Ubuntu Install

In a step to broaden my horizons, I installed Ubuntu on my laptop (Dell 6400). i now understand why many people stick with windows. The installation was a pain. The ATI video card in my laptop was not supported by the 7.04 Desktop CD. It took a bit of research to find out the fix. I had to enter the below in a different console during the Live CD.

sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo aticonfig —initial
sudo aticonfig —overlay-type=Xv

At that point, I was now in the Live CD gui and ready to install. The install went through without a hitch, but after restarting I had the same problem. It would be nice if the installation was smart enough to install the drivers.

I was up and running in the installed ubuntu, but needed to install some more software. The Add/Remove interface was simple and easy to use until I was prompted for the root password. During the install process, I was not asked for a root password. Or at least I didn’t remember it. I know it asked me to create a regular user account. I attempted to guess the password (even tried a blank password), but nothing worked. I rebooted in recovery mode and changed the password. Rebooted back in to regular mode and still no luck. It appears that not all software abides by the pam.d password restrictions. My password was too long. Fixed it and tried again and it finally worked. I then spend the rest of the night rewarding myself with video games; Battle for Wesnoth and Globulation 2.