ubuntu woes & boot error - *UPDATE*

[dfear]

Hi

I would like to update all interested people on this list regarding my
previous rant titled "ubuntu woes" in which ranted on about a few things
that i was annoyed with, related to ubuntu; and a number of problems
related to hardware. 

I would like to inform all interested peeps that most of my problems
have been fixed, since installing the release version of Ubuntu Linux.

I am now going outline the items that are now fixed or still have
issues.

number one: Hauppauge WinTV-GO TV card. Installed both tvtime and xawtv
- TV card works first and only v. minor tweaking req'd to suit my
personal needs.

number two: Logitech USB headset. Headset still doesn't work with skype;
BUT it does work with on ubuntu when i configure xmms to output  

number three: Trust Compactscan USB 19200. still can't get xsane to
detect scanner when running as non-root user. Now, when i run xsane, as
root, the quality of scans is far far better and is of acceptable
quality; but still not as good quality as when running on mandrake
Linux. Scans are of usable / acceptable quality, because before install
release version of ubuntu, the quality of scans was absolutely terrible
and total unusable.   

number four: minor rant about surround sound and my soundblaster live
soundcard, not directly related to ubuntu, but thought people on list
might be able help with problem. I am happy to report that surround
sound now works. The two applications i have tested this with are gxine
and xmms. Just tested with the default music player and totem (video)
media player that come with ubuntu. FANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!


------------------------------------


Finally would like to update everybody on the "other" major problem i
was having before installing today (with release version). I was having
major problems with booting ubuntu. Ubuntu would not boot correctly
virutally everytime booted the PC.  Please see my previous post relating
to this issue for fall details. 

Ubuntu booted fine when it started the second stage of the install
process. The only thing that it still did was to display error messages
relating to 'pciehp' and 'shpchp' modules and hotplug; but the boot
process did *NOT* hang at that point (which it did before - for long
periods time normally). As this is the first time i have booted my PC
since reinstalling ubuntu, i cannot yet report this issue as being
resolved. I will post to the list sometime later today, after i get up,
what the result of booting is and if the issue has finally been
resolved. 


P.S - The reason is reinstalled was that when i turned on my PC today
gdm / x-windows would fail to start and was unable to fix it.  I am
writing this message in evolution on the second of two install attempts
that i did today. I first did a custom install of ubuntu with "noapic
nolapic pci=noacpi" kernel boot options, but gdm / x-windows also failed
to work after that install; with the same errors i was experiencing
first thing today. Oh, i also forgot format the /boot partition during
the first install which may or may not added to the the problems. So i
reinstalled for the second time today, not changing the boot options
(i.e not doing custom/expert install or adding extra kernel options)
when i booted from the install cd. I followed the on-screen prompts and
remembered to format 'both' the /boot and root partitions this time. The
install process uneventful and when smoothly. 



-----------------------------------
Dave Fear :: dfear at blueyonder.co.uk
Skype: dpfear
GPG: key ID - 805B3D54
GPG: server - wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net

On Tue, 2004-10-26 at 00:50 +0100, dfear wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Just a short rant on a few things in ubuntu that don't work properly or
> as expected or are just plain daft.
> 
> Firstly most things that i have installed in my PC or have connected to
> it, do work like the usb card reader i just plug in - worked flawlessly
> and was asked if i wanted to import the photos into an album. This sort
> of feature is one of those little things that impress me.
> 
> Now onto the negative things. 
> 
> First thing i  that didn't work properly at first was my TV card. I have
> a fairly ordinary Hauppauge WinTV-GO TV card and use tvtime to watch TV.
> I struggled to get it to search for channels and only managed to get it
> to work properly once i installed the xawtv package.
> 
> next one. I have a Logitech USB Headset which i want to be able to use
> with sip clients and skype. The headset shows up in hal-device-manager
> but i can't seem to get it to work and not sure want to do to get it to
> work. My primary sound device on ubuntu is my Soundblaster Live Platinum
> which uses /dev/dsp and the secondary audio device i have connected to
> my PC is the aforementioned Logitech USB headset, which i assume,
> rightly or wrongly, would use /dev/dsp1 for playback and recording. The
> headset previously worked on mandrake 10.0 and used /dev/dsp1 for
> playback and recording; *and* worked with skype. Skype on Linux uses oss
> and only uses audio devices connected to/using either /dev/dsp
> or /dev/dsp1.
> 
> next. I have a Trust Compactscan 19200 USB scanner which is not working
> properly.  I know it uses a mustek driver in sane and appears in
> hal-device-manager as a Mustek ScanExpress 1200 UB. If i run xsane or
> kooka as a non-root user it fails to detect the the scanner, but if i
> run xsane or kooka as root user (using sudo) it detects the scanner. So,
> to be able to run xsane or kooka, i have to run it as root; and when i
> do run it the quality of scanning is terrible and have had no luck
> trying to improve the quality. I have used the scanner with other
> distros and scans that i have done are pretty good and of good
> quality.    
> 
> finally. does anyone know how configure my soundcard (Soundblaster Live
> Platinum) to output all 4 speakers (i.e. surround sound). I have Labtec
> LCS-2415 4.1 surround sound speakers and sound is only output to the
> front 2 speakers and not to the rear 2 speakers.
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance, if any one can help with these issues and problems.
>