Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 2 "Karmic Koala" on The Dell Mini 9

There are some exciting features planned for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. The biggest news is the work being done on the Intel video driver. Recently Canonical's Bryce Harrington reported on the improvement of the Intel graphic driver on the Ubuntu developer mailing list. The 2.6.30 kernel will ship with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics and the driver will more than likely switch from the current EXA acceleration method to the new UXA method. GRUB2 has been implemented and the goal is to work towards a 10 second boot. There is a new power management system,DeviceKit-power, that should help improve battery life. A new Fn key maphandler, udev-extras. ext4 has been selected as the default file system and should significantly increase disk performance.

Installation
I used a Crucial Gizmo! 4GB USB flash drive and Ubuntu 9.04's USB Startup Disk Creator to install Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 2. Using the default ext4 files system, I setup a 4.8GB partition for the / directory, 7.8 GB for /home directory and 1.9GB for swap. The installation process was smooth. The only issue, and it is a know bug, is that the system will fail to reboot cleanly after the install. You will have to manually power-cycle the system to finish the install reboot. The system will shutdown and reboot properly after this.

Grub 2 & Booting
GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB "Legacy" boot loader. GRUB 2 is a complete rewrite whose goals include making GRUB cleaner, safer, more robust, more portable and more powerful. It does offer a graphical menu but for now it's just a blue screen. As you can see from the video, I toggled between the two kernel entries so you can see how Grub 2 looks at this point in development. So far the only difference is the boot menu is blue. Hopefully Ubuntu can put something together as nice as Debian's Grub 2 menu for Ubuntu 9.10 when it ships.



Booting the Mini in Ubuntu 9.10 is quick but nothing special. Average boot up time, from powering on to a usable desktop, was about 25 seconds. Work is being implemented towards a 10 second boot time but currently 9.10 Alpha 2's times are not much faster than Ubuntu 9.04.

Video
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 driver has received some significant upgrades. The 2.7.99.1 Intel driver switched the acceleration mode to uxa and have stripped out exa acceleration altogether. Karmic has enabled kernel mode setting for Intel graphic chips. I followed these instructions for setting up uxa acceleration. The uxa acceleration has not crashed or throw up any weird errors throughout my testing. Some have reported problem, developers are asking for testers to report bugs upstream using these guidelines.

Flash Video Playback

• YouTube's windowed and fullscreen mode work great. No pausing in video or audio during fullscreen/windowed transition. HD video still doesn't work properly, it suffers from choppy audio/video playback and transition pauses. Turn off annotations for best results. Highly watchable.
• Hulu.com's playback is much better than 8.04 and 8.10. Windowed and fullscreen videos work well. Transitioning from windowed to fullscreen is still is a problem. Highly watchable.
• LiveLeak.com's video playback is smooth and fullscreen worked well. Highly watchable.
• Gametrailers.com's windowed mode works well, fullscreen causes video to become choppy. Watchable.
• TheOnion.com's video playback is smooth and fullscreen works well. Highly watchable.
• CNN.com's video is choppy, audio works well. Live streams work very well. Watchable.
• Break.com's video playback is slightly choppy. Drag to resize does not work. Watchable.
• NFL.com's windowed mode is great, fullscreen causes audio to become choppy. Watchable.
• Metacafe's video playback is smooth and fullscreen worked well. Highly watchable.
• Blip.tv's video playback is smooth and fullscreen worked well. Don't be fooled, the home page video doesn't work but the videos contained in the site are good. Highly watchable.
• Revver.com's video playback is smooth but no full screen. Highly watchable.
• Vimeo's video and audio was extremely choppy, fullscreen does not work. Unwatchable
• Spike.com's video playback is smooth and fullscreen works well. Highly watchable.

Compiz
Compiz runs out of the box. It's snappier than Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04. I'm throwing everything I can at it and I haven't had any tearing or stuttering, shadowing, ghosting or bleeding.

Wireless
Wireless does not work out of the box like Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04. It does work once you install the Broadcom STA wireless driver. I was able to connect to both WEP and WPA networks without a problem. I am getting the same rock solid performance as in Ubuntu 9.04.

