Ubuntu 9.04 beta out

Why can't they get touchpads on laptops to work right. I installed 6 different flavors of Linux, two of which were written for the Eee PC and non of them could manage the touch pad properly. Not one allowed you to turn off pad tapping and it was so sensitive it ruined using it. Then there is the can't get the WiFi working. I am back with XP on mt Eee and everything works. Until Linux can get basic functions to work right without needing to learn programming Linux will not go mainstream and they should not worry about all the other stuff.

I run Ubuntu 8.04 LTS on a Thinkpad R51, and everything worked fine on install, including touchpad and wifi.
If you've used 6 distros of Linux, and you haven't found any help to get the wifi working on your Eee, then I'd like to introduce you to an invaluable Internet tool you may be interested in: www.google.com.
I can understand how this obscure little company escaped your notice (after-all, they are the shrinking violets of the Webosphere), but I have found that they can provide all the information on monkeys, sand rashes and wifi configuration under Linux that I could ever need.
Good luck!

I know many use touchpads, but personally I think they are horrible. While typing, my palm keeps rubbing the touchpad, and one second I am typing at one place, and the next second, I am typing somewhere else.

Thank God the Thinkpad comes with a trackpoint(that red joystick like thing) and a nice utility to disable the touchpad. To move the mouse, you don't even have to move your finger away from the keyboard. All notebooks should have trackpoints by default.

Not related to your question regarding touchpad and Ubuntu though. Have you searched the web if there is some third party(and free) solution for the trackpad problem?

My next OS! :D
Currently, it's restricted to VMWare until my XP becomes outdated. Maybe that's when Win8 comes out and Win7 is the default developers' target OS.

Mate, don't bother replying to those idiots. I've been running Linux since 1998, I've seen it growing and getting better. And no matter how good it is there will always be morons like "regulas" who've been singing the same song for ages. They're just whingers who don't understand anything about an OS. They just don't get it that if a piece hardware does not work properly it's first of all the drivers fault or an absence of such. An OS is not supposed to "do the drivers", manufacturers are! Or at least they should release the specs so others can write it.
If a piece of hardware works with windows it is not because windows is a "good OS" it is because windows has the drivers which were supplied by the maker.
Ask a car mechanic if it's possible to create an engine part without looking at the actual engine or without ever opening the bonnet. Those Linux engineers deserve a bloody monument for what they do and not some whinging from a dumb arse.

Have they got a recovery console that actually works yet? Ubuntu 8 has extremely poor recovery tools unless you consider a root prompt acceptable (for Ubuntu's target market, it is not).

@Stitch : you are missing the point. The average user wants to put in their hardware and have it work. Worst case they should put in a disk from the manufacturer and have it autoconfigure.

Yes, this isn't fair, but it's the standard that Windows sets and if Linux is to become more mainstream it's what it needs to achieve.

They don't *want* to and shouldn't have to understand an OS. That's why they're running Ubuntu, instead of Slackware or Open/NetBSD..

You took the words right out of my mouth!
You're right, Windows users are used to things "just working". As far as I'm concerned that's the way it should be.
Why can't the hardware all work "out of the box" so to speak. Sure you can do junk like use NDISWrapper and the XP drivers to get your wi-fi hardware working, but why should you have to ????
Also, why the hell don't more developers port their games over to Linux??? You'd think they could make more money.

Well... After my opinion Linux has much wider hardware support than windows (Then I think default install without driver cd)

The problem is as someone said that the hardware developers do not share the specifications.

Have you ever tried to install windows on any hardware without driver cd??? That is difficult!

Windows "solves" this by forcing hardware makers to install it by default

To all this nice and intelligent people that keep complaining about how Linux works or does not work.
You are not required to use it.
Believe it or not, i have more complains about Windows or Linux that you can imagine. But I don't, I just use what fits my needs.
People like you are not welcomed in Linux community. Actually "Open Source" community is more correct term.
Open Source software made by community for the community. People participate in creation by writing code, documentation, manuals, translations, QA and resources. What gives you the right to complain? Have you ever done something useful? Did you paid for the work done? To use GNU/Linux you have two options. First one is free of charge. You download, you install and you solve your problems 99% of which solvable by simple internet search. You can ask for help on forums, but you better RTFM first, then spend at least one hour on searching net for answers. If you want answers before you do it, just use commercial support services. Canonical, Dell, HP, Novel, Red Hat and many others will be more than happy to provide you one for some amount of money.

