[Discuss] The T61p meets Kubuntu

[Michael]

    Hello all. Just updating my story on the new Thinkpad I ordered. It
arrived last week, and after making recovery disks of the Vista stuff I
went directly to the Kubuntu site and downloaded the latest ISO. I
plugged the newly burned CD in, booted the system and ... and ...

    Black screen. Nothing. A brick.

    OK then, start researching. Ubuntu forums, Thinkwiki site, various
other Thinkpad and Linux sites. The nVidia site. All over the net I
trawled looking for how to get Kubuntu to ride this HDD. What I learned
is as follows;

    The final RC for Gutsy introduced a bug which caused the nVidia
driver to be broken for some of their latest cards. Various creative
ways to get around this issue are blogged about, but their effectiveness
is variable. I tried about six different methods to get it onto the
system, each ending with a brick. So far, the Ubuntu folks aren't
talking much. The solution is actually pretty simple. Modify your
xorg.conf file to use vesa, not whatever flavour of nVidia driver it
currently points to. The trick seems to be doing this while typing into
a brick.

    Anyway, the story ends this chapter with me downloading Mandriva's
2008 and plugging that in. Boot the system and guess what ... Almost
perfect, first try. Bloody hell Kubuntu, you've just been shown up by
2001! I will use Mandriva for the next few weeks, but I need to commit
to one or the other by months end. The usual annoyances with Mandriva
are still here, and Compiz is killing the x server anytime I leave the
system idle for more than a few minutes, thanks nVidia for the high
quality driver. I doubt Kubuntu would be much better, but I want to give
them a fair try. I like the Ubuntu community, and I am willing to
forgive Ubuntu technical problems in order to be a part of that. Problem
is, this is the fourth Ubuntu release that has stopped me cold with a
no-fix install bug. Not confidence inspiring.

    Anyway, I realize my trials and tribulations with this aren't all
that useful or interesting to anyone. I just thought you folks might be
curious to know how an average Joe deals with Linux day to day.

    Have fun, Michael.