Wired
Worked out of the box. No problems or speed issues.

Audio
Unlike Intrepid and Jaunty, audio works without configuring or having to turn up the speaker volume. The internal mic, external mic and headphone all work.

Webcam
Worked out of the box. To test the webcam, install Cheese.

Bluetooth
Worked out of the box and includes the ability to enter the device PIN codes through the GUI.

Card Reader
Worked out of the box. Secure Digital (SD) & SDHC (High Capacity), MultiMediaCard (MMC) and Memory Stick all worked.

Fn Keys
The brightness, volume, suspend, fullscreen keyboard shortcuts all work with any extra configuration. The wifi on/off (Fn+2) does not.

Suspend & Hibernate
- Suspend works incredibly well. I suspended my computer over and over without a problem.
- Hibernate will not work if you do not have a swap partition. If you have a swap file, Hibernate does not work properly yet. It takes about 15-20 seconds for your machine to turn off and it will only wake up to a blank screen.

Aircraft Manager
Jitender's aircraft manager package for Jaunty works in Karmic Alpha 2 and turning wifi and bluetooth on and off worked flawlessly.

Download Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 2
Pre-releases of Karmic are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable
system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even
frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and
those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs. The final, stable version will be released on October 29th, 2009.

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

User Guides for Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

Everything you need to get Ubuntu 9.04 up and running on your Dell Mini 9

An overview of Ubuntu 9.04 on the Dell Mini 9

Creating a LiveUSB Stick

Creating a LiveUSB stick using an .img file

Installing Ubuntu on the Dell Mini

Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Enabling sound after installing Ubuntu 9.04

Installing Aircraft Manager, for turning Bluetooth and WiFi on and off

Stop Compiz-Fusion From Loading Automatically, necessary for running Ubuntu Netbook Remix and using desktop-switcher

Fixing The Desktop After Using Desktop-Switcher Applet, this guide will walk your through the steps of getting your gnome panel and windows back after using desktop switcher

Customizing Firefox for Netbooks, necessary for using Firefox on a small netbook screen

Installing media codecs, for playing mp3, DVD, avi, mp4, aac, etc

Installing Medibuntu, for encrypted DVD playback, Windows codecs and Microsoft fonts

Installing and Configuring Skype on the Dell Mini 9

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Beta on the Mini 9

Installing Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9 was never hard, but getting everything working was. Ubuntu 9.04 Beta does not require any extra fixes or patches. Audio works out of the box (you just need to turn up the speaker volume) and there is no longer a drive mounting problem after a LiveUSB install. Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix doesn't require adding any extra repositories or adding items to your start-up programs.

I tested both the Ubuntu 9.04 Beta i386 and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix USB 9.04 Beta i386 Image for this article.

If you need need help making a LiveCD.

Installation
If you select the "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer" option and then try to install Ubuntu on your Mini, there is a minor issue. The windows are too large for the screen and get cut off. You will not be able to completely see the buttons on the bottom of the window to make your selections.

It does not hinder your ability to install Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9 or and you can see what the buttons say. If you want to be able to move the windows and see the complete selection.
Go to System>Preferences>Appearances. Under the Visual Effects Tab select None.
- This will allow you move the windows up (click the window while holding down the alt key) and see the bottom of the buttons.

Video
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 driver has received some significant upgrades since Intrepid's release. Video playback is better, Compiz is running smoother and flash video is actually bearable to watch again.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix
Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix used to require a little bit of work and extra know-how. In Jaunty, the Netbook Remix packages have been added to the official Ubuntu repositories and the included ubuntu-netbook-remix-default-settings package configures everything for you.

To install Ubuntu Netbook Remix
in a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-netbook-remix

Note: The desktop switcher program is still slightly buggy. It has a tendency to crash when switching back from the normal desktop to Netbook Remix.

Compiz
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 runs compiz without any special setup or configuration.

To get the most out of Compiz install the advanced configuration tool.
In a terminal:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Note: You can find the Compiz Settings Manager under System->Preferences once you install it

Wireless
The Broadcom STA wireless driver was activated after install and connecting to both WEP and WPA poses no problem.

