General IT

admin · November 14, 2008

A lot of commentators in the blogosphere have shown disappointment at the fact that little seems to have changed with Ubuntu 8.10. My answer to them is that in fact a lot has changed, but not much of it is visible. To my mind a lot of these under-the-hood changes have addressed fundamental issues which needed to be fixed as a priority, so that normal users could just get on with the business of using Linux, rather than scrabbling around in config files.

Also, Ubuntu has an aggressive schedule, which means release are made every 6 months. I believe the purpose of the April (.04) releases is to introduce new features, and the October (.10) release is to refine them and fix any breaks. Compare this approach to Windows or Macintosh, where releases are made around every three years, and you can appreciate that releasing little and often means that changes are more diffuse and less apparent.

admin · November 11, 2008

I keep hearing how Ubuntu has finally nailed the dual head hassles of the past, and now you can just plug in an external monitor and go. Alas I've never had that experience, either with this Dell Vostro 1400 or either of the two IBM Thinkpads I've run Ubuntu on.The IBMs were both 1024×768 resolution, as is my external monitor. The Dell is a less standard 1280×800 resolution. I also, on occasion plug it into my LCD TV, but that's another story.

admin · November 17, 2022

I've been getting irritated with the touchpad on this new Dell Vostro 1400. I type for a while, and then my palm touches the touchpad, sending the pointer skimming into the line above, or clicking on buttons I don't want to click on. So, I looked around and figured out a solution. Over the past two years, I've had to update this post for every single new version of Ubuntu, which has been a pain, so look for the heading below which corresponds to your version of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Hardy 8.04

First of all, you need to edit your /etc/xorg.conf file, for which you'll need root privileges – use sudo.You just need to add one line in the input device section, which is the one in bold below. (Intrepid 8.10, see below)

Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"

        Driver          "synaptics"

        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"

        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"

        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"

        Option          "HorizEdgeScroll"       "0"

        Option          "SHMConfig"

EndSection

admin · October 21, 2008

Just had an irritating couple of hours when I discovered that my WordPress Theme was broken. The sidebar had slipped to underneath the main column, and the background of the main posting area had disappeared. I tried clearing my cache first of all. Then I tried looking at the site in different browsers. It was still broken in IE: although the symptoms were slightly different the sidebar was still misplaced.

OK, time to roll my sleeves up …

admin · October 14, 2008

Having spent hours tinkering with getting Ubuntu's wireless to work on at least three previous Thinkpads, before I bought this Vostro I did some research around the internet. I found a bunch of happy Vostro 1400 Ubuntu 8.04 users, and the fact that Dell was releasing Ubuntu on some of its other machines. Good signs. However it seems that the hardware specs between Vostro 1400s vary depending on where and when they're manufactured, so I think that research might have been misleading.

Anyway, I've been trying to get wireless working on and off for the last 3 or 4 weeks, and I'm almost there, so I thought I'd share my experiences.

Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 upgrade.

Ubuntu 8.04 Dual Head setup on Dell Vostro.

Ubuntu Touchpad toggle tweak

Physician Heal Thyself: When WordPress Themes go Bad

Getting Wireless to work on a Dell Vostro 1400