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Yes, I downloaded and installed Ubuntu a few months ago, played with it for a day or two, then quit using it. Why? Because....the monitor scan rate, refresh rate, was "stuck" on 60hz, causing an annoying flicker. There was NO option to change it to anything else. (no drop-down menu of different available scan rates, etc. Sure, the drop-down menu was there, but the only "option" on it was 60hz!). (This did not happen to me when I used Xandros, Freespire v1, or Suse...no problem setting up to 72hz or so with my monitor). I just couldn't tolerate the screen flicker, so went back to XP. Anyone got any ideas on why I couldn't change this??? Why would such a modern distribution have no optional scan rates to select???
Bud
About the only time I've seen anything like this is when your monitor is auto-detected, and it does not detect the optimal settings. Have you tried entering the monitor specifications manually rather than using the auto-detect feature? I'm not sure what program Ubuntu uses for hardware configuration, but whatever program it is should be the one where you need to do this. I've had similar things happen where I could not select a higher resolution mode because the installer thought my monitor or video card would only support 640x480, or something like that.
Yes, I downloaded and installed Ubuntu a few months ago, played with it for a day or two, then quit using it. Why? Because....the monitor scan rate, refresh rate, was "stuck" on 60hz, causing an annoying flicker. There was NO option to change it to anything else. (no drop-down menu of different available scan rates, etc. Sure, the drop-down menu was there, but the only "option" on it was 60hz!). (This did not happen to me when I used Xandros, Freespire v1, or Suse...no problem setting up to 72hz or so with my monitor). I just couldn't tolerate the screen flicker, so went back to XP. Anyone got any ideas on why I couldn't change this??? Why would such a modern distribution have no optional scan rates to select???
Bud
Are you trying to discourage persons from using the software or what?
I have used ubuntu and it's other flavors and can tell you this, the statement I highleted in my humble opinion is false. I'm presently at 75 as of this posting.
Are you trying to discourage persons from using the software or what?
I have used ubuntu and it's other flavors and can tell you this, the statement I highleted in my humble opinion is false. I'm presently at 75 as of this posting.
Sorry...but my statement is NOT false!.
As a matter of personal principle, I don't lie! When I try to use Ubuntu, all I can get is the 60hz scan rate...nothing else. When I pull up the hardware configuration for "devices found" where it states the video card, it identifies it as a Elsa Gladiac "GeForce2" (which is correct), but then it goes on to say "unknown device". (How could it not know what a GeForce2 is...because that is (or was) a very common card?) Apparently, in such a case, Ubuntu defaults to 60hz, with no other option provided...
I'm not trying to discourage people from using Ubuntu, I'm just telling you my experience with it. I wish someone would tell me how to get it to recognize the capabilities of my video card...because I would be using it if I could get the refresh rate up to 70hz...
Sorry...but my statement is NOT false!.
As a matter of personal principle, I don't lie! When I try to use Ubuntu, all I can get is the 60hz scan rate...nothing else. When I pull up the hardware configuration for "devices found" where it states the video card, it identifies it as a Elsa Gladiac "GeForce2" (which is correct), but then it goes on to say "unknown device". (How could it not know what a GeForce2 is...because that is (or was) a very common card?) Apparently, in such a case, Ubuntu defaults to 60hz, with no other option provided...
I'm not trying to discourage people from using Ubuntu, I'm just telling you my experience with it. I wish someone would tell me how to get it to recognize the capabilities of my video card...because I would be using it if I could get the refresh rate up to 70hz...
Bud
You may also want to check to see what monitor it believes you have. If it thinks you have an older monitor or and LCD, it will also cause it to lower the refresh rate. Check to see if there isn't an updated driver for that card as it is a pretty common chipset and should have good drivers. The fact it sees your vid card and understands it is installed would lead me to look elsewhere, like the monitor just for shoots and ladders.
Also check the things listed by Jdavid in case one of the usual suspects turns up.
Sorry...but my statement is NOT false!.
As a matter of personal principle, I don't lie! When I try to use Ubuntu, all I can get is the 60hz scan rate...nothing else. When I pull up the hardware configuration for "devices found" where it states the video card, it identifies it as a Elsa Gladiac "GeForce2" (which is correct), but then it goes on to say "unknown device". (How could it not know what a GeForce2 is...because that is (or was) a very common card?) Apparently, in such a case, Ubuntu defaults to 60hz, with no other option provided...
I'm not trying to discourage people from using Ubuntu, I'm just telling you my experience with it. I wish someone would tell me how to get it to recognize the capabilities of my video card...because I would be using it if I could get the refresh rate up to 70hz...
Bud
Have you tried this card with the Proprietary NVidia driver, or are you using one of the free Linux drivers such as the NV driver that is shipped with some distributions. The free drivers are somewhat limited in what they can do, however I believe that limitation is primarily in 3D display capability. The driver you are using might be causing the problem.
Thanks guys for the tips and info. Well, the OS doesn't recognize the monitor either: it says something like "generic, unknown", can't remember the exact wording. Anyway, I haven't loaded any other drivers, just using those that the OS came with. (I understand there are other Nvidea drivers out there, I will give that a try next time).
Another interesting tidbit: I just downloaded "Freespire 2.0.8" the other day and gave it a whirl: SAME results! Very noticeable flicker on the monitor. (This new version of Freespire is based on Ubuntu) Only difference is, with Freespire I could not find ANY drop-down menu at all, regarding refresh rate.
I have a feeling you guys are right: the OS thinks I have an old monitor that's not capable of anything over 60hz. (it is a ViewSonic A75f, which works nicely at 70hz under Win-XP) (and, at 70hz under Freespire v1.0, Xandros, or Suse) Apparently, those other versions of linux come with appropriate drivers installed.
I've been a longtime Linux user and have tried many different distributions, but have mostly stuck with SuSE or Mandriva (Mandrake) because their packages just seemed to work the best and included everything I wanted, which is mainly productivity applications and games.
I have seen Ubuntu recently rise in popularity, and from what I've read, it looks like a pretty good distribution. I would like to hear what others think about it from their experiences with it. I have actually been a longtime KDE user, and would be interested to find out what others think about Kubuntu which is the same as Ubuntu, except it uses the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. I know that these distributions are Debian based, which to me, looks like it might be a plus, if only for the advantage of better applications packaging (APT vs. RPM).
If you are using Ubuntu or Kubuntu, please let me know what you think of it. While I'm asking, if you have something to share about a different distribution, I'd like to hear about that, too.
suse = the truth!!!! You don't need anything else besides that!
I use Fedora because I'm stuck on the Red Hat commands. I never have a problem with dependencies or anything of the sort. I just much prefer the Red Hat commands to the Debian commands.
I just installed ubuntu a day ago. I am also running compiz and I have to tell you, this thing is AMAZING. Blows any eye candy you may get with vista away, and this is so far more functional.
To the person with the ubuntu flicker problems, try going to the official ubuntu forums. If they can't answer your question then I would be shocked. The support there is above and beyond what you would get from other distros
Never heard of them, but I'm using RedHattu Linux and I've used SuSetu Linux in the past.
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