Linux .....

[MintMove]

oh! about the proprietary driver, I checked that as well but it just showed a message about the graphics card which I had already activated. There was nothing for sound card.

and I never tried the sound on the live CD... was too excited to install everything and get the new pc up and running, lol!

 

[MintMove]

I have a Windows Vista hard drive in a caddy so I can boot into Windows if all else fails - haven't used it in about four months now. Last week, I put Ubuntu on my sister's computer. I put it on a new hard drive 'just in case'. I don't think she'll ever want to use Windows again. I just get sooo frustrated when I have to do something on a Windows box these days.
Barry.

Just a thought, If you want to keep windows just in case u need to, don't you think you should keep windows 7 instead of vista?

 

[barrydrake]

Sound

Yeah, I tried those tips and browsed around other forums and tried different things but nothing worked. The 5.1 sound should've worked just by going into sound prefs and changing the settings to 5.1 surround but there was no such option for some reason. I installed a restricted pack that I found while going through ubuntu software manager (i think) and it should've got everything working but afterwards I went on youtube and all I got was a blank screen whenever I clicked on a video. By midnight I just gave up and as a final attempt I thought might as well try linuxMint and that's what I've got right now. The surround sound seems to be working fine and had no problem with youtube.

I have a theory that if I install ubuntu 10.10 instead of 10.04, it might work fine.

BTW, I found it very interesting what you said about the 'X' in OSX has something to do with Linu'X'...

There was a known problem on 64 bit caused by Flash! Might have been worth trying the 32 bit version. You're probably right about versions greater than 10.04. I've tried 11.10 but don't intend installing it. I want to wait 'till April and go for 11.04 LTS - I really like the first efforts with the Unity desktop. It's going to be really good when it's finished. There is an early alpha of 11.04 Natty Narwhal that's looking good (although far from end user quality so far). What do you think of Mint? I haven't tried it but might take a look some time.

 

[barrydrake]

I tried Mint today - from the live CD. Seems OK, but I really like Ubuntu. MintMove - any special reason for your Mint preference? I'm really interested to know.

 

[MintMove]

While I was doing a bit of research regarding which distro to go for, I read somewhere that mint has the audio video codecs preinstalled whereas in ubuntu, the user would have to install them separately. I had a feeling I'd have to do a bit of work to set up my computer to my liking and I thought mint would already have most of the codecs installed (if not all) and that would save me the hassle.

Other than that, I also read that mint is a good start for people who are changing over from windows.

Ubuntu and Mint are both quite similar to each other it's just that Mint is more appealing to me. Ubuntu gave me the mac OSX feel and Mint gave me the Windows feel. And right now, I would prefer something similar to windows but without the problems of windows, LOL!

Having said that, I'm still having some trouble with the sound. The 5.1 speakers are working fine its just that I get this clicking sound along with mint's own theme tones. It's as if the system goes from mute to unmute. for example, when I click on the sound taskbar icon -> sound preferences -> sound effects, there is a choice of sounds that you can select as the system's alert tone. It's the same in ubuntu as well. When I click on 'bark' it will give a preview of the alert but before that, it is as if the system was muted and just before I hear the bark, I get the click sound as if the system was unmuted, then the bark, then if I don't do anything, I get the click again as if the system has gone to mute again. I hope I was able to describe it properly. Do you get what I'm trying to say?

Another thing that I did was, I kept clicking on drip, glass, sonar, bark and so on. During all that time, the alerts kept working fine. The irritating click sound only came the first time as if the system has been unmuted and then as long as I was clicking on the different alert tones, they all kept working ok but when I stopped, I got the sound as if the system had gone to mute again. I would like to mention that the sound icon does not change to mute or unmute whenever this happens. It stays the same.

I know it's a strange problem but it gets a bit irritating. Do you think you know why this is happening?

 

[MintMove]

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I select the option 'analog 5.1 surround output' in sound prefs > hardware > settings for selected device, there is a button 'test speakers'. I go there and click on the different speakers but I don't get any test sounds even though if I play an audio file it works fine.

 

[barrydrake]

Sound problem ....

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I select the option 'analog 5.1 surround output' in sound prefs > hardware > settings for selected device, there is a button 'test speakers'. I go there and click on the different speakers but I don't get any test sounds even though if I play an audio file it works fine.

Some of what you are saying sounds a bit familiar. I'm not currently using surround-sound, only two-channel, but I think the problem may go with the 64bit OS. Any chance you could try the 32 bit live CD .... If that is the problem, then file a BUG ....

Barry

 

[MintMove]

Just made a cd of the 32 bit version and the sound still had the same problem.
It's getting quite annoying and dare i say it, I'm actually beginning to miss windows... LOL!

I've tried the things mentioned in different forums but still no success...

Also, I was watching a film the other day and there's some problem with the video in full screen as well... Whenever there's a lot going on in the scene, like a fight sequence or car chase, there seems to be a bit of disturbance. Not sure what the proper word would be for this but there's definitely a problem. In case you're thinking, I tried other videos as well and they have the same problem. I would guess the vga driver isn't doing it's best.

Really don't know what to do. I'm thinking of trying other distros.

 

[barrydrake]

Just made a cd of the 32 bit version and the sound still had the same problem.
It's getting quite annoying and dare i say it, I'm actually beginning to miss windows... LOL!

