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[-KRS-]

You should use a method to install the driver which was made to work specifically with Ubuntu. I see that you did try the default method though...

I've never had an ATI card so I've never used their drivers so I'm not sure, but maybe the drivers on the ATI website has an uninstall feature? If it does then you can try to install it manually.

Worst case scenario is that you'll have to create Xorg config files where you specify the driver manually.
Edit: maybe you should create such config files now already so you can easily change between drivers later if something goes wrong. I wont be much help with that though because they have changed the way Xorg is configured lately... It all used to be in /etc/Xorg/xorg.conf but now it's spread out into different files, like one for the monitor, one for input devices etc. It's much more confusing nowadays in my opinion even though the opposite was the goal of the change.

 

[Izick]

You should use a method to install the driver which was made to work specifically with Ubuntu. I see that you did try the default method though...

I've never had an ATI card so I've never used their drivers so I'm not sure, but maybe the drivers on the ATI website has an uninstall feature? If it does then you can try to install it manually.

Worst case scenario is that you'll have to create Xorg config files where you specify the driver manually.

Eh, maybe I shouldn't fuck with it then.

I just went to the ATI/AMD site, put in my specs, and got a .run file of the newest driver, set it to executable, and then it would prompt me to run it in the terminal. I declined, because I thought I'd ask for advice here first.

 

[-KRS-]

Eh, maybe I shouldn't fuck with it then.

I just went to the ATI/AMD site, put in my specs, and got a .run file of the newest driver, set it to executable, and then it would prompt me to run it in the terminal. I declined, because I thought I'd ask for advice here first.

Here it says something about uninstallation http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.24.8.html#179310

Seems like an uninstall script will be installed with the driver.

Edit: And sorry for my constant edits.. You shouldn't just double click the .run file in the file manager. You should run it in a terminal because if you run it through the file manager the terminal window will close immediately when the application closes, so you wont see any errors that might come up and whatnot.

.run files can be run in a terminal by making them executable and running ./app.run or "sh app.run" if it's not an executable.

 

[Izick]

Here it says something about uninstallation http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.24.8.html#179310

Seems like an uninstall script will be installed with the driver.

Oh, so all I would have to do is enter:

sh./fglrx-uninstall.sh

to uninstall it.

 

[GameplayWhore]

Eh, maybe I shouldn't fuck with it then.

I just went to the ATI/AMD site, put in my specs, and got a .run file of the newest driver, set it to executable, and then it would prompt me to run it in the terminal. I declined, because I thought I'd ask for advice here first.

The nvidia drivers work the same way. You shut down X, log into a text vtty (the Ctrl+Alt+F1 thing, please somebody tell me that Ubuntu didn't make that go away too, eh?), and run the .run file. It tells you if it won't work before trying to install (for instance, you'd need to install the kernel's development packages for a tiny bit of code that it needs to compiler on your computer), and it will uninstall older versions of the driver if they're in there.

Still annoying. The best distros are the ones that have the drivers already on the install disc. I honestly have no clue how a distro that doesn't do that is considered user friendly.

 

[-KRS-]

Oh, so all I would have to do is enter:

sh./fglrx-uninstall.sh

to uninstall it.

You navigate to the folder with "cd /usr/share/fglrx" and then you type "sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh". Or you could just write "sh /usr/share/fglrx/fglrx-uninstall.sh" in one go.

 

[Izick]

You navigate to the folder with "cd /usr/share/fglrx" and then you type "sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh".

Oh, the actual folder? Like the one that can be accessed going through the GUI?

 

[ComputerMKII]

Oh, the actual folder? Like the one that can be accessed going through the GUI?

No, you'll have to use the Terminal.

 

[-KRS-]

Oh, the actual folder? Like the one that can be accessed going through the GUI?

Indeed. (Oh I might have misunderstood, you have to navigate to the folder... ah fuck it just write this in a terminal:

sh /usr/share/fglrx/fglrx-uninstall.sh

)

Also, I don't mean to be rude, but it sounds like you don't know how to use a terminal very well yet. Let me recommend you this site: http://linuxcommand.org/

If you want to mess with things like this it's almost essential to know how to use the terminal, so that you can fix the GUI if it breaks.

 

[Izick]

No, you'll have to use the Terminal.

