Ubuntu 11.10 – Problems with screen flickering

Since 9.10 I have had very few issues, Ubuntu has worked well on my Samsung NC10. However, the new (2.6.39+) samsung_laptop kernel module causes serious backlight flickering and makes the desktop unusable. Bug report. This bug occurs when the laptop is running on battery power only.

Luckily Voria has a PPA repository that solves a variety of Samsung Ubuntu problems. Instructions on how to use the repository and apply a backlight fix can be found here. Although these instructions are for a previous version of Ubuntu they work fine for 11.10. It does say that if you are using BIOS 11CA then the backlight fix is not needed. However, this is not the case, the fix is needed and works fine. Thank you Voria!

I recommend that all Samsung Ubuntu users look at Voria’s forum.

Anyhow, now that the flickering has stopped I’m enjoying using Ubuntu on my NC10 again.

11.04 on the Samsung NC10

I have recently upgraded to 11.04 from the 10.10 Netbook Edition. I clicked the distribution upgrade button located on the Update Manager and it installed without any problems.

The Unity interface is now the default selection so there is no longer a ‘Netbook Edition’. The launcher bar is greatly improved; it is no longer sluggish. It also auto-hides when not in use allowing greater screen real estate, which is at a premium on the NC10.

Although the NC10 is an old machine now, it is still proving to be useful. Ubuntu keeps getting better and the NC10 still meets the minimum system requirements.

I’m using Bios: 11CA available from the Samsung Website.

Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition

I’m now using Maverick Meerkat, which has the new Unity interface. Works reasonably well on my old NC10, although there is a bit of lag when using the ‘launcher bar’ on the left. Battery life is OK. Overall, I think it is a significant increment over previous Ubuntu versions (especially enjoying the Exposé window management feature)… Thanks to Ubuntu the NC10 is still a useful machine.

No problems with the upgrade process from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS using Update Manager:

System/Administration/Update Manager. Click the Check button to check for new updates. If there are any updates to install, use the Install Updates button to install them, and press Check again after the process is finished. (Make sure the ‘Normal Releases’ option is selected in the menu accessed by clicking the “Settings…” button on the Update Manager interface).

I’m still using Bios: 11CA available from the Samsung Website

Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix – Karmic Koala

Wow! Loving the new Netbook Remix redesigned desktop launcher. A considerable improvement in usability and aesthetics. 9.10 Karmic Koala has some great new features such as Software Centre and Ubuntu One (although I prefer Dropbox). I’m not entirely sure what has changed under the hood but my NC10 seems to be running everything faster (possibly due to the new Linux Kernel?). I’m also getting improved battery life, significantly up from a measly 2 hours of heavy use with 9.04. I will report how long I actually get later.

I decided to install 9.10 using the ‘distribution upgrade button’ found in Update Manager. I considered a clean install but decided to take the risk, and have only lost a few KDE applications.

Overall very happy so far. I found that I had to install the new Bios: 11CA available from the Samsung Website to get those problematic brightness function keys working.

Time to upgrade?

My NC10 is nearly one year old now – purchased late October 2008. Initial problems with getting Ubuntu running well, using 8.10, were mostly resolved by applying a series of tweaks and workarounds (detailed within this blog). After around two months of attempts to resolve issues, I decided to abandon further attempts since I was generally happy. The blog then spawned a forum and a Wiki, which after a promising start, are no longer used. I’m sure this is due to the availability of better sources of information. The welcome arrival of 9.04 eliminated most of the problematic issues associated with 8.10. The arrival of 9.10 – Karmic Koala – later this month will hopefully be a welcome one.

