Help with Ubuntu 8.10 Setup

[moki]

I am new to Linux and have installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my Fujitsu Siemens Laptop and have the following problems:

1. Cannot read my USB flashdisk
2. No Sound
3. The startup screen is a little too big for my display with the result that I can barely see the password box in the lower right hand side of my display. Once I log in the screen is fine as I have set up the screen resolution.
4. Is Ubuntu a good distro or is there some better flavour of Linux?

[dijetlo]

1. Cannot read my USB flashdisk

Run lsusb and post the results

2. No Sound

Run alsaconf and make sure you've unmuted the sound card.

3. The startup screen is a little too big for my display with the result that I can barely see the password box in the lower right hand side of my display. Once I log in the screen is fine as I have set up the screen resolution.

Run "grep -i vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf " and post the result.

4. Is Ubuntu a good distro or is there some better flavour of Linux?

Yes Ubuntu is very good. I've never used it but it seems to be very popular and a lot of knowledgeable folks swear by it.

[moki]

Thanks for the response. See comments below in red.

I am new to Linux and have installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my Fujitsu Siemens Laptop and have the following problems:

1. Cannot read my USB flashdisk
2. No Sound
3. The startup screen is a little too big for my display with the result that I can barely see the password box in the lower right hand side of my display. Once I log in the screen is fine as I have set up the screen resolution.
4. Is Ubuntu a good distro or is there some better flavour of Linux?

Run lsusb and post the results

I have run lusb and came up with the following in terminal:
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Run alsaconf and make sure you've unmuted the sound card.
**Sound card working fine now. Played around in Alsa mixer and got it working.**


Run "grep -i vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf " and post the result.
**Ran the above and came up with nothing!**

Yes Ubuntu is very good. I've never used it but it seems to be very popular and a lot of knowledgeable folks swear by it.

[MikeTbob]

Did you have the USB drive plugged in at the time you issued the command? IF not, please plug the device into the USB port and issue the lsusb command again.


Try this command, to see which driver is currently being used by your desktop

grep -i Driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[dijetlo]

I have run lusb and came up with the following in terminal:
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Try what Tbob suggested.

Run alsaconf and make sure you've unmuted the sound card.
**Sound card working fine now. Played around in Alsa mixer and got it working.**

I'm cracking open a beer in celebration as we speak.

Run "grep -i vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf " and post the result.
**Ran the above and came up with nothing!**

Well...<sipping quietly...>...the problem isn't really that you lack a vesa server, it's that your dislpay is foo'd on the boot screen <more sipping> Tbob seems like the man with the plan on this one too (God bless Tbob) why don't we grep out the drivers and see what's up?<chug, chug chug...>

[moki]

Did you have the USB drive plugged in at the time you issued the command? IF not, please plug the device into the USB port and issue the lsusb command again.

I am sure I did! Anyway plugged in the USB drive and used lsusb came up as follows:
root@ubuntu:/home/moki# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1976:6025 Chipsbrand Microelectronics (HK) Co., Ltd.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I can now see the USB drive in Computer file browser, but cannot open it. Get message as follows:
"Unable to mount location. Can't mount file"



Try this command, to see which driver is currently being used by your desktop

grep -i Driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Tried the above - no luck. My display is fine normally. It is just the startup screen that is incorrectly sized.

[MikeTbob]

We might need a little more community help here, anyone, where does Ubuntu 8.10 mount USB devices??
You may need to create a mount point, since it sees like that is the problem.

"Unable to mount location. Can't mount file"

Is there anything on this USB drive? What kind of filesystem does it have on it? You can use this command to find out.

sudo fdisk -l

Post the output here if you need help figuring it out.


You probably don't have an xorg.conf file, the newer version of Xorg does not normally need one. I think somewhere in the control panel of Gnome, there is an option to change the settings and images for the splash/boot screen, you might want to have a look around and see if you find something like that.