Sadly we are not yet ready to push out the improved drivers for the graphics card to all the webbooks, however for those willing to tinker with the command line you will be having wobbly windows and a spinning cube of desktops very soon. There is a chance that the next kernel upgrade will leave you booting to a black screen, but I will show you how to fix that from the command line. That is why we can’t push the drivers out through the repositories yet. I will write up a couple of articles over the next few days on this and give you some downloads to install. To wet your appetite a little here is a screenshot of me switching between desktops on my webbook:
It is probably best if you have another computer so that if you break the webbook you can still get to the internet to find out how to fix it. Consider this a beta test of the graphics drivers, unsupported, except by me. If that scares you then just wait until we put it in an automatic update and you won’t have to do anything. I would love to get this on by default right now and push it out through the repositories, but I just can’t wait any longer to share it with some of you at least!
Archive for the ‘Pimp my webbook’ Category
Hands up everyone who wants Compiz on their webbook!
Friday, September 12th, 2008Thanks for the memory
Thursday, August 14th, 2008A few people have asked me about memory upgrades for the webbook, it comes with 512MB of RAM which isn’t bad when running Ubuntu, but some people (me for example) just can’t leave things alone and want to shovel in as much RAM as will fit. So this begs the question, “how much RAM will fit?” so I did some research to find out.
It turns out that the webbook has a single SO-DIMM slot in the little compartment on the base of the webbook, below the touchpad. The module it is fitted with is a 512MB 200pin SODIMM DDR2 PC-4200. Breaking this down, 512MB is the capacity of the module, half a gigabyte. It is a 200pin SODIMM which is the shape of the package and the number of little copper connectors (you don’t have to count them all). SODIMM modules can be DDR and DDR2 and the little notch is slightly different on each so you can’t fit the wrong type. You want DDR2 for the webbook. PC2-4200 relates to the speed of the memory. You can fit faster memory which might be labled PC2-5200 or PC2-6400 however the speed is limited by something called the frontside bus so the webbook will just treat it as PC2-4200. I tested a 1 GB PC2-5200 module but the memtest86 benchmark showed it running at the same speed as the original PC-4200 module. I have a 2GB module on order, which is apparently the maximum the webbook will support, but I am not sure if that is just because there don’t appear to be any 4GB SODIMM modules available yet.
RAM can be delicate so if you are going to change the memory first find a sensible place to work with no dust and no obvious sources of static. Unplug the webbook from the power and take out the battery, then just undo the two screws holding the RAM compartment shut. Carefully push out the shiny catches at each side then the RAM module will pop up. You can then slide it out. Pop in the new module and push it down against the springs until it clips into place. Don’t force it, if it doesn’t want to go then check that it is fully inserted. If the notch doesn’t seem to be in the right place then you have a DDR module which won’t work.
Once your memory is in, put the cover on and screw it back together, refit the battery and switch on. After the bios hit escape to get to the Grub menu. From here you should see the Memtest86 option. Go down and select that and let it test your memory. Let it run until your boredom threshold is reached and if there are no errors then hit escape to turn off and then you can boot up normally. If you do find an error then just send the memory back.
| Brand | Spec | Tested by | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novatec | 1GB PC2-5300 | Alan Bell |  Works fine |
| Dane Elec (via eBay) | 2GB PC2-5300 | Craig Jump |  Graphics corruption (the graphics card shares 64MB of main memory) |
| Crucial | 1GB 200PIN DDR2 SODIMM 128MX64 PC2-5300 | Jonathan Kay | Works fine |
| Corsair | 2GB Corsair Value Select, DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-5300 (667), 200 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5 | Stuart Taylor | only one GB recognised and used |
| Crucial | 2GB, DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-4200, 200 Pin | Alan Bell | only one GB recognised and used |
