Let me preface this by saying this notebook is perfect, at least that's what it seemed like before I got it. I'm not saying it's not great, it is, but it did have a few issues with Linux, but the good news is, they were easily fixed. Overall, I'd still recommend this laptop, even with the extra effort needed to make it work. That aside, here is how to get Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft installed and working on an Asus F3Jm (most likely will work on any other F3 series notebook as well.)

Alright, so I used to have dual monitor, and even triple monitor, back when I used to use Windows. When I switched to Linux, I went back to my old solo-monitor ways, grudgingly at first, but I got used to it again. But just tonight, I was overcome with boredom, and decided to attempt it on Linux. Armed with some bravery, and some good old-fashioned sense of adventure (as well as a guide), I pressed on until finally, I got my setup working!

My setup by the way is my GeForce 7950 GX2, and 2 IBM CRTs, one 21" and the other 17", running at 1600x1200 and 1280x1024 respectively. I'm using the nvidia-glx drivers and TwinView, and everything is running smoothly :D

Seems NVIDIA has finally released some updated Linux drivers (though the beta has been around for a little bit), and what's more, they finally support AIGLX! Compiz and Beryl fans rejoice!

You can grab them here. A few Ubuntu users have already confirmed that they work.

I haven't had XGL/Compiz installed on my computer for a while now, and I decided to reinstall it seeing as it's progressed much since the last time I tried it. So here's a couple screenshots showing off the Compiz window border theme I installed, as well as my new applications launcher bar that auto-expands.

Oh yes, this must be what bliss feels like. Finding a decent dark theme :D



Another screenshot

Here is a tarfile with all the theme components needed for this theme. Read below for some additional instructions.

This is in contrast to my old theme, which was stock Human



So anyway, the GTK theme is called Polycarbonate-dark, you can grab it here, the metacity theme was included with Polycarbonate-dark. The icon theme is called Humanazul, which you can get here. The background I got from some Windows theming site, I thought it was pretty cool. I also made a GDM, and login splash based on this background, and I modified my usplash boot splash so that it now has a greenish-blue hue to it. This one is a little harder to implement, here are the instructions:

First untar the tarfile to your home directory, and then run the following commands in a terminal:

sudo cp usplash-nexus.so /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-nexus.so

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-nexus.so /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-artwork.so

sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)

To revert back to your old usplash, execute these commands:

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-default.so /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-artwork.so

sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)

All in all, this is the most comprehensive theme I have ever assembled, and I am quite happy with it.

I had to reinstall both Windows and Linux after my motherboard upgrade, and this time, I decided against using XGL/Compiz, it's just not mature enough yet. Besides, it kept me from playing games, so I am sort of glad to be rid of it. Anyway...enough babble, onto the new screenshot of doom:

The screenshot bug was fixed in XGL, so as promised, here is a screenshot:

I finally got Linux to install on my gaming computer! I'm not sure exactly what did it, but I suspect it's the newer drivers that came with the Ubuntu 6.04 Dapper flight 5 CD. I dist-upgraded to flight 6, and installed XGL and Compiz. "WOW", that is really all that can be said about this...in my opinion, it looks even better than Mac OSX which it was inspired by. Can't wait til the screenshot bug is fixed, I'll definately share some here. There is one drawback, I can't play games. But, I've still got Windows, so it isn't a big problem. When Nvidia updates their drivers to support AIGLX, I might give that a try.

I installed the "Dapper Drake" testing release on a spare computer the other day, and I have to say, DAMN I'M IMPRESSED! It's a lot faster, at least it felt that way, I haven't done any benchmarks or anything like that. The boot-time is much faster. Gnome has had major updates, and for the most part, I like them. I think the logout/shutdown/reboot window is a little too big, but that's really my only nitpick so far. I didn't get to try this XGL/Compiz thing the whole linux world is abuzz about, because the hardware in my test-box isn't the greatest:

Pentium III 1ghz
512MB PC-133 SDRAM
40GB Maxtor HDD
ATI Radeon 7000 64MB

I'll post more as I have more time to try things out.

...AND LOVES IT!!! :D

Yup, thats right, I'm giving it a look, and so far, I like what I see. I can't wait to try this on some better hardware, but for now, this old P4 1.6 ghz box will do. Did I mention it keeps up with my Celeron 2.8 ghz? It's true what they say, BSD is fast. I've configured my install with Gnome, got GDM working after some struggling, and I've begun installing the apps I normally use. Here's a screenshot for you all:

FreeBSD Screenshot

This definately requires further experimentation. I'm certain it will be fun.