Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) on Compaq Evo N610c
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS was officially released on 24 Apr 2008 and I like tens of thousands of other Ubuntu enthusiasts was looking forward to downloading the final release. I wanted to test drive Ubunto 8.04 LTS on my trusted old Compaq Evo N610c.
Downloading the ISO turned out to be the biggest challenge because the most of the download mirror servers were overloaded. It took me 1.5 hrs to download the ISO file using BitTorrent. After this hurdle was crossed I was up and running in the next 30 mins.
The first difference you notice when booting using the CD is the option to select the language. As we have come to expect with every Ubuntu release the install went through very smoothly. It detected all the devices just fine except the Compaq Wireless LAN MultiPort W200 (see below for more information on W200) … no surprises there.
Hardy Heron has a very pleasant desktop background. I usually turn the background image off but I am keeping this one 
Ubuntu 8.04 core includes the latest version of X Windows system, Xorg 7.3. I had been looking forward to this because I use the Evo N610c with a port replicator. I can now finally use the external monitor with its full resolution. Placing the laptop on the port replicator and removing it automatically adjusts the resolution.
Update: 24-May-2008 - See fix for adjusting resolution.
Other significant change is the integration of PolicyKit which locks the “Network”, “Users and Groups”, “Services” and “Time and Date” settings.
Ubuntu 8.04 also includes the latest version of FireFox 3.05 beta browser. I did notice one bug in this beta version … sometimes the password field displays the password in clear text. Scary huh? I am sure the folks are Firefox will resolve this and the final release will not have this bug.
The one feature I will probably use the most is the World Clock Applet what displays time and weather for multiple locations around the world. You can customize it to your needs.
The final piece of my full Ubuntu 8.04 setup was to get the Compaq Wireless LAN MultiPort W200 working. The instructions in Ubuntu documentation worked with one minor tweak. I used revision 1300 of the orinoco_usb driver. In true Ubuntu spirit I have updated the Ubuntu documentation to reflect this change.
For complete list of What’s new in Ubuntu 8.04 please see Introduction to Ubuntu 8.04 on ubuntu.com
So far it has been a smooth ride … in fact this entry was posted using Ubunut 8.04. I will keep y’all posted on how things go.
7 Comments so far
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The last time I had a spare machine, I played around with Ubuntu and, for regular home use (Firefox and the occasional Word formatted doc) just loved it. A hardware failure killed my old tablet PC I was running it on, but Ubuntu extended the life by a good 6 months. I’m a little jealous you got a chance to play around with the new version.
Pete Johnson
HP.com Chief Architect
Personal blog: http://nerdguru.net
Are you able to change the resolution on the n610c to anything but the native 1400×1050? I have not found a way to do this and have a bug logged against it. I’d love to find a workaround or fix to this.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/160871
I have a N610C too and have followed all the instructions at WifiDocs for the W200. The laptop discovers the wireless card, but as soon as I try to go to Network Manager, it freezes completely the PC, and requires a hard reset. Any ideas? May it be because I am using WPA?
Chris,
I have not had success with WPA. Have you tried switching to WEP? There have been reports of stability issues with Network Manager or KWifiManager. If moving to WEP does not work you may in fact need to remove network-manager entirely and set up your wifi from the command line (ifconfig, iwconfig, iwlist, dhclient3). This is annoying but it has worked for others.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
-lucidTipster
Is there any way to get compiz working on the Compaq EVO N610c under Hardy? I cant seem to find drivers that do this. Tried EnvyNG, but it doesn’t recognize the ATI Radeon.
Hi Prasanna,
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 is not powerful enough to support advanced desktop effects. I have not been able to get it to work.
-lucidTipster
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