Windows blows... Need help with Linux

Ok, so my gay piece of sh*t laptop came with gaysta (vista). It is a HP Pavillion DV9627cl. I have the Ubuntu 8.04 iso downloaded but before I go about using a DVD, I would like to know if there are any known compatibility issues with linux and HP. I called HP support and they said that they don't support linux and it would void my warranty. I tried looking around for a list of hardware that linux is supported with, but I have not found one.

I would have really liked a mac, but I guess I have to stay with linux until I get one (hopefully, if hardware is compatible).

 

http://dmartin.org/content/ubuntu-linux-hp-dv9627cl

Sounds like it will work fairly happily. I've seen similar machines over here, I would hardly call that a gay piece of shit in terms of a Linux machine! I think they run about $800 here in Australia, I'd gladly buy one of them in a heartbeat if I was in the market.

Sounds like you'll have the usual problems with Broadcom wireless, when I tested my girlfriend's laptop with similar chipset Ubuntu handled it very well. You'll probably find that linux-uvc is in the repositories by now too, that article is over 6 months old.

Because they seem pretty similar in terms of components, here is the rough writeup I have maintained for the laptop I speak of (considerably more gay than yours, smaller display, 1/4 the ram, 1/3 the HDD, single core Celeron M, but still runs Linux quite beautifully): http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_Extensa_5220

 

Thanks for your help, I'm burning the .iso now. I would gladly sell you my computer (for a mac ;-] of course)

 

You'll probably find similar specs to what you already have in some of the Apple top of the line machines. Looking at the Macbook Air the only substantial thing you might get extra is a couple of extra wireless frequencies and extended battery life, but at the cost of a much smaller hard drive, only a SINGLE USB port, no built in ethernet port (you can buy an adapter, but it then ties up the single USB port), non-replaceable battery, soldered in ram. It isn't even that spectacularly thin, the one you have is probably only a couple mm thicker.

If you thought the Windows tax was bad, I hate to break it to you but the Mac tax is even higher as they apply it to every component. What you have already isn't that much worse (if at all worse), and costs maybe 1/3 the price of that Mac. And the OS is built on the back of BSD, so you're basically just paying for vendor lock in and proprietary eyecandy.

I will give their marketing department some kudos, they've done a good job at convincing people that shiny = better. Almost all their products are mediocre at best on release, but they charge super premium prices and have nerds flocking to the stores to get in on the hype.

 

OK, I have a little problem with Ubuntu 8.04. I installed it as just a secondary OS with Vista. It ran great and found all the hardware drivers. I wanted to get rid of vista, so I reformatted my HD so I could just install ubuntu. It installed but it won't find all of the hardware drivers. It finds one called "Nvidia_new" and I enable it. It says it needs a restart to fix it, but when I restart it still just says not enabled with a red circle next to the checked box.

 

Sounds like an Ubuntu problem. Maybe you installed things in a different order or something? You could try to piece things together from the following thread and repair, or try to reinstall.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=754053
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=754044
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=754117

Just to reassure you, not all distros make video drivers such a convoluted ordeal, it is just the hardline distros that refuse to enable non-GPL packages by default. Others take a softer approach and just let people use the best tool for the job, open source or otherwise. Disabling non-GPL components might be more ideal license wise, but just makes things a bitch for most. By saving people the hassle of using the command line, Ubuntu makes video drivers easy for maybe 90%, but an absolute nightmare for the other 10%.

I use Arch Linux. You might think that having to install everything you want from scratch would make life difficult, but it actually makes a lot of this sort of crap completely non-existent. "pacman -S nvidia". Voila, it is just another package, and it is almost always the version offered on the official website with maybe a 1-2 day lag while the maintainer gets around to an update. Change one line in xorg.conf and you're done. It really is that easy when you aren't trying to patch the crap out of your system so that people don't have to see the big scary command prompt.

Long story short, don't let this give you a bad impression of Linux. Get comfortable with things in Ubuntu for a couple of weeks/months then trade up to something that lets you have a bit more control, it gets better and easier once you learn a bit.

 

Somebody a while ago suggested using envy.. I don't really agree with that way of installing drivers, but it worked a treat on ubuntu7 box with a mucked up nvidia driver. Give it a go

 

Update the OS, you should then get an icon in top right area letting you know new drivers available after the update reboot,NO i'm not talking about the notification of new hardware that you mention as that's all it is,you must update the OS first,i get that notify every time after an ubuntu install & until i update the OS i won't be able to change settings for screen res etc.

