Ok, so I probably deserve this for using beta software, but I have just recovered from a major falling over with Ubuntu feisty.

A few weeks ago, I jumped through some hoops to get feisty running with compiz on my aged graphics card. In the end all it took was to use the standard nvidia packages that ubuntu supply, and some reconfiguring of my xorg.conf, and I had a fully working 3D bling desktop. I was happy. The only problems I saw are down to the limited memory on my graphics card.

Monday I installed a lump of updates. On Tuesday, when I rebooted, it all fell apart. Much gnashing of teeth later I gave up. Tonight, I decided to look into the problem. Well it would seem that Ubuntu have upgraded the nvidia driver that they package. The new one, 1.0-9755, has dropped support for my graphics chip. Ubuntu do supply a legacy driver, 1.0-7184, but that does not support the extensions required to use compiz.

It would seem that Nvidia are now supporting three versions of their unified driver. How that is unified, beats me. That aside, the version that is required for my hardware is not currently supported by Ubuntu. I ended up removing as any Nvidia package that I could, and then installed the driver using the download from Nvidia direct. All i need to do is remember to rebuild the kernel module next time it is upgraded.

I can’t wait for feisty to be released. Hopefully that will mean things settle down for a time. Next time, i must try and resist the urge to upgrade before the software is released. I don’t think I am really cut out to be a beta tester 🙂