Acer Extensa, wifi working but now no audio input!

OK, I'm beginning to get a little disappointed with Ubuntu!

I have been using it for three years now, sometimes happily but most of the time with many problems. I had no problems on my old PC. But since purchasing my Acer Extensa 4420 it has been nothing but problems. I realize a lot has to to with my computer, not Ubuntu. I am running a 32 bit version of Ubuntu 10.10 on an AMD 64 machine. This is a new install. People had suggested I use the 32 bit version as supposedly it has fewer problems.

I just solved my wifi problem, by installing this version. First I was elated, when I found not only my wifi switch was suddenly on, but that I was actually finally able to connect to my verizon router without a cable!

Then came the disappointment! It seems every time I get something tweaked, something else goes wrong. I use an external HD for storage of the many files I have. I was able to drag files from my pc over to it. I can no longer do this, as Ubuntu opens my folders in Firefox. I only get an index of files. I do not see a folder view.
I use my pc mostly for editing photos. I love Gimp! It's a wonderful application.
I also use my pc to edit and burn dvd's. I download both travel clips as well as old movies from different sources on the internet. I use "Download Helper" for this purpose. It too works well, never had a problem. Then I use DeVeDe to compile these clips into longer movies. All works fine, or has worked fine under other versions of Ubuntu.

Perhaps my mistake is updating. Perhaps I should leave things alone, and never use update manager! Many of my problems occur after updates.

Anyway heres my problem ( one of more than a few ). I also use an online language program that I pay for. Part of it is speech recognition. It is supposedly compatible with Linux. However I suddenly found that in Ubuntu 10.10 I have no microphone! Not just an volume or muting issue, but NO INPUT! When I click on the volume icon, and go to "sound preferences" there is nothing in the "choose an input device" window. Not only is nothing listed, the volume slider is greyed out. NADA nothing! Ubuntu obviously does not have the drivers, or does not recognize my audio inputs. This is for both my internal mike, as well as the line in.

Can anyone help me? I know there has to be a fix. As I have said, I have been using Ubuntu in some form or other for three years. ( Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Studio ) I have also used Suse, but it did not have as many features. However it worked flawlessly, and the support was great. I came to Major Geeks because it took days even weeks to get help on the Ubuntu forums. I know this is all freeware, but one would think the people creating it, would want to know when it's not working properly. Perhaps I am expecting too much. Most of the time, I have had great help from very nice people. Which is why I have not given up on Linux. I just wish I could get my computer to do the things I want it to do.

Sorry for the very long vent! :-o

 

Try Linux Mint. Version 10 is now out. Unfortunately the site must be getting hammered because I can't get it to load.
Mint includes more codecs and just seems to work better for some people.

Note: I have not looked at the latest version. I've also never installed it; my use is strictly a live CD.

 

I agree Mint is a great OS, but this does not solve the problems. mint version 10 is based on Debian not Ubuntu 10.10 and would require re installation. Mint adds non-free codecs by default. At installation of 10.10, Ubuntu does the same.

geekaminot, Is the External HD on a PC in another part of the house, or connected via USB? Is the External drive plugged in at boot? It may not be mounted. Open Nautilus ( Places> Home Folder will work ) and do you see the drive on the left side under devices?

I cannot remember the laptop you have. Google finds many results for no microphone. This video may or may not solve the problem for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcAvz9fOEDo

 

geekaminot, Is the External HD on a PC in another part of the house, or connected via USB? Is the External drive plugged in at boot? It may not be mounted. Open Nautilus ( Places> Home Folder will work ) and do you see the drive on the left side under devices?

OK, here is yet another problem I am having with this version of Ubuntu. As far as I know my external ( usb drive ) is mounted, as I can access it. If I click on the icon for it on my desktop ( which is my only drive shown on my desktop ) I get the conventional view that I had before. See attachment labeled "Desktop Icon".
However if I go to the gnome panel and click on place/one touch it opens in Firefox as an index page with links see attachment "One Touch".

I am also having problems with Firefox in that I get no image, maps, video etc. options when doing a websearch. see the other attachments. This is all very frustrating. I am ready to re-install Ubuntu Studio 10.4 which is what I had installed previously. My wifi did not work, but everything else did, even Google Earth, which is yet another sad story!

 

I will be gone from here for a few hours. Just didn't want anyone expecting a quick reply.
Thanks guys!

 

plodr has the right idea about trying out a live-cd/dvd.

otherwise your just compounding the issue(s)

this tutorial works for more than the distro highlighted.

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linux-mint-debian-201009


:major

 

Ok, I'm back.