 

I've seen lots of people swear by that Envy on the Ubuntu forums too, but I hate the idea of having to install one thing just to fix up the shortcomings in another. I think it just dumbs down everyone a bit more too because it doesn't really fix the problem or teach you anything, it just provides a workaround. If you can, try to do it manually, it'll save you a whole bunch of downloads (I seem to recall that when I tried, Envy called in more dependencies and thus ended up being a bigger download than the nvidia driver itself, that just doesn't make sense to me at all) and you'll become a bit more familiar with the command line. You probably just have to remove and blacklist the Ubuntu supplied drivers and then reinstall from the official nvidia binary.

 

I was dual booting with vista and it found all of the drivers fine. Then I wanted to make it my only OS, so I reformatted my HD and put in the ubuntu disc. I installed and THEN this problem occurred. It didn't find any hardware drivers at all. So I reinstalled again, and still no hardware drivers. I re-burned the .iso and put in the disc again and went into the live CD. It showed only my broadcom driver, so I installed thinking that it would still be there. It wasn't, only my nvidia drivers were but it wouldn't let me install it.

Oh and my ubuntu doesn't have envy on it. At least I didn't see it.

 

Anyody else starting to get the suspicion this machine had a manufacturers system partition which has been deleted? Dirty fista lockin trick...

My experience of envy on 7.04 was it worked (no dependencies problems either.. it just worked) where the debian way ran into troubles with permissions.. and I don't like ubuntu so quick and dirty worked nicely.. wanted to use the machine for something not mess for ages with a stupid proprietary driver. This install will probably break pretty quick.. I think it will be better to just get it up and running and bother about "doing it the right way" next time

Right ho.. anyhow..

Code:

 lspci -v 

and post output.. then we know what hardware is in there

 

I hope you made a set of vista recovery disks before you wiped it off the hdd

Varnull beat me to it..lol.

 

hi scorp... who the hell would want a set of fista recovery disks? XD

 

Are you kid'n vista's the next best thing since sliced bread

 

Sod that, i'll go back to slicing my own

 

Sliced bread isn't that great ;-)
So can anyone offer another form of Linux that has the most drivers?

 

Try getting ubuntu 8.10,then let run as a live cd then install in safe mode with any luck it'll automatically detect the internet connection & get any missing drivers from the repositry

there is also another option that i use when i have issues installing ubuntu,there's a step by step install mode,in other words no GUI just follow the prompts,tho it's a seperate iso download

Edit: if still no go you might have better luck over at the ubuntu forum,actually you could also try kubuntu & see how that goes

 

Every version of linux has every driver.. it's a fact, it's just making sure the right modules are enabled that is the tricky part.

n00buntu worked when run as a live cd.. so it must have everything it needs, you just did something wrong during installation...or the installer is a bag of crap.. one or the other. Have you thought about trying the minimal iso.. netinstall. They tend to be better than the full dvd installs as you have the whole repository to get software from, not just a dvd full..

BTW.. installing a different OS on a piece of hardware cannot possibly void your hardware warranty.. bloody liars these tied in oem fista lackeys eh? Check your statutory rights and you will find that a hardware warranty makes no reference whatsoever to software. You have the right to install any OS you damn well want on a computer.. it is yours and if say the PSU fails they can't wriggle out of it like that.. If they give you that shit again then take it back where you bought it and demand a FULL REFUND as not fit for purpose, and stick it all over their forums as well. HP/Compaq make crappy hardware anyway.. almost as bad as the current hunks of junk dell are peddling... Me?.. I use ex servers.

 

I concur with varnell including the support issue,you need'nt be concerned as you have'nt removed the security sticker plus the comp does'nt go directly to hp like xboxes go to ms,instead you take it to your nearest hp approved repairer,hell i removed my pc secure sticker but did'nt know how to fit a dvd drive so took it to the repairer & all was good,they did'nt give a toss,someth'n else too, my hp book showed how to replace ram etc..lmao.. i even emailed hp to get an answer why they would void a warranty when they give instructions to make changes,they did'nt give an answer..lol..

 

Hey, I just thought of something. The first time I booted up ubuntu (when all the stuff worked), I was using a 64-bit version of ubuntu. My brother wanted to install it also, so I burned it 32-bit and forgot to change it (my computer can run 32/64-bit). Then the problems started occurring!

Could that have caused the problem you think?

Anyways, what version of linux do you suggest (I DON'T want it to remind me of windows like Xandros!) I would like one that is good for school work and can use iTunes or at least quicktime.