Dell Latitude E6320 and Xubuntu 11.04

Hardware issues continued with the new Latitude. The Ubuntu certified E6320 has a different hardware spec to the machine I bought, and while I might be able to extract some of the hardware devices from the E6500, I wanted a more complete OS solution.

UPDATE, 27 August 2011: I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 'Classic'... see this post to see how stupid I was being and some set-up instructions.

Bulding a Light, Full Featured Linux Portable USB

Ever needed to help someone fix their Windows computer that won't boot?

Ever wanted access to your own email, bookmarks, or applications?

Perhaps you want a persistant operating system on a USB flash drive... this is part one of an experiment I am doing. Step one for me is to decide on a build of Linux to run from flash memory. Step two is to try an put that into practice on the USB storage of the HTC Desire Android phone.

Problem with the Android phone is the USB storage doen't seem to wake up fast enough for the boot loader on my laptop to pick it up. I'll work on that later...

For now, I want to practice setting up a build. I have a 4GB SanDisk Cruiser Blade flash drive I picked up for about $7 from Office Works. It's small and light and should suit the key ring fine.

Ubuntu 11.04 - not starting out well...

I just had a notification to upgrade Ubuntu on my good laptop to 11.04.  I figured, 'why not?'.  Why not indeed... before I managed to even re-start the machine I ran into dramas.

Avermedia AVerTV Volar HD Nano A867R install

I installed this on an earlier Ubuntu based linux version, and now with a fresh build of Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, I'm gonna have to do it again.  I seem to recall it being a complete bitch with a poorly written readme, they are Taiwanese, after all. I can't remember how I finally got the thing to work, and I wish I'd made notes...

That's ok, I'll make some now!