Overall I have been satisfied with my NC10 running Ubuntu (despite poor battery life), but maybe the time has come to upgrade? I think my next Netbook purchase will probably involve an Atom Ion (don’t want to wait for Pineview – http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352093/ion-will-grow-with-new-atom-cpus-promises-nvidia). The new Samsung N510 could fit the bill – http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/352012/samsung-n510. But I think I might wait for ASUS 1201n http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/20/asus-ion-infused-eee-pc-1201n-netbook-emerges-overseas/. I hope that Ubuntu 9.10 will work well on the ASUS 1201n, and that I don’t have to start another blog!

Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) 9.04 is an improvement

After backing up my documents, I used the UNR live (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR#The%20Easy%20(recommended)%20way) to do a fresh install. Using the manual partition setup option I removed all my existing EXT3 partitions (where I had various Linux distros installed) and created a new EXT4 partition which I used as a mount point for UNR (I still dual boot with XP but have a small NTFS partition). I also created a new Linux Swap partition.

Anyhow, first impressions are great, much faster and looks better than my previous UNR on 8.10. The touchpad is still not quite right and see some of the comments on my last post…

Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04

For the last few months I have mainly been using my NC10 for lightweight work; so I have been using Netbook Remix on 8.10 – https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR#Ubuntu%208.10%20(Intrepid)%20UNR%20Package%20Installation

Now that 9.04 is out, it is now possible to install the easy way – https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR#The%20Easy%20(recommended)%20way

Ubuntu have classified the Samsung NC10 as having Tier 2 compatibility.

These are netbooks that work somewhat, but have problems that may interfere with typical activities at the moment, or many smaller issues.

It is suggested that the Samsung NC10 fails suspend/Resume tests and the Sound recorder does not work on the Samsung NC10 using Jaunty (9.04). I will be installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 at some time in the near future. Let us hope workarounds can be found for the above…

My Setup

Other than applying the workarounds and tweaks detailed on this blog, I’m still running: Ubuntu 8.10 (Gnome 2.24.1), Kernel 2.6.27-7, Samsung BIOS 02CA.
I have been running the above setup since 31st October 2008 on my NC10.

I guess that if I had decided to keep up with the latest versions then I would be running: Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha, Kernel 2.6.27-11, Samsung BIOS 04CA.

I have found little evidence that suggests 9.04 offers anything useful, while the latest 2.6.27-11 kernel does not resolve any of the NC10’s hardware issues. I am considering the BIOS update since reports suggest that this improves battery life. However, I am disappointed that not more is known about what this BIOS update actually does.

I have played around with KDE (graphics card too slow) and Netbook Remix (too basic), but have decided to stick with Gnome as my prefered desktop environment.

Overall, not much has happened over the last two months or so to suggest to me that changing my setup is worth doing.

2009 — Ubuntu on the NC10 Poll

Second poll results: poll began on 8th Jan 2008, closed on 31st Jan 2008

Are you happy with Ubuntu on the NC10?
Yes – Does exactly what I need 24% (84 votes)
Yes – But does not do everything 49% (170 votes)
No – Frustrating hardware issues 19% (65 votes)
No – Not my preferred OS 8% (26 votes)

Based on these results it seems that Ubuntu is a reasonably good OS for the NC10. I was hoping that future kernel updates would help to resolve some of the hardware issues. Unfortunately, comments on the forum suggest that this is not the case.

Progress on Unresolved Issues (1)

1. Hard drive – Excessive load cycling?

Unfortunately, there is now some evidence which suggests that using Ubuntu may reduce hard drive life due to excessive load cycling. However since this is not a new problem for Ubuntu laptop users, an appropriate solution probably already exists.

There is now a forum thread discussing the load cycling problem. The original blog post with useful comments should also be read.

2. Touchpad

The NC10’s touchpad does not work well using Ubuntu. Although some progress has been made on resolving some of the reported problems with the touchpad, this is still an annoying problem.

The original blog post outlines some touchpad problems. There is a useful forum thread on the topic.

3. Hotkeys

A number of workarounds for adjusting brightness have been discussed at length on this blog.

Considerable progress has now been reported on this forum thread which discusses the root of the hotkey problem.