Ubuntu Dapper
I just installed Ubuntu Dapper Drake today. I’ve been a fan of the Ubuntu linux distro ever since Hoary Hedgehog.
I was very impressed with the installation process of Ubuntu. It took literally 6 steps to install Ubuntu Dapper. The Live CD install is quite an innovation.
The only problem I had was enabling my Nvidia Geforce4 Go 420 graphics card. After installing the Nvidia driver, and restarting you’ll find you just see a blank screen with an underscore in the top left corner. To rectify this, do the following:
Use apt-get to install the Nvidia driver, and restricted modules that match your linux kernel:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`
Make a backup of your xorg.conf file:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
Enable the driver:
sudo nvidia-xconfig
Now if you have an Nvidia Geforce4 420 Go vidio card, then proceed with the following:
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/options
Add the following option to the end of the file. Use CTRL+O and CTRL+X to save and exit.
options nvidia NVreg_SoftEDIDs=0 NVreg_Mobile=1
Edit your xorg.conf file:
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add the following options to the “Section Screen”:
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "TRUE"
Option "ModeValidation" "DFP-0: NoEdidDFPMaxSizeCheck, NoVesaModes"
Then logout, and restart your xserver by holding down CTRL+ALT+Backspace. You should now have a crisper looking Dapper courtesy of your Nvidia graphics card. For further help, check out this site.
Now if you want to test out your Nvidia graphics card, then I suggest you check out XGL for some cool eye candy. I haven’t done this yet, but will certainly have a look at it sometime soon.
The other thing worth installing is Automatix. Automatix is “a graphical interface for automating the installation of the most commonly requested applications in Ubuntu linux”. It allows you to install all plugins for firefox, a dvd ripper, skype, dvd codecs… you get the picture. Removing Automatix and all the packages it installs has to be done manually. Check out this posting for removing most of the packages manually.
You should now have one kickass linux setup.
