Not Working
Hardy Heron -- I upgraded my dad's old Compaq Presario 3000 from Ubuntu v7.1 to v8.x. The upgrade was largely automatic, but took more than five hours -- probably from the first-day rush of "everyone" else doing the same. Upon rebooting, 'Hardy Heron' did not recognize the wireless networking card. After spending an hour trying different things, I finally gave up and did what Canonical said I wouldn't: "You Won't Go Back."
After reinstalling v7.1, I began to check out what Ubuntu would -- and wouldn't -- work with:
Multi-button Mouse -- the basic mouse driver works, but I haven't found support for my extra needs: assigning double-click to the middle button (roller wheel) and horizontal scrolling for my Logitech wireless mouse, whose roller wheel also moves side to side. (This is like Vista, where I found it really tough to get double-click assigned to the middle button.)
MP3 Music -- Ubuntu comes with an impressive music application that readily found song files on networked computers, including Windows computers. It also plays back Internet radio stations, although you have to copy and paste the actual URL to do that -- a bit clunky. The negative is that Ubuntu does not include MP3 decoders, not even the freeware (I think) one called LAME. I spent several fruitless hours trying to get the MP3 codecs installed, but suffered from a lack of dependencies.
Working
Digital Cameras -- in an earlier post, I noted that Picasa downloads effortlessly, and that it immediately recognized my Canon S1is camera. I plan to try my Samsung cameras later.
Palm TX -- once the "wizard" got things configured correctly, Ubuntu recognized my Palm TX and was able to synch with it. Sync'ed data is stored in the Evolution Email software, such as contacts, schedule, memos, and so on.
Maxtor Portable Drive -- this USB-connected and USB-powered portable hard drive was immediately recognized by Ubuntu. This was handy, for I had backed up all of my dad's documents and photographs from this Compaq before wiping out Windows XP with Ubuntu. In ten minutes, the gigabytes of his files were back on "his" computer. This is more impressive than Windows 2000, where the mouse stops working when I plug in this drive.
Sony Walkman -- I checked out my dad's new Sony Walkman MP3 player, and it worked just as well as the Maxtor drive. For in fact it presents itself to the computer as an external drive -- whether on Windows or Linux. The USB port also recharged it, as well as the Palm TX's battery.
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