I had to install Kubuntu 11.10 x86 three times yesterday, to finally get everything working.
During the first attempt, I selected the "Download updates while installing" and "Install this software" (meaning mp3 support etc.) options. Installation took a while but finished normally. After rebooting, startup hung at "Checking battery state..." which is curious, as I had installed on a desktop, which doesn't *have* a battery.
I tried a few reboots. Every time, startup hung either at checking the non-existent battery, or some step having to do with logging kernel messages. I never got a graphical login screen. Also tried logging into a console session (via Alt+F1) and stopping/restarting the GUI (sudo service kdm stop/start). No joy.
So I reinstalled. I left off the checkbox options mentioned above. This time I got a system that started, but I ran into problems trying to get the Nvidia proprietary drivers installed. Couldn't do it from a "recovery" session (complaint about "missing" gcc), or from the console after stopping kdm (something about "Noveau" something or other). I'm not sure what I removed/changed, but after that the system would freeze during startup, this time with scrambled graphics and unresponsive to the keyboard (so no way to log in via console).
What finally worked - third attempt! - was leaving the checkboxes empty during install, then running the built-in "Proprietary Drivers" (kde-jockey), rebooting, then stopping the GUI from a console session, then running the Nvidia drivers .run package from the console. It still complained about some kind of script failing, but now the system boots normally. I wasn't interested in using positively ancient (173.x) Nvidia drivers.
The problem I'm having now is that everything is too darn small. Still hunting for a way to make not only the fonts bigger, but everything else too. Menu buttons, window control buttons, etc. are all too small. Running at 1600x1200 on a 21" CRT for my primary display. I'm sure it's just a matter of unfamiliarity; I used Ubuntu 10.04 before this.
During the first attempt, I selected the "Download updates while installing" and "Install this software" (meaning mp3 support etc.) options. Installation took a while but finished normally. After rebooting, startup hung at "Checking battery state..." which is curious, as I had installed on a desktop, which doesn't *have* a battery.
I tried a few reboots. Every time, startup hung either at checking the non-existent battery, or some step having to do with logging kernel messages. I never got a graphical login screen. Also tried logging into a console session (via Alt+F1) and stopping/restarting the GUI (sudo service kdm stop/start). No joy.
So I reinstalled. I left off the checkbox options mentioned above. This time I got a system that started, but I ran into problems trying to get the Nvidia proprietary drivers installed. Couldn't do it from a "recovery" session (complaint about "missing" gcc), or from the console after stopping kdm (something about "Noveau" something or other). I'm not sure what I removed/changed, but after that the system would freeze during startup, this time with scrambled graphics and unresponsive to the keyboard (so no way to log in via console).
What finally worked - third attempt! - was leaving the checkboxes empty during install, then running the built-in "Proprietary Drivers" (kde-jockey), rebooting, then stopping the GUI from a console session, then running the Nvidia drivers .run package from the console. It still complained about some kind of script failing, but now the system boots normally. I wasn't interested in using positively ancient (173.x) Nvidia drivers.
The problem I'm having now is that everything is too darn small. Still hunting for a way to make not only the fonts bigger, but everything else too. Menu buttons, window control buttons, etc. are all too small. Running at 1600x1200 on a 21" CRT for my primary display. I'm sure it's just a matter of unfamiliarity; I used Ubuntu 10.04 before this.