You didn't say what your motherboard is - when you're searching the forums you need to be very specific - some motherboards are not at all well supported, especially some of the Intel ones. Could I suggest that you join the UbuntuUK mailing list? Look at : [email protected] and join the ubuntu-uk list. Post the output of sudo lshw so we can all see what you have. That way, you're not just relying on one person but you will receive a lot of wisdom. I'm sure we can solve your problems between us.

 

[barrydrake]

Another thought: have you tried the oupput from a simple two-chanel stereo mode? Does this work?

 

[MintMove]

Hi Barry

about the motherboard it's the asus crosshair IV r.o. gamers with built in audio...

I've tried a lot of different things to fix the audio but nothing seems to work... by the way, I've changed from linux mint to ubuntu studio and i'm really liking it. but now I'm trying to fix the splash screen during boot up. It just vanished after the first time and now i get the 'ubuntu 10.10' showing during boot up.
I admit there's nothing majorly wrong with the distros but these small things just become a bit annoying. Right now, I'd like to fix the sound problem, the video problem when in full screen mode, and now the splash screen. I'll probably join the mailing list you've mentioned some day and see if someone can get these problems solved for me.

Just a question. What sort of things do you mostly use your computer for?

 

[barrydrake]

Have you tried ....

about the motherboard it's the asus crosshair IV r.o. gamers with built in audio...
Just a question. What sort of things do you mostly use your computer for?

You're probably well ahead of me on this, but first, in the Bios advanced settings you need to be sure the audio is set to use the internal audio card in the correct way. (I'm not sure, but should it be 'high definition in your case?) I think it depends on what connections you are using.

Then you need to be sure you've got the correct pair of drivers installed. There should be 'internal audio' and 'RS780 Azalia controller' you can configure both of these under sound preferences and you need to match what you are using with the output format. I can't try this out as all I have on mine is a bog standard stereo sound system. If you've tried all of those things, please please describe the problem on the Ubuntu UK mailing list or get onto the IRC Ubuntu forum (on freenode). There's bound to be someone on there who uses surround sound and can give specific assistance.

With regard to the splash screen, I gather what you are getting is standard behaviour on 10.10 .... I remember someone mentioning it. I'm sticking with 10.04 till I see what 11.04 turns out like when we get to Beta.

What do I use mine for? Mostly ordinary boring things like internet, e-mails, word processing and accounts. But I do a bit of video camera work, and my old box was taking twelve hours to render a DVD. This one takes about two and a half!

Hope you get the sound sorted. Barry.

 

[mrleemcc]

Hi all, i do like the linux OS a lot and have been using Mint as well, but being a bit of a gamer it is hard to get away from Win7 even with wine.
I am going to get my self a little netbook to keep on playing with linux

I play wow and would be very reluctant to even try it with linux and get banned lol. but i do think it is the best OS out there (as well as overpriced Apple, i have one of them too)

 

[pr1s0ner]

wow works fine in linux, as do a lot of games running in wine.
check out the supported games lists at http://appdb.winehq.org/

 

[rjs1064]

I play wow and would be very reluctant to even try it with linux and get banned lol. but i do think it is the best OS out there (as well as overpriced Apple, i have one of them too)[/QUOTE]

Why would you get banned?

 

[pr1s0ner]

Why would you get banned?

There was an issue, years ago, where the wow warden incorrectly identified the wine installations as bots, and auto generated termination emails to those accounts. It was, as far as I am aware resolved a long time ago

 

[ubuntu-user]

Hi Barry
Switched to Linux (ubuntu around a year ago) and haven't needed to use anything else at home since. I'm happy enough with oolite (remake of elite) for some retro gaming and pretty much everything else I need I can find in the software centre.

As you say, its fortunate that pc-specialist provide the option for OS free machines, as the handful of preinstalled linux offerings in the UK aren't necessarily what I'd want for certain purposes (did pick up the Kogan ubuntu 11.04 laptop released in June). However I accidentally found pc-specialist and decided to buy something from them rather than a system76 laptop with all the shipping hassle from the states.

Is there a maintained list of suppliers offering os-free hardware? Would be handy for notebook linux users to know pc-specialist exist.

Stephen

 

[barrydrake]

There is. It's at http://nakedcomputers.org/category/europe/uk/ pcspecialist does not appear to be on it. I think the site is maintained by Alan Bell. I also know that Alan occasionally contributes to this forum. However, personally I'm more interested in the growing number of suppliers who sell hardware with 'Ubuntu pre-installed. I hope before long pcspecialist will join them, or at least certify certain builds as compatible. Having said that, some members of pcspecialist staff are very knowledgeable and will give unofficial advice.

 

[ubuntu-user]

Hi Barry

Thanks for that list, pc-specialist should really be there

Ideally I'd like the ability to get Ubuntu preinstalled too, the disadvantage with some preinstalled laptop offerings to date is that they have targetted netbooks and/or low performance hardware. For instance I'm not interested in the Asus Ubuntu netbooks as I need something closer to a desktop replacement with good battery life

That said the Kogan Agora which was released in the UK last month was good as a netbook replacement. You would think Canonical themselves would maintain lists of suppliers offering Ubuntu preinstalled...

Stephen

 

[pr1s0ner]

Without proper committed support from suppliers/manufacturers that's probably easier said than done though