Ah okay, thanks for the clarifacation. I feel like I'm going to bork this somehow, so maybe I should just let it be.

Indeed.

Also, I don't mean to be rude, but it sounds like you don't know how to use a terminal very well yet. Let me recommend you this site: http://linuxcommand.org/

If you want to mess with things like this it's almost essential to know how to use the terminal, so that you can fix the GUI if it breaks.

I'm so confused... EDIT: I see now.

Either way, no offense taken, because I don't know much. I know sudo means basically labeling yourself as doing the action as the administrator, I know apt-get, I know apt-get remove, apt-get update, and a few others.

EDIT:

I think he was just confused because normally the term "folder" is not used when referring to locations in the terminal. You go to directories in the terminal, folders in the graphical file manager.

Yeah, I never had heard that term before, but I'll still admit I'm a linux newbie.

 

[GameplayWhore]

Indeed.

Also, I don't mean to be rude, but it sounds like you don't know how to use a terminal very well yet. Let me recommend you this site: http://linuxcommand.org/

If you want to mess with things like this it's almost essential to know how to use the terminal, so that you can fix the GUI if it breaks.

I think he was just confused because normally the term "folder" is not used when referring to locations in the terminal. You go to directories in the terminal, folders in the graphical file manager.

edit: Out of curiosity, does GNOME's file manager have something equivalent to the F4 key in KDE's Dolphin, some sort of easy method to open up a terminal from your current location in the file manager?

 

[GameplayWhore]

Yeah, I never had heard that term before, but I'll still admit I'm a linux newbie.

Directories? That's just the original name for locations in a file system. They're the same thing in Windows. If you have the command line open, you type "dir" in Windows to get the file listing in a directory (and chdir, mkdir and rmdir to change, make and remove directories, respectiely. They starting using the word "folder" when they began using pictures of folders to represent the directories.

 

[-KRS-]

Ah okay, thanks for the clarifacation. I feel like I'm going to bork this somehow, so maybe I should just let it be.




I'm so confused... EDIT: I see now.

Either way, no offense taken, because I don't know much. I know sudo means basically labeling yourself as doing the action as the administrator, I know apt-get, I know apt-get remove, apt-get update, and a few others.

I'd recommend that you at least learn the very basics of using a terminal, like how to navigate to directories and how to copy files and move them etc and how to edit a file with "nano" etc. After you got that down it gets much easier. The guide I linked to is a very good introduction, and afterwards they also have a guide on how to write shell scripts should one wish to deep further into it. If you want to really tinker with linux, learning the shell is a must.

And yes things might break, but that's how you learn how to fix them in the first place.

Edit: @GameplayWhore: thanks for the explanation on folders vs directories. I mix it up all the time.

 

[Izick]

Directories? That's just the original name for locations in a file system. They're the same thing in Windows. If you have the command line open, you type "dir" in Windows to get the file listing in a directory (and chdir, mkdir and rmdir to change, make and remove directories, respectiely. They starting using the word "folder" when they began using pictures of folders to represent the directories.

No, I meant the term "folder" when using the terminal instead of the GUI. I never heard that term in relation to using the terminal.

I'd recommend that you at least learn the very basics of using a terminal, like how to navigate to directories and how to copy files and move them etc and how to edit a file with "nano" etc. After you got that down it gets much easier. The guide I linked to is a very good introduction, and afterwards they also have a guide on how to write shell scripts should one wish to deep further into it. If you want to really tinker with linux, learning the shell is a must.

And yes things might break, but that's how you learn how to fix them in the first place.

Yeah, I may check out that site you suggested to get a better handling on my understanding of the terminal. I love messing around with stuff, but the only problem (right now) is that Ubuntu is on my one and only computer right now, and I really need it. I think once I backup my files, and get a better understanding of stuff, I will explore more though.

 

[GameplayWhore]

No, I meant the term "folder" when using the terminal instead of the GUI. I never heard that term in relation to using the terminal.



Yeah, I may check out that site you suggested to get a better handling on my understanding of the terminal. I love messing around with stuff, but the only problem (right now) is that Ubuntu is on my one and only computer right now, and I really need it. I think once I backup my files, and get a better understanding of stuff, I will explore more though.

