Kubuntu 12.04 LTS on a Dell T1600 with Nvidia Card
I’ve been trying to install Kubuntu 12.04 LTS on a Dell T1600 for about 45 minutes now. Each time it boots off the CD it ends up on a blank screen with a cursor flashing in the top left corner of the screen. The install has obviously hung but there is no feedback. I also burnt a new CD incase it was the issue but still no joy.
So, as always, Google is my friend and I’ve found several other people (even with different distros) having the same problem and it appears to be related to the nvidia card in the system and the open source drivers. Using the open source nouveau driver will cause the install to hang. There is also some threads mentioning that it may be a kernel bug.
There are a couple of solutions I’ve seen for this so far.
Use the nomodeset option in the boot options to force the system to use VESA drivers – more info at http://askubuntu.com/questions/131435/can-i-force-kubuntu-installer-to-use-nvidia-driver-not-nouveau – time is of the essence for me so I didn’t try this but it looks like it may work. You will still need to fix the Nvidia driver after you have completed the install.
My system has an additional Nvidia card so it can be used as a multi display system. As I’m building this system as a headless Splunk server I don’t need multi displays on this system so I just removed the card and used the default (on board) VGA display.
For me, this solved the problem and I was immediately able to boot the X64 live CD and start the install.
I have another box with the same config that I will need to configure multi display. I have more time to build that box so I will dig a bit deeper into the cause of the issue and hopefully be albe to resolve the issue. I’ll post what I discover.
As alway comments and questions are welcome.
Firefox 4 Tips
The final version of Firefox 4.0 is scheduled for release on March 22nd so I upgraded to the latest Firefox 4.0 Release Candidate last night and so far so good. I like the new look and the speed of the new version. It also has some great new features such as:
- New Tab Location
- Tabs for applications
- Easy switch to tab
- Synchronizing Settings
- Managing Add-ons made easy
- Panorama
- HTML 5 support
- Full Hardware Acceleration
- Organizing tabs made easy
- Firefox button for easy access and reduced clutter.
Extensions usually take a little while to be updated but I was able to install all the ones that I use regularly including Delicious.
I’ve also outlined below a couple of tips I used to get everything working.
1) Tab width
It used to be possible to change the Tab width in the about:config setup however the current Firefox 4 release candidate appears to now ignore this. Fortunately someone has created an add-on that will fix this for you and allow you to update the tab widths. Here’s the link https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/custom-tab-width/.
2) Delicious Bookmark Add-on
The Delicious bookmark add-on works with Firefox 4.0b3pre but currently doesn’t install on Firefox 4.0 RC however it is possible to force it to install and so far it’s working fine for me.
SOLUTION:
First goto the addon site and choose install anyway.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/delicious-bookmarks/
The browser will complain that it can’t be installed.
Within FireFox 4 goto “Help” in the Menu, then “Troubleshooting Information”
Click on the button “Open Containing Folder” (within the box “Application Basics” on top of the page)
Close Firefox
Goto into directory “extensions\{2fa4ed95-0317-4c6a-a74c-5f3e3912c1f9}”
Within the file install.rdf change
em:maxVersion=”4.0b3pre” />
to
em:maxVersion=”4.0″ />
Restart Firefox
The above worked perfectly for me and once Firefox was restarted the extension was enabled. I then manually added the tag and bookmark buttons to the toolbar.
Thanks to the users on the delicious support forum http://support.delicious.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5168
I’m always looking to improve Firefox so please share your tips or favourite add-ons in the comments section below.
Wireless-N Upgrade – Thinking about a Christmas Treat
Lately I’ve been looking for a bit more bandwidth in my home network to be able to stream HD video over wireless and moving to N seemed like the logical choice.
For the last 3 years I’ve run a Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT firmware and it has been solid as a rock – best wireless I’ve ever had and will be a very hard act to follow.
My “new” work laptop supports Wireless-N and I get about 150MB/s at the office (which is faster than my wired lan at home) so I thought it could be a potential solution to my bandwidth problem.
So needing a bit more wireless bandwidth – the search was on for a new DD-WRT compatible wireless solution.
I’m currently considering the ASUS RT-N16 – seeems to have excellent specs – plenty of grunt, 2 USB ports and supports either DD-WRT or Tomato firmware. From what I’ve read the ASUS firmware is flaky and results in wireless dropouts but those on Whirlpool that have upgraded to either Tomato or DD-WRT are reporting good performance. In addition the RT-N16 has a fast processor (480MHz stock + ability to overclock), 32 MB Flash (which is huge – even the biggest installs of DD-WRT are only just over 8MB) – to me this seems like a really fast piece of kit capable of running DD-WRT. The 2 USB ports bring into play usage as a torrent box plus a printer hub.
The ASUS RT-N16 seems to have a hugh amount of potential – I think I’m going to have to get one and see how far I can stretch it.
Anyone else have experience with this model? Other thoughts?
WDTV Live Hub – time for an upgrade?
Each year Western Digital come out with a new WDTV player – this year it’s the WDTV Live Hub with a 1TB internal 2.5″drive and a new interface.
I usually treat myself to an upgrade around Christmas and flow the older models down the line retiring the oldest but I’m still um’ing and ar’ing this year.
The Live Hub seems to be the same WDTV Live with a new skin on the current Live platform, a new form factor and an internal drive. From what I’ve been able to find out the Live Hub it also won’t be getting any of B-Rad’s love anytime soon either. So I would be tied to WD updates.
Saying that – I must admit Read more…
What’s Your Screen?
So… my TV has cracked the snots and doesn’t want to show a picture any more. Yes, like most others we have more than 1 TV but this is the one in the living area and the one that is usually always on.
The kids still watch TV up stairs but they don’t watch as much TV as they used to. I’ve also seen them spend more time doing other activities – reading, playing, games etc and this is a really good thing that I want to encourage.
I don’t usually watch TV when it was actually on and Read more…
Don’t let your hats gather too much dust
Which of your hats have been gathering too much dust lately?
The last few weeks at work have been extremely hectic, lots of late nights / early mornings, project planning and re-planning, bubble diagrams, gantt charts and technical strategy along with the many other daily distractions that make life in Information Technology very interesting to say the least.
Finally, I’m sitting here at 11:00pm waiting to verify some new changes in production after midnight and I’ve finally found time to sit down, open Google Reader and start to catch up on the multitude of blogs and alerts I’ve been neglecting lately.
I came across this one post that really resonated with me.
- RIP Dr Seuss (Mark Cohen) – It’s not just about missing out on finishing your book – it’s also about making the most of the time you have.
That got me thinking about what I have been doing lately, how caught up in work I’ve been and then I remembered.
A wise mentor once told me that each day we all wear many hats – manager, employee, mentor, supplier, customer, educator, student, husband, father, son, and many, many more – some hats will always demand to be worn more often than others, some hats we don’t want to wear, and some hats we should wear more often than we do.
I still remember my mentors words of wisdom to this very day – “No matter how many hats you have, don’t let any of them be too demanding or gather too much dust – and pay special attention to the ones related to family”.
Time for me to dust off some of my less worn hats – how about you?