Wired
Worked out of the box. There was a Kernel Bug that prevented the wired Ethernet connection from working in Ubuntu 8.10 but the bug has been squashed and the Dell Mini 9's wired connection works perfectly.

Audio
Unlike Intrepid, audio works out of the box in Jaunty. You just need to turn up the speaker volume in the Volume Control on your first boot.


Webcam
Worked out of the box. To test the webcam, install Cheese.
In a terminal type:

sudo apt-get cheese

Note: The video may seem slow, you just need to adjust the webcam's resolution under Edit>Preferences

Bluetooth
Worked out of the box and includes the ability to enter the device PIN code through the GUI.


Card Reader
Worked out of the box. Secure Digital (SD) & SDHC (High Capacity), MultiMediaCard (MMC) and Memory Stick all worked.

Brightness & Volume
Brightness and volume keyboard short-cuts both work with any extra configuration.

Suspend & Hibernate
Suspend works incredibly well. I suspended my computer over and over without a problem.
Hibernate will not work if you do not have a swap partition. If you have a swap file, hibernate works well.

Video Out
Worked out of the box, you don't have to edit your xorg.conf file anymore. Just plug your external monitor/projector into your Mini 9 and send the video out.
Video has a tendency to jitter while Grub is loading and during the Ubuntu splash screen once you load into Ubuntu, the video corrects itself and all is smooth.

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

Run Compiz Fusion on Your Mini 9

Compiz is a compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create desktop effects. Compiz Fusion is the result of the re-unification of the Beryl project and the community around the Compiz Window Manager. It seeks to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowing environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to provide impressive effects, amazing speed and unrivaled usefulness.

Compiz Fusion is the default desktop manager in Ubuntu. After installing Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9 you will notice some of it's basic features are enabled and running. The degree to which the Mini 9 handles these effects is all subject to opinion. I think it does a nice job but is not as impressive as using a dedicated graphics card or some of the newer intrgrated chipsets. Compiz Fusion is not stable, errors, glitches and crashes are common. The integrated Intel 950 chipset is not designed for high-end graphical effects.

Readers who run Compiz Fusion will find a wonderful windowing environment, but you should go in without the rose colored glasses. You may not be able to get the performance you want when running Compiz's high-end effects.

For those of you who are running Ubuntu Netbook Remix, you will first need to stop maximus and ume-launcher/netbook-launcher from launching at startup and reset the GNOME Display Manager (gdm).

Go to System>Preferences>Sessions

Uncheck maximus and ume-launcher/netbook-launcher

Next you will need to restart the Gnome display manager
My prefered method is to log out by presisng Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

If you removed the Ubuntu menu from your panels when configuring Netbook Remix, you might have problems finding a way to run programs. When you log back in you may have to reconfigure/add the Ubuntu menu to your panel or use Run Application, Alt+F2, to run programs.



If you were not running Ubuntu Netbook Remix you can ignore the previous directions. There is not a lot of setup needed to get Compiz-Fusion running on your Mini 9, many of you will have it running by default. If not, you can use one of the follow three methods for starting Compiz and some of these tools for configuring it's settings.

There are some default settings for Compiz, that can be accessed by going to
System>Preferences>Appearances
and selecting the Visual Effects tab.



I use fusion-icon for managing Compiz Fusion.

It is a tray icon that allows me to reload the window manager, switch window managers, select windows decorator, bindings and access the Setting Manager.

To install fusion-icon
In a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install fusion-icon

You can find it under System>Preferences>Compiz Fusion Icon

I use CompizConfig Settings Manager to configure the desktop effects.

This gives you complete control over Compiz Fusion's settings.

To install CompizConfig Settings Manager
In a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Once installed you can access it through fusion-icon or by going to System>Preferences>CompizConfig Settings Manager


Or you can use the command:

compiz --replace

in Run Appliction (Alt+F2)
to start compiz, use it as your window manager

And can use the command:

metacity --replace

in Run Appliction (Alt+F2)
to switch back to Metacity, the default Gnome window manager

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.