Burn a Live CD of any distro. Then you'll feel much safer about recklessly destroying your computer.

edit: A Live CD boots off of an optical drive and presents you with a full, completely usable desktop. You can even install programs and so forth, though they generally vanish when you reboot. They are often used to help fix computers, but you can use it for normal computing if you need to.

 

[Izick]

Burn a Live CD of any distro. Then you'll feel much safer about recklessly destroying your computer.

That's funny, I was just messing around with Linux Mint (10) using a Live DVD (Live USB, to be exact) and I was messing around with it. I really dug it. It's cool knowing that you can do all this crazy stuff, and if you just shut-down, you get a clean state next boot.

 

[GameplayWhore]

That's funny, I was just messing around with Linux Mint (10) using a Live DVD (Live USB, to be exact) and I was messing around with it. I really dug it. It's cool knowing that you can do all this crazy stuff, and if you just shut-down, you get a clean state next boot.

Yes. For a long time, nearly every distro changed to having their installer boot you into a Live environment with a little icon on the desktop that you click to do the actual install. This was pretty great, and it's surprisingly that many distros reverted to the older, boringer way.

It's cool to be able to play Frozen Bubbles and watch Internet porn (or whatnot) while your system is installing.

NB: Some distro back in the '90s -- I think it was Red hat -- let you play a primitive form of Tetris while your installer was doing its thing. Also, Red hat had "Redneck" as one of the OS languages on install.

 

[Izick]

Yes. For a long time, nearly every distro changed to having their installer boot you into a Live environment with a little icon on the desktop that you click to do the actual install. This was pretty great, and it's surprisingly that many distros reverted to the older, boringer way.

It's cool to be able to play Frozen Bubbles and watch Internet porn (or whatnot) while your system is installing.

Needs to be like the tagline for a distro.

 

[-KRS-]

Burn a Live CD of any distro. Then you'll feel much safer about recklessly destroying your computer.

edit: A Live CD boots off of an optical drive and presents you with a full, completely usable desktop. You can even install programs and so forth, though they generally vanish when you reboot. They are often used to help fix computers, but you can use it for normal computing if you need to.

Or you can install a distro in a virtual PC and mess with that. That wont work with testing graphics drivers though because the virtual PCs usually use the generic vesa driver. But if you just want a distro that you can try whatever with it's a good choice because the changes are persistent and it's easy to back up the whole install. I usually use Virtualbox for my virtual PC needs. Oh and I recommend Arch Linux if you want to learn, although it has a quite steep learing curve if you know nothing. Slackware if you're really hardcore.

 

[GameplayWhore]

Or you can install a distro in a virtual PC and mess with that. That wont work with testing graphics drivers though because the virtual PCs usually use the generic vesa driver. But if you just want a distro that you can try whatever with it's a good choice because the changes are persistent and it's easy to back up the whole install. I usually use Virtualbox for my virtual PC needs. Oh and I recommend Arch Linux if you want to learn, although it has a quite steep learing curve if you know nothing. Slackware if you're really hardcore.

Nice thing about Arch (and Gentoo I guess), though, it that the documentation totally holds your hand the whole way.

 

[Izick]

Or you can install a distro in a virtual PC and mess with that. That wont work with testing graphics drivers though because the virtual PCs usually use the generic vesa driver. But if you just want a distro that you can try whatever with it's a good choice because the changes are persistent and it's easy to back up the whole install. I usually use Virtualbox for my virtual PC needs. Oh and I recommend Arch Linux if you want to learn, although it has a quite steep learing curve if you know nothing. Slackware if you're really hardcore.

I've always wanted to try out a virtual machine, so I might just do that.

 

[-KRS-]

Nice thing about Arch (and Gentoo I guess), though, it that the documentation totally holds your hand the whole way.

Oh yes, that's one of the best things about it. The Arch wiki really is something else. And gentoo's wiki too of course! Gentoo's wiki probably has more information to be honest. I've found a lot of info on there which is not readily available anywhere else on the internet, like how to configure OSS4 to choose the right default sound card if there are multiple ones. Gentoo's instructions are also generally written in a way that it's easy to understand even if you don't use gentoo. Well.. at least if you use Arch.