I really am not looking to try out yet another OS. I would rather try and fix this one.rolleyes

I will look at Mint however, once I can log into their site.

What I really need to know is.

What distro will:

Have the proper drivers for Mike, Wifi, Printer, Camera
Be compatible with Google Earth
Have De Ve De available
Have Gimp available
Have Audacity available
Have DVD backup available

Right now, I have everything except Google Earth, and there are ways to install it. I just have not been able to understand them ( terminal commands ).

This is what I would really like to accomplish. If I can have all this in an OS that doesen't bog down. I will be real happy!:-D

 

That's what live CDs are for - to discover the distro that likes your hardware. We aren't able to tell you ahead of time what to use; it is trial and error for you and me.

I've never installed Ubuntu because it hasn't liked some bit of hardware on most of the computers I've tried various versions on. No matter how many people love it, if it doesn't work on my computer, the disk goes to the bottom of the stack with notes on what computers I tested it on and what did and did not work.

 

Just a quick clarification...Mint 10 has created forks of Mint. Mint is still primarily based on Ubuntu, with 6 month release dates, but has added KDE and Xfce(?) versions. Mint has ALSO created a version that is Debian-based and is on a rolling release cycle, synchronous with Debian.

Mint just keeps getting more and more versatile! If you are a fan of the KDE desktop, Mint now has a version for you; if you prefer a desktop with less hardware requirements, Mint now has a version for you; if you prefer to forgo the "cutting edge", beta & release candidates of Ubuntu, and stick with the underlying supreme stability of an OS that only releases when it's completely stable & ready, Mint now has a version for that too!

Pretty clever if you ask me... I don't understand why this distro isn't more popular, especially with newbies?! Just FYI...

 

Mint doesn't have the money behind it as does Ubuntu with Mark Shuttleworth, a millionaire being able to promote the distro.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Shuttleworth

 

OK, I'm going to go with your suggestions.

I downloaded the live CD, but now I have some more questions.

I read the release notes and it said to use the following command to check the disk.
cd ~/Desktop
md5sum linuxmint-gnome-i386.iso

When I ran the command, I got this result:
kenny@kenny-Extensa-4420:~$ cd ~/Desktop
kenny@kenny-Extensa-4420:~/Desktop$ md5sum linuxmint-gnome-i386.iso
md5sum: linuxmint-gnome-i386.iso: No such file or directory

did I enter the command wrong, or is there something wrong here?
When I tried to install Google-Earth I also got the same kind of reply.

I don't want to install a faulty version.

 

I forgot to add, that the download took only about twenty minutes. When I downloaded Ubuntu it took over an hour and a half!

 

System> Preferences> Preferred Applications

Right click and you can "open with another application" and there is a checkbox to use THAT application all the time.

You have to click the button in the photo to search the web. In the toolbar, you click the google icon and at the bottom "manage search engines" it will take you to this page

Here is aGoogle-English Plugin

Google Earth can be downloaded on this page.

After download, open terminal and move to where you downloaded and run the last two commands, or skip the above download and from terminal run the following commands.

Code:

cd ~/Downloads
wget http://dl.google.com/earth/client/current/GoogleEarthLinux.bin
chmod a+x GoogleEarthLinux.bin
sudo ./GoogleEarthLinux.bin

 

Is the file on your desktop, or do you have Firefox downloads pointing to another folder?

Tools > Downloads > Open Containing Folder

Or from terminal-

Code:

cd ~/Desktop
ls

The md5 check is to make sure you have a good download before burning. You burn to a CD and boot.

 

I agree it is a great distro, I ran Mint 8 Gloria and Mint 9 Isadora until 10.10 Meerkat Ubuntu was released. The issue of websearch bugged me in Mint same as geekaminot in his situation....

 

OOPS!:-o

Shortly after I posted, I realized what I was doing wrong. I used the file name that was given in the instructions, instead of typing in the name of the actual .iso file!

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa!

As to the file. I noticed the content on the original download, came out less than what it was supposed to be. 825mb. So I deleted it and re-downloaded it. Then checked it with the proper command :-D and checked it. It matched!

So then I tried it out. I also tried out PC Linux but it immediately froze my computer in one of my apps. So then I decided to try Mint. Everything seemed to function, so I installed it.
So far so good. I have been able to install all my apps. So far most seem to work! Changed from Thunderbird to Evolution ( which I prefer ) and so far all seems fine. My wireless is working ( but keep it turned off till I can see about getting a better encryption )
not that I think theres anyone around here who could hack it. ( I live in redneck land ).

So thank you, all of you for your fine suggestions. Major Geeks is numba one!