[ubuntu-uk] Another example of how the manufacturers conspire to ensure that if you don't use Windows you're screwed

[Rowan Berkeley]

On 04/02/13 15:59, Colin Law wrote:
> On 4 February 2013 15:48, Rowan Berkeley <rowan.berkeley at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Now it has Ubuntu installed, it simply won't boot from
>> the USB stick, no matter how much I juggle the boot order around. Don't ask
>> me why, it just won't.
>
> What you have installed on the disk will not affect whether it will
> boot from USB, it should boot before it even looks at what is on the
> disk.  Possibly the stick is messed up.  Try putting the iso on a DVD
> and boot off that, or put the image on a different stick.  It took me
> a little time to work out why wireless did not work on my new laptop
> until I realised that I had to switch it on with a function key.  Are
> you sure it was not something like that for you, but now you have
> messed up the drivers so that it now shows unclaimed rather than
> disabled, which is what it would show if it just needed switching on?
> You need to boot the live image to find out.  You may just be wasting
> your time otherwise.
>
> Colin

That was quite interesting. I looked at the boot order settings on the 
Compaq again, and the resident OS on the hard disk appeared to be ahead 
of the USB stick, so I changed that. I only have one USB stick, but I 
reinstalled Ubuntu 12.10 on it, using the Lenovo, and plugged it into 
the Compaq. I was able to bring up a "try Ubuntu without installing" 
condition on the Compaq. I know it was the genuine article because all 
the GUI settings, eg launchers, background, etc, were default, as is 
usual during new installation. My own personal GUI settings are quite 
different. So, inside this "try Ubuntu without installing" condition, I 
checked the Network Controller using the sudo lshw -C network 
instruction, which I now know by heart. And it was still unclaimed.

There are no hardware switches for the wireless network known to me, 
though there is a hardware switch for Bluetooth (the f12 button).