CrazyTB's blog

Most things just worked
Most things worked very well right from the beginning. Nvidia driver worked on the second try because of bug #218178, which was "fixed" easily by just installing a newer version. After that, X worked like a charm. I didn't even needed to fill the display resolution in /etc/X11/xorg.conf: it was correctly auto-detected! This was surprising for me, because I've never seen Ubuntu doing it (Ubuntu *never* worked out-of-the-box, configuring video on Ubuntu has always been a really painful experience).

The Intel 3945ABG Wi-Fi card worked on the first try! I just enabled the built-in driver in my kernel and then emerged net-wireless/iwl3945-ucode package, which contains the required firmware to be installed in /lib/firmware. Looks like this driver can only work on managed mode and does not work in ad-hoc or master modes.

The Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet card also worked right away. As I can remember, the module was atl1.

I had issues with sound. I needed to add options snd-hda-intel model=lenovo to /etc/modules.d/ in order to get some sound output. [1] [2] Even then, the first "half-second" of any wave file I tried to play (using aplay) was missing.

Looks like the camera will be supported someday by media-video/linux-uvc, but for now it didn't work.

Update 2008-06-12 at night: I've just tested the camera with skype, and it works! This means that media-video/linux-uvc works, but media-video/luvcview does not. media-tv/xawtv does not want to work either (the camera led turns on for two seconds, and then turns off). Suggestions are appreciated.

I could not try the MMC/SD/MS card reader, I don't know if it would just work or not. Also, I hadn't enough time to try the bluetooth.

And then...
As I said, by the second day of my installation, I had a full desktop installed and working. By this I mean that most programs I need were already installed, and the "basic" hardware was working. This was enough for me start using it and start working.

Then I spend some minutes copying over my $HOME dir from the desktop to the laptop.

Then I shut down the notebook and carried it on my backpack. It was the first time the notebook leaves my home.

Then, at my destination, I put it on a table, opened it and started using it. It was the first time I did startx with my copied $HOME dir.

Then, I noticed that got scratched... Damn! The first time out and it gets scratched! Damn server case that was right beside my notebook! Bad, bad server! No donut for you!

Then I left it on and logged in for some time, while I went out to by some medicines. Of course, I locked my X session, but, anyway, I left it in a safe environment.

Then I came back, and finally started to really use it! I checked some e-mail... nothing really interesting. I copied over two ISOs (Ubuntu live-CDs) from a USB drive (and it worked!). I was planning to later burn Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) live-CDs so I could try them in this notebook.

And then, while I was browsing, suddenly the LCD display goes blank. I look around, and the notebook LEDs were off. Even the power LED.

And then I tried to press the power button... and nothing.

And then I tried to remove the battery and try again... With or without the battery, with or without the AC adapter... Nothing.

And then it stopped working. It was too fast.
That's it... It stopped working right below (or in front of) my eyes. It was... too fast... I was using (and not installing/configuring) my Gentoo/Linux system for just a few minutes.

I haven't had enough time to read all my mail.

I haven't had enough time to see YouTube videos.

I haven't had enough time to try Flash player inside Opera.

I haven't had enough time to install cross-avr programs and start developing for microcontroller.

I haven't had enough time to play any games on my Gentoo/Linux.

I haven't had enough time to try to fix the sound. Heck, I haven't even had enough time to download or play any music or video file!

I haven't had enough time to run Gimp, Inkscape, or even Firefox! Yes, the notebook had compiled www-client/mozilla-firefox in about 20 minutes, but I haven't had enough time to run it!

7 days...
One week and two days. This was the notebook's lifetime. I waited one or two months before the notebook arrived, and then it lasted only one week and two days.

During the first week I basically used Windows Vista to play games.

I was impressed on how powerful this notebook was. I was happy it could run the amazing Portal game at full resolution, with most graphics options at their highest settings (except anti-alias, which was disabled because it's not really needed and because it slows down everything too much).

I was happy to play the "old" GTA Vice City, which I have never played for real (I know that my desktop is enough to play it, but at that time I was using Windows ME and I had a failing memory chip; later, when I started using Linux on my desktop, I never came back to Windows, not even for playing). All GTA games rock! They are really cool! If you never played it, you should.

I was happy that I could finally play YouTube videos at full speed in my own browser! (well, I was using Firefox inside Windows) My desktop wasn't fast enough for YouTube videos inside the browser (while other programs were open). I usually waited the video to download and then I played it from /tmp/FlashXXXXX file with mplayer. On my notebook, I finally could watch an YouTube video at full screen, from within the browser itself!

I was happy that I could finally play basically all Flash games with no slowdown!

And I was annoyed by Windows, of course. Then I was using my desktop over VNC. Then I got tired of it and installed Gentoo/Linux. Then the notebook died.

Now I'm back at my old desktop. At least it is still working.

Nowadays, when I open the Google homepage, I see the "I'm feeling lucky" button. I see it and I think: "this button is not for me..." In fact, I'm feeling very unlucky lately...

A (brazillian) portuguese comment that is almost impossible to translate: Acho que rogaram urucubaca pra cima de mim! Mas que maré de azar! Ou é isso ou é olho grande!

Well, that's it. Wish me better luck next time...

Have I already mentioned that I hate hardware?

Update: I'm telling you I'm unlucky... I've posted this on the same day of Opera 9.5 release. So, due to big amount of access to Opera servers, it took many minutes and a few tries until I could access this blog again.

Yet another update: Please read the next blog post to understand what has really happened...