cloyd
January 31st, 2012, 02:26 AM
This isn't really a support question, but I'm just wondering why this is happening. I suspect that it is happening is simply because my netbook has an old, outdated graphics card. (01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series]
) Anyway, this is the story.
This is my netbook, a Gateway LT310l 3u. Been running Ubuntu since 9.04. After 9.10, I started having some problems with video crashes, but was able to find fixes . . . until the advent of Unity. This is not an anti-Unity post . . . I'm running it on my work machine, and I love it. But this machine will not . . . absolutely not run Unity. With a live USB, video crashes at the splash screen. (any version with Unity).
The other day, I tried to boot with a USB with Linux Mint. It wouldn't boot, and when I tried to reboot back to 11.04. It would not boot . . . just a flashing dash on the screen. I got another torrent download and made another Linux Mint (latest Ubuntu version). Made fresh install on machine. Video crash. Tried Linux Mint Debian. Same thing. Tried Lubuntu. This seemed to work, however, video crashes seemed to happen at random times. Tried Fedora. Video crashed about 2 minutes after logging in. All these were fresh installs. Tried Puppy Linux. This worked, but 1) I had a lot of relearning to do here, and I wasn't sure it would run all the programs I wanted. 2) I had to boot from a USB, even though I could save the session. I didn't like that.
I tried 11.10 again. What if it would work in 2d? So, installed and booted (no boot from live USB). I could log in, and it worked in 3d about 2 seconds after logging in. It worked in 2d about 2 minutes after logging in.
I've burned about 2 days on this now, but I'm retired, so what? I've got the time. But my wife says I'm obsessed. I try one last thing. I fire up bit torrent again, download Xubuntu. Guess what? At 10:30 PM, the live USB boots perfectly. The next morning, I do a fresh install, and it has run all day now, and no crashes. I've been busy restoring all my favorite apps and learning how to customize it a bit. Still a bit to learn, but this looks like what I was looking for. Found a thread,
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1909569&highlight=xubuntu&page=6 and someone here said this was Ubuntu's best kept secret. Maybe so.
Is this all because of an old, outdated card Gateway put in some netbooks? Is there any other way around it? If not, I do think I can live well with Xubuntu.
And, has anyone else had a similar experience?
I really didn't want to use Puppy Linux, but that CD I had to burn may come in handy some day.
Note . . . video just started to crash. I closed some windows, and it cleared up. ??????
) Anyway, this is the story.
This is my netbook, a Gateway LT310l 3u. Been running Ubuntu since 9.04. After 9.10, I started having some problems with video crashes, but was able to find fixes . . . until the advent of Unity. This is not an anti-Unity post . . . I'm running it on my work machine, and I love it. But this machine will not . . . absolutely not run Unity. With a live USB, video crashes at the splash screen. (any version with Unity).
The other day, I tried to boot with a USB with Linux Mint. It wouldn't boot, and when I tried to reboot back to 11.04. It would not boot . . . just a flashing dash on the screen. I got another torrent download and made another Linux Mint (latest Ubuntu version). Made fresh install on machine. Video crash. Tried Linux Mint Debian. Same thing. Tried Lubuntu. This seemed to work, however, video crashes seemed to happen at random times. Tried Fedora. Video crashed about 2 minutes after logging in. All these were fresh installs. Tried Puppy Linux. This worked, but 1) I had a lot of relearning to do here, and I wasn't sure it would run all the programs I wanted. 2) I had to boot from a USB, even though I could save the session. I didn't like that.
I tried 11.10 again. What if it would work in 2d? So, installed and booted (no boot from live USB). I could log in, and it worked in 3d about 2 seconds after logging in. It worked in 2d about 2 minutes after logging in.
I've burned about 2 days on this now, but I'm retired, so what? I've got the time. But my wife says I'm obsessed. I try one last thing. I fire up bit torrent again, download Xubuntu. Guess what? At 10:30 PM, the live USB boots perfectly. The next morning, I do a fresh install, and it has run all day now, and no crashes. I've been busy restoring all my favorite apps and learning how to customize it a bit. Still a bit to learn, but this looks like what I was looking for. Found a thread,
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1909569&highlight=xubuntu&page=6 and someone here said this was Ubuntu's best kept secret. Maybe so.
Is this all because of an old, outdated card Gateway put in some netbooks? Is there any other way around it? If not, I do think I can live well with Xubuntu.
And, has anyone else had a similar experience?
I really didn't want to use Puppy Linux, but that CD I had to burn may come in handy some day.
Note . . . video just started to crash. I closed some windows, and it cleared up. ??????