855 compatibility notification

[ed-dori-robinov at att.net]

The fact that the i855 graphics chip is incompatible with many releases of Ubuntu after 9.10 is well known.  Unfortunately you had to download a release and try out the live CD before you can be sure if you even knew about the problem.  There is nothing to warn you of the problem on the description pages which shows the problem in a clearly understandable fashion.  Mentioning the Centrino would have saved me much time since only after trying unsuccessfully did I discover the fact that my chip was an i855.

Now the latest releases of 11.04 Beta both show the ability to handle the i855.  Again there is nothing clear stating that if you use the nomodeset parameter you will get an acceptable screen display through an external monitor.  I think that first of all a chip that has been blacklisted as the 855 was in Lucid should have the warning up front so people don't waste their time unless they want to spend a lot of time experimenting.  Once you have a live CD release that is workable it too should have had a notification that it is worth a try.  

I tried 10.04.2 and the live CD didn't even give me a menu screen.  This was supposed to be a long term support.  Lucid has been out almost a year and still doesn't have a live CD which will work smoothly with the i855.  It doesn't have anything which will stop you from trying if you aren't aware of the problem or if a solution existed.