Anyone who uses childrens books to name there OS is not right to begin with.

Linux will never be anything but a third rate wanna be os.

10 years later... oh look! we can use 3d applications from ATI! oooooooooooooooooooooo.

The problem with Linux that will always keep it in the dark for consumer level applications are software patents.

Linux cannot make a good OS because Mac and Windows have hammered every angle of protecting the OS market by squeezing out "common" implementations and "obvious" solutions to drivers and interfaces.

No start menu? MS has that patent. No docklets? Mac has that patent. Linux is operating on the fringe of common practice because common practice has been anti-capitalistically abused by competing OS vendors.

I'd like to see some competition to make everyone keep their noses clean, but alas, we'll take what MS has to give and like it. They've made sure of that.

If you install AWN (or CairoDock etc) on Linux, you get a dock /with/ a start menu on it. The best of both worlds, in other words, and far greater than the sum of its parts.

Plus, the Eee trackpad works fine. You just need to install a package called gpointing.

Yes I did google and researched for fixes to run Linux on my Eee PC. I am planning on trying the new Ubuntu that is coming out real soon. I installed a touchpad program that was specified but and it worked until I put the machine to sleep and it had to be reset every time. I basically just wanted to disable the pad tapping and use the buttons only. I admit I am no programing guru but that gives no right to slam me for it. I can and have researched problems and fixed some too. I have been playing around with Linux and it has came a long way. Updates are easy now and it is becoming user friendly for the masses. I also bet that MS pays some of these companies to keep their hardware secret from Linux to make thing difficult.

Dear Regulas, I'm terribly sorry if I accidentally insulted you.
You just didn't mentioned that you solved the problem you described. And it is true that it is more complicated to solve the resume from sleep problem. But it can't be justification for your (and others) self-expression tone. When you receive present, and it is more than just a present, you should thank the giving person. Later you can do whatever you wish with the present.
I strongly recommend you and the rest of "Windows vs Linux" crowd to read this article.
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

You've got to be bloomin' kidding. The Windows Recovery Console is a piece of crippled crap compared to the power of a Linux shell prompt. Microsoft deliberately cut down the features you have available just to reduce the chance that someone might consider it viable to use as an OS installation in its own right. And as a result, that severely hampers its usefulness for diagnosing and fixing problems.

"Perhaps the most noticeable thing is that it will use the latest GNOME 2.26 desktop environment.

"This means that some drivers have become 'free' with the ATI driver getting a make over with numerous fixes and performance improvements."

The new drivers correlate with the introduction of X.org 1.6; GNOME has nothing to do with it.

For those with touchpad problems, there is a hack which may now be an option in the driver to enable ignoring input during typing, solving the "wrist bump" problem. (In fact, I gather this may already be a button in the regular GNOME touchpad control panel for 2.26, but I can't confirm.)

For older systems, the add-on http://gsynaptics.sourceforge.jp/ utility made life a little easier, but for the user sighing about suspend/hibernation problems: yes, that's annoying, you'll have to dive into the wakeup scripts to tell the system to reapply your settings to the freshly-"rebooted" touchpad.

I've been with Ubuntu for over a year now and lucky for me everything worked right out of the box. I have had the same thing happen in Windows and I have had times where hardware just would not work. My latest HP printer would not work out the box in Windows. I had to do some leg work to make it run. First time I installed Ubuntu, I thought the printer would be a nightmare. All I did was turn it on and it worked.

I will be giving Ubuntu 9.04 a try on my Lenovo laptop. Over the years,I have installed several different distributions on mainstream laptops and desktop computers and have not had problems with drivers for at least 5 years. I will take regulas at his word, that he did have problems. It is possible since the eeepc might have unusual hardware. I am now using Fedora on an Acer Aspire One in addition to Windows XP on a Lenovo. There were no problems with drivers on the Acer Aspire. The advantages of using Linux on the Aspire were pointed out to me by Windows Vista users who were watching me use my system. They informed me (rightly or wrongly) that the CPU I was using was about 1/4 the power of a typical laptop, so they were astounded that I had 3-D effects, multiple desktops and other features of the the Aero desktop and that the system remained very responsive in spite of the weak processor. With the new Desktop environments supporting multiple desktops out of the box on Linux (and I assume on Vista as well), XP seems a bit klunky to use now. Vista has no hope of ever running on a netbook.

