I finally give a try to Netrunner 13.06 and wow what a beautiful distro! To enjoy it I had some fixing and tricks I had to do after a fresh install of Netrunner… In fact most of the problems I encounter with Netrunner are similar than what I get with… Kubuntu… and are big enough to make those who give a try to Linux grimacing so I hope these tricks can be helpful… of course if you have better or other suggestions I’ll take them too =D
1 - The driver manager from Ubuntu and other Ubuntu based distribution doesn’t work well anymore with Nvidia driver as it, when I chose the recommended driver I often couldn’t get more than a VGA resolution of my screen… and with Kubuntu 13.10 and Netrunner 13.06 I even couldn’t launch X anymore and get the terminal instead on my laptop, a Toshiba A100 with Intel DualCore2 T5600 1.83GHz and GeForce Go 7600.
So what I did first was to remove the broken driver by booting into the recovery mode and I launched these following command:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic
sudo dkms remove nvidia
Then I restarted to get my computer the way it was before to launch KDE again and installed the Nvidia driver by adding an alternative ppa. I followed these tricks:
http://forums.netrunner-os.com/showthread.php?tid=1037&highlight=nvidia+driver
http://www.howopensource.com/2012/10/install-nvidia-geforce-driver-in-ubuntu-12-10-12-04-using-ppa
I noticed the nvidia setting manager still wasn’t install after installing the current driver from the trick above so I installed it manually from synaptik: I chose nvidia-setting-304 as it corresponds with the driver I got installed from the alternative PPA. In my case the driver version is 304.116-0ubuntu1~xedgers~raring1 so I installed the Nvidia setting manager with the same version.
2 - Fix boot splash mess up after installing the Nvidia driver in following this:
http://askubuntu.com/a/6040
3 - Enable hibernating:
http://www.maketecheasier.com/enable-hibernate-in-ubuntu-12-04/
4 - Personal temporary fix for the power button that shut off without any promt by modifying the file /etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh by inserting the action you want in the last lines of the file:
If all else failed, just initiate a plain shutdown.
/sbin/shutdown -h now “Power button pressed”
For example I replaced these 2 last lines to put the computer on suspend if I press the power button :
In the terminal I launch this command:
sudo kate /etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh
Then I changed the 2 last lines by:
If all else failed, just initiate a suspend.
pm-suspend
This is just a temporary fix as there are works in progress in a package called qtchooser wich is bugged right now which appears to cause the problem: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kde-workspace/+bug/1124149
5 - The Kmix volume icon in the system tray didn’t work after fresh install, I had to select the master channel but when I did it the only channels available were CD and beep… after doing the first system update, I tried again to change the channel of the master volume and this time I get channel PCM added which I chose and get the Kmix icon working to set the volume.
Here another fixing but was too lazy to try lol: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gstreamer0.10/+bug/881340
To finish here some nice adds for NetRunner:
TLP to save the battery on laptop: http://www.ubuntuask.com/q/answers-is-there-a-power-saving-application-similar-to-jupiter-285434.html
And a graphical grub manager for KDE : kde-config-grub2 from synaptic
UPDATE:
Unclutter is a nice app to automatically hide the cursor after few seconds of idling (nice while reading pages or watching movies): sudo apt-get install unclutter
You may also want to activate the “show cursor fonction” while pressing CTRL, got to System Settings>Workspace Appearance>Desktop Effects then go to tab “All Effects” to activate “Track Mouse” (accessibility group). Click the “Track Mouse” setting (wrench) and select “Ctrl”, click OK then apply the new settings… You’ll get nice highlight of the cursor while pressing CTRL
Few years after using alternative to KDE (I regretted KDE 3 for a while), using gnome 2, 3, xfce and lxde, I am back to sources! Thanks for those who give life to NetRunner this is an exciting distro =)