Ubuntu still got driver problems

The: 14/04/2011 - AT: 4:21

One of my servers is running Ubuntu, and not long ago i had to deal with 3 retarded problems.

1. Usernames can't have capital letters in Ubuntu.. Why??
2. You need to enter a password for your user account.. Wtf?
3. Drivers don't work in Ubuntu.. OMG!!!

I was stupid enough to try my luck with a official Nvidia driver, after which the screen just went black, with nothing left to do than re-install the entire os (at least it seems).

Drivers has been a problem on linux for as far as i can remember, I've never really had a graphics card which worked out-of-the box in linux.

This is where it seems obvious to give users an option to revert the driver change, in case something goes wrong. I'm mainly thinking in the lines of "wait 10sec, if user then doesn't accept the change, revert to old driver!".. But Linux developers doesn't seem to have a clue about usability, (They are still using terminal after all).

No.. They just present the user with a black screen, which is very discouraging to new users. Even to older users like me, who otherwise love Ubuntu.

Drivers may very well be the main thing keeping Ubuntu, (or linux in general), from reaching its full potential.

Comments: [2]

Author: BlueBoden

Poster: mhoareau

Date: 19/04/2011 - 11:55

You seem to have bad luck. :-)
Ubuntu works well out-of-the-box with Intel, AMD and Nvdia chipset.

There is some driver issues, but with specific hardware configuration (crossfire/SLI are known to have some problem with some chipsets), with brand new chipset (shipped within the month) or very old one (some proprietary drivers have dropped support for old cards).

When you have a black screen with ubuntu, you have to reboot in safemode and then you have some options to try, the last (or first if you are at ease with terminal) to boot a terminal with root permission and restore your X server configuration. :)
At this point, it not really different than any other system.

Poster: BlueBoden

Date: 23/04/2011 - 7:21

It was my own fault, i should had known from past experiences.

In any case, i figured it out, and now got a Linux server prepared, which may take over the hosting of Brugbart.com, given that i find a good firewall which supports auto-updating the IP block list.

Just my luck, as you said.. I've been in this situation a unrealistic number of times, not just with linux. Which deserves its own blog post.