Archive for October, 2009

HP Mininote Broadcom Wireless Finally Working on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

After success upgrading to Karmic on my PC, now it’s turn to upgrade my wife’s netbook which is HP Mininote 1016. Before upgrading, this netbook using Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex as it’s OS, and everything work out of the box. However after upgrading to Karmic, I found problems related to Broadcom Wireless driver, it doesn’t working! Then I search on Google and found the solutions, here is how:

Offline Mode [in case you can’t connect using wired connection]:

  • Open Synaptic Pacakage Manager
  • Make sure 9.10 LiveCd is in CD drive
  • Go to Settings > Repositories > Ubuntu Software
  • Check the installable from cd and close
  • Reload
  • Search for “bcmwl-kernel-source”
  • Mark for installation
  • Apply
  • Reboot computer

Online Mode [You can connect to internet whether using wired or other wireless device]:

  • Open Synaptic Package Manager
  • Search forĀ  “bcmwl-kernel-source”
  • Mark for installation
  • Apply
  • Reboot your computer

I’m using the second option [Online Mode] because I’m able to connect to the internet using my SMC USB Wireless Card.

Credit goes to Jomtois on Ubuntu Forums.

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Video Playback Freeze Every Few Seconds / Minutes on Ubuntu

Just upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala this morning, overall I’m quite happy with it’s performance, it’s faster than previous version (Jaunty, etc). However I’m still facing some minor problem that is not solved correctly until this Karmic release, that is when I play video on Totem or VLC, after several minutes the video becomes freeze and this happen every several seconds / minutes.

So I decided to find the solution on the Ubuntu forums and found the solution:

STEPS: Compiz Configuration

1. Download CompizConfig Settings Manager from Ubuntu repository.
2. Navigate to.. System –> Prefences –> CompizConfig Settings Manager
3. Navigate to.. General –> General Options
4. Click “General Options” to open window
5. Click “Display Settings” tab
6. Uncheck “Detect Refresh Rate”
7. Move “Refresh Rate” slider to 60, or set 60 in the box
8. Check “Sync to VBlank”
9. Click back button to move back to main CompizConfig window
10. Navigate to.. Utility –> Video Playback
11. Uncheck “Video Playback” then exit the CompizConfig Settings Manager.

STEPS: Nvidia Configuration

1. Pull up nvidia-settings
.. Navigate to.. Applications –> System Tools –> nvidia-settings
.. or open a terminal, type “nvidia-settings” , press enter
2. Click “X Server XVideo Settings”
3. Check “Sync to VBlank” _IF_ not checked
4. Click “OpenGL Settings”
5. Uncheck “Sync to VBlank” _IF_ checked
6. click quit button
7. click quit button
8. Reopen nvidia-settings to verify that config changes were saved.
.. IF they were saved, you are done with step 8.
.. IF they were not saved, ~/.nvidia-settings-rc in your home directory
.. may be under root permissions. You will need to chown chgrp for the file.
.. Then you will need to start back at Step 1 and repeat all steps.

IMPORTANT: Reboot your machine when finished. The driver changes won’t function correctly until you reboot

This is the screenshot of my nvidia settings after fixed:

Video Playback Freeze Every Few Seconds / Minutes on Ubuntu

Video Playback Freeze Every Few Seconds / Minutes on Ubuntu

That’s it, now I can enjoy watching my movie collections without freezing… :)

Reference:

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