Installing Ubuntu 7.10 on AOpen1557gls

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.22-14-generic from the Ubuntu repositories.

• Why to use Ubuntu: there are several good reasons. First, it was EASY!! I also love the Ubuntu philosophy of "Humanity to Others" as well as its dedication to FLOSS. The Ubuntu forums are easily the best web forums I have even seen--people are good to neophytes, the atmosphere is kind, gentle and truly helpful--perhaps not quite as technically proficient overall as the Gentoo forums, but you won't see anyone bashing newbies--the staff won't stand for it. (Disclosure: I am an administrator in those forums...username: matthew)
• Obtaining Ubuntu is easy. Go to the main Ubuntu web site. If you can't download it, they will even mail out installation disks for free anywhere in the world.
• Installing is a piece of cake. For more info, put the installation disk in the drive and follow the instructions. There are helpful menus and a great installer. I originally installed Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) and used that from April 2005 to October 2005. It worked adequately first time from boot, except then I had to use vga=771 flag **this is no longer necessary starting with 6.06 (Dapper Drake). I then switched to Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger). I tried to update from 5.04 using apt-get upgrade as I had done easily on my desktop but I had a lot of customization in my laptop's setup and just couldn't make everything work. Then I tried to do a fresh install and everything went flawlessly. All my drivers were there and everything worked well from the beginning...it was even better than 5.04. For the move to 6.04 I used apt-get dist-upgrade after updating my /etc/apt/sources list with the more recent Dapper repository list. It worked, with a few lingering niggles that I eventually sorted out. With 6.10 I went with a fresh install since I had a hard drive die right around the same time. Installation was completely painless and quick. For the installation of 7.04, I kept my /home directory, which I had created on it's own partition, and did a fresh installation. It was the fastest and easiest yet. To install 7.10, I used the Update Manager in the System->Administration menu.
• Sound works well with no special procedure required during installation
• PCMCIA works well with no special procedure required during installation
• USB works well, with complete plug'n'play with no special procedure required during installation
• Touchpad works well with no special procedure required during installation
• Can read/write cd's well with no special procedure required during installation.
• Viewing/reading/writing DVD's works well with no special procedure required during installation other than following this wiki guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
• Powersaving and processor speedstep features work well with no special procedure required during installation

• Under Ubuntu 5.04 I needed to upgrade ipw2200 firmware and driver from original that shipped with the release as they were version 0.19 which worked, but were just barely adequate. I had to upgrade manually to the newest Intel drivers and firmware. With 5.10 the latest drivers are included. I did re-install the firmware as I had a bit of trouble with losing my connection. This fixed it. I also wanted to use WPA and so I had to install wpa_supplicant. Info on how to install these is available here. With 6.06 and above it is even easier. I suggest reading this forum thread for more info. Beginning with 7.04, no special procedure is required for this to work, it does great out of the box.
• Someone suggested installing the package "lineakd" from the Ubuntu repositories to enable the hardware buttons on left of keyboard. This worked perfectly.

• Internal card reader does not work
• I haven't tested the Irda port. I have been told that this method will get it working. If/when I test it out I will post an update.
• Hardware buttons above the keyboard for audio do not work
• I have not tested the firewire port

• Here's the output of lspci for those that want a little more specifics

• Overall I am very pleased--the configuration issues I have encountered have been minor, and there were fewer with 5.10 than there were with 5.04, and now still fewer with 6.04 and 6.10. With 7.04 installation was extremely easy and I experienced absolutely no problems. I am exceptionally impressed by 7.10, which has not required anything special from me to "just work." In the past, any necessary solutions to vital needs have all been on the Ubuntu forums (where I go by the nickname "matthew") or the Ubuntu wiki (where I go by the nickname "matthew5") or the irc channel #ubuntuforums on irc.freenode.net (where I also go by the nickname "forumsmatthew" when I am there, which isn't all that often). If you have any specific questions, come to the Ubuntu Forums and send me a private message.

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