help with ubuntu

jd83

hi,

Kinda sick of windows so i installed ubuntu onto my sony laptop, so now i have vista and the latest version of ubuntu on my laptop. Vista is still working perfectly, well as perfectly as vista can work. However having some problems with ubuntu. Firstly in restricted drivers it is telling me that my nvidea graphics card is not enabled, when i try to enable it it says : the software source for the package nvidea-glx-new is not enabled. So any ideas how to get my graphics card up on running. Also im trying to install skype, flash, googletalk and i just cant seem to get them installed.
I installed the Standard personal computer (x86 architecture, PentiumTM, CeleronTM, AthlonTM, SempronTM) version, was this the right one?
Thanks in advance,
Rory




These are my laptops specs:
Product Description - Sony VAIO FZ11L - Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8 GHz - 15.4" TFT


Dimensions (WxDxH) - 35.6 cm x 25.4 cm x 3.5 cm
Weight - 2.7 kg
Platform Technology - Intel Centrino Duo
System Type - Notebook
Built-in Devices - Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 / 1.8 GHz ( Dual-Core )
Cache Memory - 2 MB - L2 Cache
RAM - 2 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 2 x 1 GB )
Card Reader - Yes
Hard Drive - 120 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Optical Storage - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - integrated
Display - 15.4" TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
Graphics Controller - NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Audio Output - Sound card
Telecom - Fax / modem - 56 Kbps
Networking - Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g
Wireless NIC - Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel
Input Device - Keyboard, touchpad
Battery - Lithium Ion
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

cornbb

I had similar problems with the ATI card on my laptop. You should be able to get it going with a bit of work. Try the howto here for a start. If that doesn't work, have a look around the Ubuntu forums (which are very helpful). If you try a number of things to get it working then write down the steps you take, if there is a problem and you screw up your configuration at any stage then this will enable you to backtrack.

jd83

thanks will try it when i get home, however having lots of problems with getting everything working. You will prob see a how do i delete ubuntu thread soon enough:)

hamster

Yep, Nvidia cards usually are easy enough to get going. Nearly all the time it's to do with editing the /etc/X11/xorg.conf changing the driver name
Driver "nv"
Driver "nvidia"
and installing the driver. Last time I tried Nvidia's install script worked flawlessly. If you get it installed, let us know if the fan constantly stays on the laptop. It is one niggle I find with Ubuntu once I get the driver installed (well on my desktop using a 7600GT).

jd83

ok dont know what i did but got the card working and everything else fixed itself after that. This is great its way faster than vista if i can install the programs i use or find good alternatives i will delete vista and use linux instead:)