After just over two weeks using only Ubuntu Linux for all my day-to-day computing needs, I am back to Windows. I don’t know what happened for sure, only that ATI does a terrible job of writing Linux drivers for their graphics cards. As I mentioned before, there is only one thing that does not work properly in Linux: dual monitors, which I use when I am at work.
So, for the time being, I am stuck using Windows again when I am at the office, and Ubuntu Linux everywhere else. It’s too bad. Now, when I use Windows, I really resent it for the long start-up and shut-down times, the bogged-down performance, and the behavioral quirks.
The upside is that the next version of Ubuntu will be out within the month, and promises improved built-in monitor management. Whether this will make up for ATI’s shortcomings remains to be seen. In the meantime, I will try not to buy a new laptop just so I can have a graphics card that works properly.
Sam Glover is a business and consumer rights lawyer and the creator of Lawyerist.
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Sam, sorry to hear it hasn’t yet worked out. – PB
Oh, it will in the end! Besides, it works wonderfully for everything but using my second monitor.
I forgot to mention that the second monitor did work for a while, but ATI’s driver was buggy even when it did work, and it just up and quit working yesterday. Too bad.
You might try ditching the ATI card and install an NVIDIA card and then try it with 8.04.
I use a laptop, unfortunately, so I am stuck with the ATI card.