Although I was pretty damn busy this weekend, I finally managed to install (dual boot)
Ubuntu 6.10 on my main PC. All previous installs just went wrong because I could not control the way Ubuntu installed the Xserver. This all resulted in a severly garbled desktop, and I even could not get a decent console using CTRL-ALT-F1; the display was just messed up and my 17" TFT screen would just blank and say: "display mode not supported". It was a real pain in the neck, because Ubuntu just chooses itself what resolution and what Xserver it installs and it does not allow you to alter or even check the settings: you just have to see what you end up with. I my case it does not know how to handle my Nvidia Geforce 6600 GTS. I suppose it has to do with the fact that A) it is a AGP version (regular 6600 GT is PCIe) and B) I use a
KVM switch so I can use one screen and one keyboard with two PC's (the other one is my Linux webserver that runs Ubuntu 6.061 LTS which serves these webpages).
Before I never took the time to really tackle the problem: I think it is stupid for Ubuntu to just guess what the right settings are and then just hope for the best. Anyway: this time I was determined to get it running because I wanted to test
GNOME in combination with
Beryl.
I wrote about Beryl last week. I just wanted to see if I could get it running and what (if any) the benefits are of all that eye candy.
So how did I get things running?
Continue reading "Pimp my desktop" »
