[TriLUG] New Vista laptop needs Linux

James Jones jc.jones at tuftux.com
Mon Dec 15 16:39:16 EST 2008


All,

Just found another comment about using ubuntu on my L305 laptop. The
user evidently had problems with using the live cd portion of ubuntu
but went ahead with installing it using non-graphical method.

I better keep plenty of notes on this.

I have found the dvd recovery creator application on the Vista ( it
took over an hour to find the application ) -- Nothing is obvious to
me on Vista. I will be glad when I get SOMETHING other than Vista on
this laptop.

Apparently, the wifi interface is not linux friendly as well ( use of
ndiswrapper mentioned in the user's description ). I have had a few
dealings with ndiswrapper and no really true success. Working yes, but
always with a gotcha.

jcj



On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 4:04 PM, James Jones <jc.jones at tuftux.com> wrote:
> It appears that this is going to be one of those linux installs that
> you read about and hope never happens to you. I burned Ubuntu 8.04 and
> attempted to start it as a live cd.
>
> Opening screen with the usual menu. test it, install it, etc worked. I
> decide to try the live version and click on that. The Ubuntu splash
> screen started, and after more than a couple of screens, it appeared
> to start but nothing but a garbage screen. You could use touch pad to
> move a blob around on the screen. Screen was nothing but hash marks.
>
> I am assuming that it is a video driver problem. Is there a method of
> starting the ubuntu live cd from command line which can specify a vga
> driver such as the driver used to show splash screen etc at the
> beginning of the ubuntu start?
>
> Before you say it, I will be checking the ubuntu forums on this.
>
> jcj
>
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 1:05 PM,  <OlsonE at aosa.army.mil> wrote:
>> Not sure what the level of luck would be, but gentoo has always worked
>> flawlessly for me :).
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
>> Behalf Of James Jones
>> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 12:51 PM
>> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion
>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] New Vista laptop needs Linux
>>
>> Ed,
>>
>> I just found the link that you provided about 15 minutes ago. Looks
>> like the author of that had some major difficulties with debian. Hope
>> the same is not true with Ubuntu, Fedora, or even Centos. I haven't
>> decided which distro to go with.
>>
>> On my past laptops, I have been pleased with All of the above. None of
>> them had issues with my wifi card but since this is a built-in wifi
>> and wired net interfaces, not sure what I will face on that.
>>
>> Thanks to All for the comments. I now have a direction. We shall see.
>>
>> jcj
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 12:43 PM, Ed Hill <ed at eh3.com> wrote:
>>> On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:23:44 -0500 John Broome wrote:
>>>> James Jones wrote:
>>>> > All,
>>>> >
>>>> > My Christmas present came early. It is a Toshiba Satellite L305
>>>> > series laptop. The least expensive laptop that Walmart has on sale
>>>> > at the
>>>>
>>>> Might be worth googling that model and linux or whatever your distro
>>>> of choice is to see if someone else has been down the same road.
>>>
>>>
>>> The Toshiba Satellite L305 seems to require a bit of attention:
>>>
>>>
>> http://swinky-linuxblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/ubuntu-on-toshiba-satellite
>> -l305-howto.html
>>>
>>> to get Linux installed and working on it.  I've grown accustomed to
>> the
>>> so-called "business class" Dells, HPs, and ThinkPads which, for the
>>> past few years, have been nearly effort-less wrt Linux installs.
>>>
>>> Ed
>>>
>>> --
>>> Edward H. Hill III, PhD  |  ed at eh3.com  |  http://eh3.com/
>>> --
>>> TriLUG mailing list        :
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jc Jones
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>>
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>> --
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jc Jones
> Blogs -
> http://www.wendellgeek.com/weblog/
> http://kixtech.blogspot.com/
>
> webmaster for:
> http://www.raleighchurchofchrist.org
> http://www.wendellgeek.com
> http://classof1955.org
> http://www.tuftux.com
> http://www.dabeak.com
> http://www.therealpatpatterson.com
> http://jonesjc.freeshell.org
> http://www.trilug.org/~jonesjc
>



-- 
Jc Jones
Blogs -
http://www.wendellgeek.com/weblog/
http://kixtech.blogspot.com/

webmaster for:
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