3d Compositing Using ATi HD 3400 R600 on Ubuntu

I've been using Kubuntu with KDE4 for quite a while now and I've gotten used to kwin compositing so much I'm a little lost without it.

I gained a new Toshiba Satellite laptop with a dodgy implementation of an ATi R600 chip in there which is only currently supported by the open-source Radeon X driver for 2d. The binary fglrx driver doesn't work at all on this laptop so I'm stuck with the X driver.

To get 3d working you currently need to live on the bleeding edge (until Lucid) and install the latest Ubuntu 2.6.32 kernel and add the xorg-edgers PPA.

For the kernel go to http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and download the latest 2.6.32 kernel, source and headers for your architecture. Install them using

dpkg - i *2.6.32*deb

Then add the xorg-edgers PPA by putting  

ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa


in your Software Sources. Reload and Do all updates. Reboot and you should have composite X. Ensure everything to do with fglrx has been removed though.

Apple are scared of Linux

It's the only explanation I can think of when trying to work out why, after many years of Linux gaining ordinary user popularity, Apple continue to refuse to allow Linux users to use iPods.

I'm a Linux user. I can't afford a Mac (and TBH don't really see the need, it's Linux with all the disadvantages but none of the advantages) and I don't want Windows. I use Kubuntu on my work laptop, Kubuntu on my home desktop and Ubuntu on my old home laptop. If I got given an iPod, or I had an iPhone I couldn't register it. Sure I could take it somewhere with a Windows PC and plug it in to register it but that's not the easiest task for me these days. I don't really have access to any Windows PCs where I can use the Internet and plug random things into them.

After that how do I sync my music? You have to use iTunes and there's no Linux version, even though Mac OS X is based on Unix and Apple obviously had to spend a lot of time and money on making a Windows version. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to make a Linux version of iTunes?

The answer to all this is simple - Apple see Linux and probably more specifically Ubuntu as a direct competitor to the traction Mac OS X is getting against Windows. Windows is dropping market share and currently Apple is using all the marketing it can to ensure it picks up the slack. With Ubuntu available for free on standard PC hardware and with arguably more power Apple should be worried. But while Apple continue to take this stance against Linux I'm afraid I can't use any of their products. They exclude me. Android doesn't...

I'm KDE 4, and Windows 7 Was My Idea...

27 October 2007, KDE 4.0 is released:

22 October 2009, Windows 7 is released:

Microsoft: Innovation in action.