Noelinho's Back Using Breezy Badger
Just before I start what I'm actually meant to be posting about, I found a neat little program to install on Ubuntu earlier called 'Blog Entry Poster' which is meant to be compatible with WordPress - I tried to post using it, but it didn't work. It would be handy if it worked, though it can't do categories - it would be great to be able to post via my desktop with no browser. Of course, I can always post by email to WordPress...but I don't. Anyway....
It's a while since I've used Ubuntu actually. I'll admit it, when I had endless problems upgrading to Dapper Drake, and then with my fresh install of Breezy, the sheer amount of work I had to do meant Linux had to take a back seat whilst I used Windows XP to get my work done. However, I no longer need my PC for University work (I don't need it during the exam period - paper has everything I need) until October, so I am free to do what I'm so good at - breaking software (and salvaging the pieces as an afterthought).
You may remember that I had problems with lock-ups in Breezy Badger. I thought I had a graphics card problem. I didn't. I thought it was the power lead. It wasn't. I thought it was the PSU. It wasn't (but the new one blew up, thankfully not taking the whoel of the PC with it). I thought it was the memory. It wasn't - not completely anyway, though the PSU had gone a long way to wrecking my nice RAM.
So, what was the problem? I do believe I now know. My new graphics card didn't like the generic Linux drivers. With nVidia's binary drivers, I'm having no problems today. Evidently, the generic drivers just aren't compatible with my nice new card. It took 4 months to work it out. Computers.... ;)
Actually, even that's a sidetrack of what I really want to talk about. What I really want to talk about is something I find quite exciting, which I found on Planet Ubuntu today. It's about upgrading Ubuntu. The link has the full article, with helpful screenshots, but the upshot of it is this - it's going to be potentially easier to upgrade Ubuntu. Upgrading Ubuntu, at the moment at least, involves editing a configuration file and then typing a couple of commands in to the terminal. It's not difficult, but it's not worked for me yet. This would just add a button that appears when a new release is ready. It tkaes away the possibility that you can do a bodged upgrade - though it won't necessarily mean it is perfect. It should also help less technically proficient people too :)
Honestly, you might not be excited about it, but I happen to think it's one of those small little things that is actually very useful. If people can see upgrading should be as easy as clicking upgrade, that can only be a good thing!
There is currently 1 comment on this article.
mrbenhttp://www.jedimoose.org
That does, indeed, look very shiny. Glad you got the hanging problem sorted. I've always used the proprietary nVidia drivers, which is why I'd not seen a problem like that before, I guess. Wish nVidia would open-source them :(
2006-05-23 09:33:06