November 16, 2009

Problems Fixed!

Yesterday, I reported that my Ubuntu 9.10 install on my new Acer Aspire 4810T had a couple of problems: one major and the other one minor. Well, as of this posting, both seem to be fixed!

Sleep, what the peecee laptop community calls “suspend” and “hibernate,” did not work. The CD/DVD drive did not mount CDs while booted into Ubuntu. Here’s what I changed: I booted into the BIOS and switched the drive interface to IDE. Shazam, this seems to have fixed both problems.

So, under “Main” in the BIOS, select “SATA Mode.” You have two options: “IDE Mode” and “AHCI Mode.” The latter was chosen by default, and I chose the former. I tried this as a fix for the CD/DVD drive, but it seems to have fixed the suspend/hibernate problem as well. 2-for-1!

Currently, I’m using the laptop in my office, and I was able to join the encrypted Wi-Fi network with little difficulty (I needed the security certificate) and mount my Windoze server share. No problem. My sweet Ubuntu machine is playing nice with MSC’s network. I figured it would.

Now, I need some stickers for the laptop case. The image I used for this entry is from Cafe Press, but it’s a bit pricey at $4. Still they have some cool ones, like this oval Tux with the Ubuntu colors; this Powered-by Intel and Windoze replacement; this classic Tux oval; this Apple/Tux oval (not sure what it’s supposed to signify; maybe that I use both?); and this—maybe the best to cover the “Acer” on the lid—Linux oval (though it does look a bit like a Jesus fish).

So, today is a good Linux day.