Hardware Issues and 11.04 Beta

[Alan Pope]

On 16 April 2011 02:06, Mark C. Miller <mmiller at eyore15.net> wrote:
> Is this just a beta issue or should I expect that I'm not going to be able
> to upgrade my machines anymore.
>

I don't know that specific device off hand, but chances are it's not a
beta-only issue.

The new Unity 3D interface requires a video card which has hardware 3D
acceleration. Many nVidia, ATI and Intel cards will support the
interface, some won't. Some other manufacturers cards also won't
support it.

There's a number of options available to you. When you logon you can
choose to use the traditional two panel GNOME setup which you probably
have used on previous releases. That still works. In future releases
(11.10 onwards) that will go away and you'll be able to use Unity 2D
which has a similar look and feel to Unity 3D but without the hardware
requirements.

Another option is of course to stay on the release you're on, it's
supported for another year. In that time you can take a look at the
Unity 2D interface, or use a PPA to get GNOME3 (I suspect this may
also need 3D though) or just stick with the older 'classic' interface.
Or of course, dump Ubuntu and use Debian/Fedora or something else.

Al.