 

[zoku88]

Oh yes, that's one of the best things about it. The Arch wiki really is something else. And gentoo's wiki too of course! Gentoo's wiki probably has more information to be honest. I've found a lot of info on there which is not readily available anywhere else on the internet, like how to configure OSS4 to choose the right default sound card if there are multiple ones. Gentoo's instructions are also generally written in a way that it's easy to understand even if you don't use gentoo. Well.. at least if you use Arch.

That's funny. Even though I use gentoo, I think I've used the Arch wiki more.

Then again, the gentoo wiki was updated recently (after I got into gentoo, though). New website and everything.

The gentoo handbooks, though. My god, those are godly.

 

[Izick]

So I downloaded the Mint 12 live CD, and I've been messing around with it. (Iso unto a USB.)

It seems actually a bit more sluggish compared to 10, but it still is pretty good. Wouldn't pick it over Ubuntu, but it's nice. The only thing I was dissapointed with, is that the Live CD Profile has a password when you log out, so you can't try out other Desktop Environments.

(I tried changing the password under the user settings, and even changing the root password through the terminal, which seemed to be successful, but didn't work.)

 

[GameplayWhore]

So anyway, Sonic 2 HD works pretty well in wine on my machine. The intro part (with like sixteen spindashing sonics running around simultaneously) was really choppy, but the game is quite smooth. The only problematic bit is that the music cuts out during the intro, but it's still an interesting bit of ode to nostalgia.

 

[Izick]

So anyway, Sonic 2 HD works pretty well in wine on my machine. The intro part (with like sixteen spindashing sonics running around simultaneously) was really choppy, but the game is quite smooth. The only problematic bit is that the music cuts out during the intro, but it's still an interesting bit of ode to nostalgia.

So Linux and Wine issues aside, how does that game feel on its own merits? Did they get the physics and feel of it down-pat?

 

[GameplayWhore]

So Linux and Wine issues aside, how does that game feel on its own merits? Did they get the physics and feel of it down-pat?

It felt pretty much like I remember back in the day, though keep in mind that I was using a keyboard, not a game pad. Maybe I'll pop in that Sonic Collection that I have lying around somewhere to see how similar it is on the Cube.

 

[Massa]

GNOME 3.4 was released today!

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Wooooooot!

That mail icon is kinda blatant though.

Looks fantastic! When's the next Fedora release?

 

[Elfforkusu]

So Linux and Wine issues aside, how does that game feel on its own merits? Did they get the physics and feel of it down-pat?

I'm sure it's spot on, most of those are based around the Sonic Retro site, and (collectively) those guys are nuts. They disassembled Sonic 1, have detailed numbers for how every part of Sonic physics should behave, etc etc...

 

[zoku88]

Hmm, can't wait until those packages are unmasked in Portage

EDIT: Actually, maybe I can wait. I'm not sure if the update even addresses anything I care about except for improvements in Mutter....

 

[GameplayWhore]

Oh, snap, GNOME 3.4 comes with a built-in hypercube!

 

[Polari]

I've been running the new GNOME for the past few weeks, it's a good update. The new app menus are pretty neat and Contacts, Documents and Web are really impressive too. I'm excited to see the platform develop.

 

[-KRS-]

Oh nice. I always love gnome updates. Can't wait for Arch to move it into extra.

 

[peakish]

Oh nice. I always love gnome updates. Can't wait for Arch to move it into extra.

Haha, tell me about it. I'm refreshing their main page every ten minutes to see if it's moved or not. Every release usually adds so much polish, can't wait to try it.

 

[survivor]

Hey guys I'm having bit of trouble installing Xubuntu right now.

When you put in the CD with Xubuntu to install, you should get 3 options right? Install alongside Windows, replace Windows, something else. I'm not getting the first option and after little research I realized I hit my primary partition limit which was 4.

Now my Windows has 4 partitions, C, D, one for recovery and one that has small size which I'm not sure what it does. I don't need the D right now, so what do I do with it to make Xubuntu display the first option? Should I just make it free space and then let Xubuntu use it or is there something else?

Thanks

 

[Massa]

Update on Valve games coming to Linux soon? This was just tweeted by the phoronix guy:

"Gabe of Valve just fired off an email to me... Looks like may need to type an article tonight or tomorrow. #Linux #gaming #drivers"

Wooooooot!