I'm really liking this release, I did an upgrade over the weekend from my 8.10 64-bit install to this new beta (update-manager -d) and am very happy with the changes. This is the first time I've done an upgrade instead of a clean install and was surprised how easy it was, nothing seems to have broken either. It seems they've put a lot of work into the usability of the UI, simple things like putting the timer on the shutdown confirmation in case your rushing out the door. BIG props for the new theme which has been long over due, I've forgotten the name and had to switch to it in the appearance menu seeing as I'd done an upgrade rather than a clean install but it looks much better than the poo brown theme. Compiz on "Extra" plus the new theme is an absolute pleasure.

I like Ubuntu.

I've installed NetBSD and RedHat along with BeOS.

Alternative operating systems, for the desktop, are like the idealized fantacy of a girl (or guy) that one imagines is so important to one's life, but in reality is only a plaything for one's mind.

Windows, and to a lesser extent MacOSes, are the practical women (or men) that will actually have a multi-year relationship with you (and even have children with you!).

You want to go on a practical holiday, or do something mundane around the house? Windows is ready just like a good woman.

MacOS is the fickle woman that changes her mind every seven years, dumps you, and marries someone else.

As a matter analogy, I would rather marry Bill Gates than that wierd mind-changing metrosexual Jobs... and I would never even date an uberdorky UNIX freak. I would hire an uberdork, but I wouldn't want him in my house. Mind you, I actually like women.... but you get the point.

To reiterate, I'm talking about the desktop.

The article you linked to:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Is exactly why linux as a whole will never break much ground on windows and mac market shares. The whole article is telling you "if you don't get linux your dumb and we didnt even want you anyway".

People don't have hours spare to try and sort out each and every problem. They want something to just work. Distro's which are more user friendly are derided for being too lite and generic by many in the linux community. It's like they don't want all these plebeians touching their precious linux and messing it up.

Money is the only thing that will make linux progress in the longrun imo. How they make it from their free loving users i dont know?

You absolutely right. This article is all about right people. I hardly consider Ubuntu and other "User friendly" distros as true Linux. The whole point of Linux is to be able to create YOUR own, unique system that fited to YOUR needs and YOUR taste. What the point of average dumb to use Linux ? He does not know what he wants.
One of my computer illiterate ex-girlfriends was able to install Gentoo system only by using manuals and google. The only thing that i helped her later was to configure better kernel after the system was up and running.
What the point for me to want average dumb to use Linux? To read stupid posts in forums that the answer is in first five google results ? To read complaints of ungrateful crowd? I prefer them doing it to companies like MS.
The money is not an issue in this world since people/companies that use it, make donations. But more important, they contribute and share.

I understand the want to keep the Linux community close knit and compact. And to keep the unwashed masses away with their dirty fingers.

Like the article points out mozilla firefox was innovative and better than internet explorer. And people have flocked to it in droves.

Same with linux people see it and like the idea. They like the innovative programs and methodologies. They pay for windows and many would rather use something else. I know pay for distros are frowned on as money grabbers and get the cold shoulder, and their methods are just the same as Microsoft and Apple.

Like i said and it is true money helps... alot. Donations work but its a question of who do you donate to? Everything is so confusing and fragmented inside and outside of linux.

Linux in my mind would improve vastly for everyone if they would group together better and have shared assets but still as a community. With the extra clout i'm sure they could overcome the indifference large companies have to supporting linux.

Then again if the community is happy with the status quo then who am i to ask them to change :p

The real money come from big companies like IBM, HP, Intel, Nokia and many more.
They support projects like gnome, kde, and others by money and resources. There is foundation that responsible on receiving and distributing funds. It is much more organised that you can imagine :)
We (me and my friends) are not antisocial. We do help newbies if they show some respect and appreciation to the time we spent learning by at least doing basic stuff like reading manuals, doing some search before asking for help.
We do not like people that come with complaints and DEMANDING answers.
And that is the beauty of this community. I guess you would prefer such :)

This is even more tiresome than the old global warming is coming routine.

I have been a native Linux user since about 99 and since I can remember the old is linux desktop ready compared to MS story has been resold on everyday that web hits have been low!

Get over it - within a few years, the web site will be your OS for the majority of users - just like for most car drivers, FWD or RWD is irrelevant - but still drives pistonheads to drink!

I love the power that the CLI has - MS was once like this MSDOS 6.22 but it got crippled because it scared the horses. But then, its horses for courses!