My first experiences with kubuntu

[one2many]

I hope this is where this belongs...

Kubuntu 11.04, installation notes and observations.
From the live cd, I enabled wifi on my laptop (asus k52j series, with nvidia optimus),
Went to additional drivers and selected the nvidia experimental 3d driver. I elected to enable this driver because with another distribution, this driver performed well.

I was pleasanly surprised to find settings for the touchpad, (most other distributions ignore the touchpad, and treat is as a simple mouse).

The synaptic package manager which was present on the live cd disappeared after the installation.

The installation went without any hitch.

I was unable to use opengl for desktop effects. I settled for xrender. System info said opengl was not available.
Attempted to configure the nvidia driver, the laptop would boot only to a console.
BTW tried all the recommendations to activate the nvidia driver, to no avail. Deleted the xorg config, restarted.
Then through kpackagekit I installed the nouveau experimental driver (to have 3d), when I restarted, I could not login. My password was refused. Went to a console and I could login.

Having enough, I reinstalled, but this time did not enable wifi, did not install the additional nvidia driver. When the installation completed, No additional driver was available. The intel gpu was enabled and I had opengl.

These minor woes aside, I am very pleased with kubuntu.

Listing of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 18)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 310M] (rev a2)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.5 Ethernet controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 05)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)

[Snowhog]

Re: My first experiences with kubuntu

Welcome to KFN. Is this your first foray into the wonderful (and sometimes wacky) world of Linux/Kubuntu? Let us know a bit about your computer experience, and if you don't mind, your reason for deciding to try/use Linux, and what your reason for choosing Kubuntu was? We are always interested.

[one2many]

Re: My first experiences with kubuntu

I'll try to keep it short...
My first encounter with linux was way back when I bought red hat 4 for a course in operating systems. I remember that I had to recompile the kernel because my logitech bus mouse was not recognized.
Later on I wrote some windows applications to be used internally for one of my employers. I applied what I had learned and designed user friendly interfaces. User input guided my design choices.
Application writing was not my sole functions as I was involved in hardware testing, quality control and manufacturing processes.
Now I am retired and for most of the time I tend to adopt a 'user' attitude.
Besides my brief stint with red hat in school, I did not touch linux anymore. I became an MS man, from dos 3 thru windows 2.5 up to win 7.
Tired of the panoply of 3rd party utilities required in order to have a relatively secure windows environment, tired of the incessant broken windows updates, and not to forget the windows registry that even microsoft does not seem to understand, I downloaded and installed ubuntu 8.

Tried linux mint because ubuntu was doing strange things that I did not understand...panel applets would change place for no apparent reason. Periodically it would refuse to let me login.
I went distro hopping for a while. Always returned to linux mint because to me it was the one most closely allied with my philosophy of ease of use.

Tried mint kde 10, could not enable sound...would not even let me install the phonon-gstreamer backend.
Tried the various lxde flavours...lots of basic functionality missing.
Tried xfce looked too primitive (to me).
Let's not even talk about unity and gnome shell 3.

Decided to try Kubuntu to see if I could have sound. Not only was sound enabled, it offered the most comprehensive touchpad configuration I've seen to date (perhaps ubuntu's latest offering does offer this - unity was such and ungodly mess that it was quickly removed)

I am enjoying kubuntu because I don't have to google this google that to have a working pleasant environment.

Sorry for such lengthy post. But you asked.

[Snowhog]

Re: My first experiences with kubuntu

Nice summary.

I have Ubuntu on both my laptops, principally for 'tech support' for my father who is using it. But I am a Kubuntu man, finding it the most asthetically pleasing to me. Plus, it is much more 'user controllable' than Ubuntu is. I understand why Ubuntu is going the route they are, but it just isn't my cup of tea.

Kubuntu Linux has a 'polished feel' to it that Ubuntu just can't match - IMO. But I am not a Ubuntu-phobe (or any other Linux distro-phobe), and don't denigrate anyone who finds Kubuntu not their cup of tea. I don't even put down Windows users - I use Windows Vista Enterprise Edition at work. A computer is a means to an end. The operating software one uses, the Tool Box, and the applications the actual tools. One picks the Tool Box and the Tools to put in it that they are most comfortable with - period.

Again, welcome to KFN.

[GreyGeek]

Re: My first experiences with kubuntu

Welcome to KFN, one2many!!

There are several of us retired programmers here on KFN.
And, as my sig implies, one is never too old to use Linux! 8)

Although your wifi isn't working, you should be able to get an internet connection by plugging an ethernet cable from you cable modem (assuming) to your eth port on your computer. Your wifi chip is an Atheros AR9285, which is driven by the ath9k kernel module. Modinfo gives:

modinfo ath9k
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.35-25-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
author: Atheros Communications
srcversion: 30BA823139AB475E4E4C260
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000029sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000027sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: ath9k_hw,mac80211,led-class,ath,cfg80211,ath9k_common
vermagic: 2.6.35-25-generic SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: debugebugging mask (uint)
parm: nohwcryptisable hardware encryption (int)

The "alias" gives the list of chips that it will work with, not that it won't work with other not on that list. "v" is the vendor number (168C) and the "d" preceeds the device id (2E or 2D or 2C ...etc...) Using "lshw" in a Konsole will give you the pci vendor and device id, which you can use to check.

The bold print in the modinfo marks the "parm", which are user settable. In a Konsole use
kdesudo dolphin
and navigate to
/etc/modprobe.d/
and right mouse on "options.conf". From the popup menu select "open with" and choose kate.
you can place:
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1
on a line by itself in that file, then save it.
Close Dolphin. In the Konsole enter:
sudo modprobe ath9k

Try your Network manager app. If you see wifi activity then in a konsole issue
sudo depmod -a
which will make the atheros driver load automatically at bootup.
Reboot or use
( for reference: /etc/init.d/networking {start|stop|restart|force-reload})
sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop
sudo /etc/init.d/networking start
(I don't know if your network is running or not, so the stop-start method).

[one2many]

Re: My first experiences with kubuntu

GreyGeek, thanks for the info.
I am sorry if I gave the impression that wifi is not working for me. I have not experienced wifi problems with kubuntu.
What I tried to explain was the fact that on the second go around, I did not establish a wifi connection to download the nvidia driver pre-installation. Which caused the intel gpu to be selected instead of the nvidia.
Once the installation completed, I enabled wifi, and downloaded all the updates.

Again thanks for offering help.

Kubuntu indeed is very polished.