That mail icon is kinda blatant though.

Looks fantastic! When's the next Fedora release?

It's supposed to be, you can save Gmail as an app now.

Hmm, can't wait until those packages are unmasked in Portage

EDIT: Actually, maybe I can wait. I'm not sure if the update even addresses anything I care about except for improvements in Mutter....

This release is significantly better. Lots of little details fixed here and there, I upgraded my laptop earlier than usual because I couldn't go back to 3.2.

Haha, tell me about it. I'm refreshing their main page every ten minutes to see if it's moved or not. Every release usually adds so much polish, can't wait to try it.

You can enable the gnome-unstable repository if you can't wait, it's up to date already. It may or may not require the testing repo as well, not sure.

Hey guys I'm having bit of trouble installing Xubuntu right now.

When you put in the CD with Xubuntu to install, you should get 3 options right? Install alongside Windows, replace Windows, something else. I'm not getting the first option and after little research I realized I hit my primary partition limit which was 4.

Now my Windows has 4 partitions, C, D, one for recovery and one that has small size which I'm not sure what it does. I don't need the D right now, so what do I do with it to make Xubuntu display the first option? Should I just make it free space and then let Xubuntu use it or is there something else?

Thanks

I guess the easier choice is to launch Gparted and delete the partition, then launch the installer. If Gparted is not a part of the Xubuntu Live image you'll have to install it first.

 

[GameplayWhore]

It's supposed to be, you can save Gmail as an app now.

Isn't that something you could always do by simply browsing to gmail.com and dragging the site icon to a desktop or panel? Does the gmail thing do something fundamentally differently? Is it actually a self-contained app like the gmail apps on phones?

 

[zoku88]

This release is significantly better. Lots of little details fixed here and there, I upgraded my laptop earlier than usual because I couldn't go back to 3.2.

It's hard to tell from the page, since most of those seem like finnicky little details.

What makes it significantly better for you?

 

[Vanillalite]

Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 2 Released!

OMGUbuntu Video showing the Release!

PS: Will install and post impressions later tonight!

 

[Izick]

Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 2 Released!

OMGUbuntu Video showing the Release!

PS: Will install and post impressions later tonight!

Ooh, want to try it so bad... I guess I might as well wait though now since I've waited it out this long. It's shaping up to be really something though.

 

[survivor]

I guess the easier choice is to launch Gparted and delete the partition, then launch the installer. If Gparted is not a part of the Xubuntu Live image you'll have to install it first.

After messing around for like 5 hours I got my Windows to have only 3 partitions. Should I free up one of the partitions and make it unallocated space or does the installer just borrow from the main partition?

 

[freddy]

After messing around for like 5 hours I got my Windows to have only 3 partitions. Should I free up one of the partitions and make it unallocated space or does the installer just borrow from the main partition?

Unallocated space is usually the best option.

 

[Massa]

Isn't that something you could always do by simply browsing to gmail.com and dragging the site icon to a desktop or panel? Does the gmail thing do something fundamentally differently? Is it actually a self-contained app like the gmail apps on phones?

It's basically the web site you saved as an app in a chrome-less window, and it gets its own icon in the Dash (aka dock) and alt-tab menu so you can more easily organize your workflow. It also has its own cookies and history. For example you can create an app for "Gmail Account1" and "Gmail Account2" and never have to login or out of Gmail again.

Speaking of it the online integration is pretty neat, you just add for example your Google account and it automatically sets up Google Docs, e-mail, chat and contacts integration in all apps that use and the shell.

It's hard to tell from the page, since most of those seem like finnicky little details.

What makes it significantly better for you?

Lots of small details here and there that I can immediately tell the difference, be it in how it looks better or on how much faster NetworkManager connects to WiFi hotspots. There's also smooth scrolling support, Totem now plays Flash videos as a browser plugin so I don't have to use the shitty Flash plugin anymore, the search functionality in the Shell is more complete, the Documents app has now reached a state where I actually use it on a daily basis, etc.

 

[peakish]

After messing around for like 5 hours I got my Windows to have only 3 partitions. Should I free up one of the partitions and make it unallocated space or does the installer just borrow from the main partition?

