Funk Babblings

You'd think after running Linux for 12 years I wouldn't have major problems with it. And for the most part I don't. But then come those weeks when I seem to get bitten by every remaining bug in the system.....

Last week I decided it was time to upgrade my computers to the current version of Ubuntu Linux. First was my work computer; that went mostly except that now the system clock runs too fast. Until I can track down that bug, I'm never entirely sure what time it actually is when I'm at my desk. But I ran into this problem when I first set up the machine, so I just need to remember how I solved it then. (Update: booting with acpi=off notsc fixed it.)

Next was my big home machine, since the Ubuntu version it was running was a year and a half old. Unfortunately I neglected to test the new version on my computer ahead of time, so I ended up with no graphics; somehow my old ATI Radeon video card is no longer working properly with the new version. No problem, I thought, I have a spare Matrox card in a box here.... well, first I discovered that the Matrox card has a half-height plate on the back, so I had to pull that off before sticking it in the machine. Then I discovered that a different bug is preventing me from getting graphics with that card.

So now I'm looking for a cheap but decent graphics card that's well-supported in Linux, has digital DVI output, and doesn't require proprietary drivers. That search seems a lot harder than it used to be.

Next I turn to the laptop. That one is actually a bit of a success story -- it's about 7 years old, and has its problems, but still does most of what I need it to do. The most annoying problem with it is that the mouse pointer likes to run to the bottom of the screen and stay there. I took to carrying around a tiny USB mouse and disabling the internal stick, but that's a hassle. So this week I came across a place online that sells replacement laptop keyboards (which in the case on my laptop includes the mouse pointer stick), and bought one. It arrived yesterday, I installed it, and it works great. It's actually kind of weird having keys that aren't worn smooth; it almost feels like a new machine.

But being such an old laptop, the batteries barely work, so I also bought replacements for those. Sadly, the first one that arrived was DOA and I have to send it back.

Now I'm upgrading Ubuntu on the laptop. I tested it from CD first, so I'm pretty sure the graphics will work (though no cool 3D effects). Now I go back to fixing the problems with the other two machines.

At least having three machines here means that they're hit with different problems, and when I do have problems with one I can fall back to the others.