Truong Website

After reading a few comments online about 64bit Linux operating system, I decided to bite the bullet and have a look for myself. I have a HP dv2000 series' dv2308tx machine, an Intel Core 2 Duo T5300 1.73GHz dual core processor, with 2Gb RAM.

The install went fine without any hitches. Once its installed, I've enabled the restricted drivers and everything went fine.

I was impressed with the responsiveness of the 64bit OS compared to the 32bit OS. The only drawback I can see is that now the amount of memory I'm using is close to 1.5Gb just by running Firefox, Thunderbird, Rythmnbox and a few background processes (such as Apache and mySQL). But that didn't bother me too much as the system seem pretty stable.

What works

The 3D graphics works. Compiz Fusion looks pretty cool, but in order to be able to configure it, you need to install the compizconfig-settings-manager package.

Audio works. Sound was pretty good, until I tested out Hardy's kernel (more on this later). For information on how to use Hardy's kernel, see my other blog posting.

Webcam works - works with Ekiga and Skype. Doesn't work with kopete.

Wireless network works, however NetworkManager isn't as easy to use as Windows, when you move the laptop to another location, NetworkManager takes quite a while to pick up new wireless access points.

Bluetooth - you will need to install bluez-utils package to use it.

DVD/MP3s etc - unencrypted DVDs work straight out of the box, however, for other DVDs, you will need to install some restricted format packages. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats for more details.

What doesn't work

Suspend and Hibernate doesn't work in Gutsy. However, when tested with Hardy's kernel image, it works, but the sound quality is poor when using that image - don't know why... hopefully it will be resolved when Hardy is released. For information on how to use Hardy's kernel, see my other blog posting.

Sound sometimes stop working after rebooting from Windows Vista. I've updated the BIOS from HP's website which was suppose to fix this problem, but it is still occurring...

Flash doesn't work despite being installed, the solution is to install 32bit Firefox.

Skype needs to be installed as 32bit.

What's not tested

Modem - I don't have a dialup account to test this.

Firewire - I don't have the mini firewire cable to test this.

Lightscribe - don't have anything to burn yet.