I’ve decided to try and use my new computer entirely on open source software.
Step1. Burn an Ubuntu8.04 disk to install onto new machine
Step2. Run installation and hope for the best. It worked. Very straightforward.
Step3. Plug my ethernet in the back to connect to the internet.
Happened straight away. Grateful I don’t use wireless in this room.
Step 4. Plug my second monitor in and set up dual monitors. Graphics card has DVI and VGA slots. Didn’t work. Spoke to friend and found Terminal (Applications/Accessories/Terminal) which is where you can change the code from. In fact, if you know the commends, you can install software here or do just about anything. I don’t though so I’ll just be using the icons and then use the terminal when friends and forums direct me to with precise instructions.
I messed about with this for hours and it didn’t work. I used xorg-conf and xrandr but both didn’t sort it. I managed to clone my screens with the same settings (1 is 19″ square, the wide screen) and that’s obviously no good. I have found a man who said this has not been addressed in any version since he spent days solving it in Version 6 many moons ago because the xorg-conf file that he coded still works in 8.04. This is a bit of a poo thing for the ubuntu team to do because ppl who use linux are not likely to be using big flashy monitors and be working on the computer quite a lot and therefore two monitors is very handy.
