Is Kubuntu 9.10 unusable?

[Bob Jonkman]

Borden Rhodes writes:

> I wasn't able to verify the CD integrity or boot into Kubuntu 
> without checking the `acpi=off` boot option.  If I leave ACPI on, I only get 
> a black screen and no activity.

Others have reported success using

  acpi_osi="Linux"


http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/2009-November/002291.html

Documentation for the acpi_osi parameter is sorely lacking.  The only  
advice was to examine the kernel source code to see what it does, but 
that requires a brain bigger than mine.

--Bob.


Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>         http://sobac.com/sobac/
SOBAC Microcomputer Services              Voice: +1-519-669-0388
6 James Street, Elmira ON  Canada  N3B 1L5  Cel: +1-519-635-9413
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Borden Rhodes wrote:
> It's been a while since I've posted because I reverted back to Debian (Lenny) 
> a while ago.  I simply found Kubuntu too buggy with KDE 4 and Ubuntu too 
> irritating to control with GNOME.
>
> I burnt a Karmic live CD to give it a try and I'm curious what other people 
> think.  I didn't get too far using it but I'm curious if other people have 
> had similar experiences or if it's been such a joy to use as I've been 
> reading in reviews.
>
> Specifically, I had my Fujitsu Stylistic 5020D tablet docked at its station.  
> The dock has given me no shortage of trouble both in Linux and Windows XP 
> (for which the tablet was 'designed') and that may explain some of the 
> problems.  I wasn't able to verify the CD integrity or boot into Kubuntu 
> without checking the `acpi=off` boot option.  If I leave ACPI on, I only get 
> a black screen and no activity.
>
> I gave Kubuntu the benefit of a doubt by verifying the CD integrity.  It was 
> hard to track the progress of the check because the status bar kept 
> flickering.  I don't know if this is a new feature along with the Kubuntu 
> logo fading in and out but I suspect it isn't.  Anyway, the CD passed 
> inspection so onto the desktop!
>
> Okay, so Kubuntu loads into the KDE desktop and as soon as I see the lovely, 
> sleek-looking desktop the screen goes black and the KDE desktop reloads 
> again.  Strange.  I try the CTRL+ALT+F# key switch to get into a terminal but 
> none of them seem to be working (that is, I can only see a black screen).  
> Oh, wait, I just heard the KDE start up jingle.  CTRL+ALT+F8 (don't quote me 
> on that, I was doing it by feel) brings be back to the desktop and... no... 
> wait, X has restarted.  Huh.
>
> I eventually found that moving my mouse cursor to the the bottom panel as soon 
> as I could kept KDE from crashing.  I suspect the problem was with Lancelot 
> (is that what it's called?  It's the transparent box where the Install 
> Kubuntu icon is) because the loading icon would show just before X restarted.
>
> So, I carefully close that and the KDE(mu)blog Plasmoid and I seem to have a 
> stable desktop.  Yay!  Let's check the logs to see what happened.  According 
> to the logs, "X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly".  Well, that's 
> not a whole lot to help me isolate the problem or file a bug report on.  No 
> matter.  Let's see if I can connect to the Internet through PPPoE.
>
> I'm happy to see that DSL has *finally* been integrated into Network Manager 
> so I don't have to fiddle around with pppoeconf which never worked alongside 
> Network Manager anyway (Network Manager would switch from DSL to local LAN 
> and effectively cut me off the Internet in the past).  So, I excitedly type 
> in my DSL username and password and go back to the NM icon to connect and... 
> wait, there's no DSL option there.  NM only gives me options for local 
> Ethernet (which will only get me as far as the router) and wireless networks, 
> none of which I have (legal) access to.
>
> Okay, so I guess it's back to pppoeconf for the foreseeable future.  I was 
> also happy to see that KBluetooth had been (re)added to KDE 4 but I didn't 
> bother to try it out with my Nokia phone.
>
> I did want to see whether my brand-spanking-new, UVC-enabled webcam (Logitech 
> 3000 Quickcam for Business in case you have one) worked with Kopete since the 
> UVC site (and Logitech, for that matter) says it should.  Although I can get 
> a picture, it's too dark, too off coloured, and it's covered in blue 
> artifacts.  I'm sure I could fiddle around with the brightness, contrast, and 
> saturation controls for a while and eventually get something resembling what 
> I look like in real life, but there's no way to get rid of the blue static 
> all over the picture.  Maybe it's just a Kopete thing.
>
> It's possible that the Intel video drivers are still broken.  I go to reboot 
> the machine and instead of getting the usual terminal output telling me about 
> closing services and prompting me to eject the CD before I restart I just get 
> a black screen with white lines.  It looks like the terminal has compressed 
> lines to two pixels high since, knowing what the lines are supposed to say, I 
> can kinda see how what does show on my screen resembles what should.
>
> So, I guess I'm back to trusty Lenny running Debian 3.5 at least for another 6 
> months.  Yes, I realise that this e-mail is a bit of a disappointed flame 
> against K/Ubuntu but I am legitimately curious if anyone else has noticed 
> these things or if my tablet is unique in the Linux world.
>
> With regards,
>
> Borden
>
>