First Kubuntu Impressions...

....now that I actually emptied out one of my 300 gig drives I wasn't
really using and installed it on there...

First thing...I had to install the beta release, couldn't install the
latest actual stable release because once it finished loading I kept
getting out of frequency problems with my monitor (1600x1200 LCD).

The latest beta release however works just fine in that regard so I
was happy with that.

Next, I go to try to install nVidia driver since 1024x768 on a 20.1
inch LCD just simply doesn't cut it...plus some hardware acceleration
would be nice too.

Spent about 2 hours playing around with the built in nVidia drivers
that arleady come with it...no luck. Always keep getting out of
frequency errors from my monitor whenever I try to use any nVidia
driver.

I did learn how to play with the xorg.conf file though...and did set
up the correct frequencies for my monitor. But that still didn't help.

So then, I decide to go download the latest driver from nvidia's
website...

Try to install it, ok first it complains about some kernel interface
not being there and wants to compile one. No biggie. Erm...no libc
headers...ok, download those (I love the package thing)...try
again...it's happy...

nVidia driver install goes all the way through, asks me if i want to
set it as the current driver. I say yep and restart the system...

Result: Improvement. I no longer get an out of frequency error from my
monitor. However....a black screen also doesn't make for a very
inviting desktop...

That's about the time I stopped messing with the drivers, 3 hours of
it was enough...and just stuck to Vesa for now.

But, any idea on how I can get those drivers installed and to actually
WORK? Any way I can find out what (if anything) might be going wrong
that I only get a black screen with the latest nVidia drivers?

So next...I decide to see how well it can play a random DVD from my
collection. So I throw in a Koda Kumi concert DVD...and Kaffeine
complains about a missing plugin. So a little bit of searching reveals
libdvdcss...allright, go grab that...install it...Kaffeine no longer
complains about the missing plugin...but still doesn't play the DVD.
It just keeps reading the DVD without ever doing anything productive.

So I decide my next DVD...Hamasaki Ayumi Concert DVD...it happily
plays that! Progress!

So...next up..some fast and furious tokyo drift....it happily plays
that too.

After analying the DVDs in alcohol 120%, I found that the Koda Kumi
DVD is CSS protected while the Hamasaki Ayumi is not. So first I
thought well maybe the libdvdcss thing isn't working. But then I
checked the fast and furious DVD and it has the same protection as the
1st one...so libdvdcss is working, just not with that particular DVD.

No biggie there really though if I can find a little prog, preferably
for linux, to strip the protection off the DVD and create an image to
play from the hard drive (my preferred way to play DVDs anyway to
protect the disks).

So if anyone knows of a prog that can help with that...I'd love that!

One thing that *did* impress me was that even though with just the
Vesa driver, my 2nd DVI output worked and therefore my plasma tv
worked...without me having to go through any special hoops to make it
so! That was very nice!

I also noticed that Kubunto does appear to have IME support (Input
Method Editor) which is very important to me since I do study Japanese
and don't have a direct input keyboard. Trying to get a keyboard
shipped from Japan is more difficult than trying to get MS to ditch
Vista and switch to Linux...but anyway...I haven't quite figured out
yet though how to actually *use* that yet, just saw it's there. Then
again...I haven't really put any effort into it yet so...I'll prolly
worry about it later. Though if anyone has some pointers to make my
life easier on how to use it, would appreciate that. =)

Bottom line...I am liking it for the most part! No real
complaints...just my biggest issue being right now that the stupid
video driver won't install!!

I suppose I could attempt to install the 6.10 release of Kubuntu right
now and see if I have more luck with that. But seeing how the LiveCD
already instantly gives me frequency problems (though it doesn't at my
computer at work) I kind of have doubts it will be any different
there.

Any help anyone can give me with that video drive problem would really
be appreciated!!

Thanks,

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara
.

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