I'm always worried about how the installer chooses partitions so I'd actually recommend that you choose to use manual partition during the install. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I don't trust software to choose this stuff automatically. Step 7-c in this guide has some details with pics: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic172128.html

If you make one partition "unallocated space" you can create a Logical Partition from that, which you can then split into like how many partitions you want for Xubuntu.

As for what partitions you'd want for your install, it depends. I previously said that just having a swap and everything else as / is enough, but having a separate /home/ could be convenient even for newbies I suppose. (Edit: Personally, I have a 100MB ext2 /boot/, 20GB ext4 / and the rest in an ext4 /home/. Nothing too advanced. I had a 2GB swap but I fucked up a lot when first partition this drive, every partition was primary so when I now wanted to install Windows 8 I couldn't move my stuff to make space for it - so I removed the swap and resized another lol)

You can enable the gnome-unstable repository if you can't wait, it's up to date already. It may or may not require the testing repo as well, not sure.

Thanks, but I've decided to keep my hands out of testing stuff for now Very tempted to break that decision though.

 

[peakish]

Double post, but I just said screw it and installed it from [Gnome-Unstable]. First impressions were bad as I couldn't change the system time in the options menu which screwed up my Google Net Accounts sync, apparently I need to run systemd or something for that to be possible, lol. Changed it through hwclock instead. Anyway I have nothing better to do this evening so here are some more impressions:

General polish: It looks a bit better, plus new scroll bars! (?)

Documents: I have no idea of how to navigate in this app, haha. Or why it can't find all of my documents, does it only look through a certain folder depth in my home folder? Still feels very much like alpha software, but I like the right click selecting (very smart!), the integration with the shell and the organising using tags (which also appear in the shell when searching!).

Contacts: Much better! I just wish selecting contacts from the shell would bring up the Mail/Chat/Call options at once instead of the whole app.

Shell: I'm a bit disappointed in that Programs is still a complete mess when opening it. They should sort by category by default on the screen and use the right hand bar for detailed filtering. In other news, I just noticed that you can create workspaces in between other now - did I miss that in 3.2 or is it new? Lovely anyway.

Evolution: Of all Gnome apps I think this is the least 3.x of them all. I think they should consider splitting it into separate apps, they've already got Contacts and a Calendar in the shell which could also serve for Memos and Assignments. I can understand if this takes a lot of time to do, but it would make my user experience much better if I wouldn't have to launch the quite heavy Evolution app to add an event to my calendar. Or write a quick email to someone.

Anyway, overall it's a nice release. Not much new, but some nice additions making the experience more pleasant. Kind of like new kernel releases.

 

[Izick]

A Message From Valve's Gabe Newell

Gabe Newell of Valve, the company behind Steam and the Source Engine, has allegedly sent over a message to Phoronix.

As mentioned on Twitter yesterday afternoon, he allegedly sent over an email. I expressed caution as he's not the one I normally deal with regarding Linux gaming matters, so I'm still waiting on official confirmation, but here's his email below.

We are running into a bunch of performance issues in Linux drivers (e.g. 50 millisecond draw calls because the driver is compiling a shader).

We'd like to hire someone to work on these performance issues. If you know of anyone we should be talking to, I'd appreciate getting connected with them.

Gabe Newell
Valve, Bellevue

Anyone up for this work?

Update: I've now been able to attain independent confirmation with Valve (here). This isn't an April Fools' Joke or anything else. They're in need of more Linux folks; will try to get more information to share after the first of the month, since many Phoronix Forums users remain unconvinced about any Valve Linux interests.

Link

 

[survivor]

Ok finally got Xubuntu up and running and now I'm posting this from it. Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for the help.

 

[freddy]

Would you buy a used car off this man?

 

[freddy]

Also, people were talking about methods of installing the latest drivers for AMD cards earlier. Last I checked Ubuntu had made it very hard to stop 'x'. You have to temporarily change your user level. There are tweaks around the net to re-enable the ctrl-alt-bckspce trick but messing with the way Ubuntu installs drivers can cause a few more problems down the track.

So give this a try and then run Additional Drivers and see if it offers you anything new. 3 separate lines here. If it doesn't work then just remove the PPA from Software Sources.

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates 
    sudo apt-get update 
    sudo apt-get install fglrx