GCLumpkin
June 18th, 2011, 05:34 PM
I still consider myself a noob when it comes to Ubuntu and Linux in general, but fortunately, the Ubuntu community is populated by some extremely intelligent people who helped me get Ubuntu 11.04 installed on my laptop through their replies to other people who had the same problems I did.
I say problems because I encountered two issues during the installation; the Unity desktop and Wi-Fi support.
First, the Unity desktop ran beautifully using the Live media but failed after the full installation of the OS. I couldn't log in. Once I picked my name, the system locked up. Shouldn't it have worked after the installation? It's the same video chipset, right? I had to download and install Unity 2D after logging into the Ubuntu Classic session. I can live with Unity 2D. I'm easy to please. But I do find it odd that the desktop I tested my computer on would not work after taking the jump.
BTW, I do like the Unity desktop. In this day and age of smart phones and other portable devices using interesting and innovative user interfaces, it's nice to see something different on a full computer display as well. Just my opinion.
The second problem I had was the lack of support for my Broadcom wireless card. Yes, previous versions of Ubuntu didn't have the driver installed by default, but they also identified it automatically and alerted me that additional drivers were available. If I had a wired connection, I could download it and install it. Not so with 11.04. I had to manually install b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer to get the wireless activated and available. It still doesn't show up under Additional Drivers as in previous versions of Ubuntu, but hey, it's working and I can live with it.
Overall, I'm impressed with Ubuntu 11.04, but it seems to have taken a step back in a couple of areas that were usually easy to deal with.
If anyone has input that could show me a better way to overcome these issues, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism you might have.
Greg
I say problems because I encountered two issues during the installation; the Unity desktop and Wi-Fi support.
First, the Unity desktop ran beautifully using the Live media but failed after the full installation of the OS. I couldn't log in. Once I picked my name, the system locked up. Shouldn't it have worked after the installation? It's the same video chipset, right? I had to download and install Unity 2D after logging into the Ubuntu Classic session. I can live with Unity 2D. I'm easy to please. But I do find it odd that the desktop I tested my computer on would not work after taking the jump.
BTW, I do like the Unity desktop. In this day and age of smart phones and other portable devices using interesting and innovative user interfaces, it's nice to see something different on a full computer display as well. Just my opinion.
The second problem I had was the lack of support for my Broadcom wireless card. Yes, previous versions of Ubuntu didn't have the driver installed by default, but they also identified it automatically and alerted me that additional drivers were available. If I had a wired connection, I could download it and install it. Not so with 11.04. I had to manually install b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer to get the wireless activated and available. It still doesn't show up under Additional Drivers as in previous versions of Ubuntu, but hey, it's working and I can live with it.
Overall, I'm impressed with Ubuntu 11.04, but it seems to have taken a step back in a couple of areas that were usually easy to deal with.
If anyone has input that could show me a better way to overcome these issues, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism you might have.
Greg