective methods listed above, the r.h. icon when clicked reveals a menu for shutdown, restart, etc. These two actions work. The l.h. icon, if clicked, puts a new window over the login window. If I select the higher color contrast option, this option menu becomes much more readable, but I am now limited to the capabilities of (a), (b), and (c) above, and none other, including not being able to close that window.
Given that login hasn't been successful, it is not surprising that attempting to get to a console from this condition is also unsuccessful.
It is of course possible that my particular computer (see below) may not be compatible in some way. It is normally used with Win2k, but should be migrated to Linux when Win2k is no longer supported. The popular to the point of gushing praise ubuntu seemed to be the most likely to succeed.
Thanks for any suggestions that may come to mind.
kirby
Possibly relevant aspects of the computer configuration:
MB: Lanparty UT nF4S91-400M SLI-D 1.40 (S/N U60102393)
CPU: Athlon 64 San Diego 2.2 GHz 3700+
MEM: 1GB x 2 DDR 3200 OCZP4002GK Platinum Ed. XTC 2-3-2-5
VGA: BFG 7800 GT BFGR78256GTOC
Mon: NEC MultiSync 95
Mouse: Logitech MX510
IDE1: Arco EzRAID (with only one 160 GB WD 1600AVJB drive for this, er, experiment)*
IDE2: CD R/W: Plextor 12/10/32A
IDE2: DVD ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X/48X
Floppy: Mitsumi
SATA1: other hard drives disconnected
SATA2: IOMega Zipdrive
SATA3:
SATA4:
*The ARCO is designed for both Windows and Linux, and normally makes its primary and mirror drives look like its primary IDE drive to the OS.