Bugs/issues I have found so far in using Linux Mint 9

[dunnie]

Firstly I have to start by saying how much better Linux Mint 9 looks compared to other versions, and I do support and welcome the hard work of those involved in it's development. However, I have found some bugs or issues which could deal with been resolved - I am using a Dell Dimension with an intel chip set, one of the more common pcs in the UK market.

1) The Xserver Intel crash bug still exists.. but with a slight improvement, instead of the pc just hanging, it auto logs outs, or more precisely starts up a new login session.. but at least no hard reboot is needed, but still annoying if working on something when it occurs.

2) Unlike Linux Mint 8, unable to revert the Xserver Intel driver from version 2.9 to the bug free 2.4 version. You could revert it in Linux Mint 8 via Jaunty Repo, but if you try to do the same thing now in synaptic manager it says that it has to uninstall all of the Xorg, which is obviously something I do not wish to occur - so unlike Linux Mint 8, stuck now with a buggy Intel Xserver driver. If someone does know how to change it back to 2.4 please let me know.

3) Creating a new gnome panel - if I click on the existing panel, and create a new panel, no new panel exists.. instead a invisible, unclickable, window area appears.. but if you then logout, and then log back in again, the gnome panel previous created then appears.

4) Cryptmount - more annoying than a bug, the partition labelling appears to have changed in Linux Mint 9, so have to manually edit the cmtab files to modify for the new partition names.

5) But now for the really annoying feature, or more precisely a feature removed from Nautilus, unable to change the properties of the location bar - there doesn't appear to be anyway now of changing the location bar in Nautilus to a file location string rather than the fixed path buttons we have now. It can be changed in a file dialog box, but not in a fully opened Nautilus session.

Hopefully this will be resolved in up coming version releases, but issue 5), which appears to be a deliberate design change, totally baffles me why anyone would have changed it - it's reducing features, not increasing them. Reduces the productivity of Nautilus by a massive degree. Going to see if I can ditch Nautilus in favour of something more function-able.

[Capt Turk]

I found a few bugs myself.

1. The software installer hangs up after installing 2 or three apps. Have to restart to get it to work again.
2. The sim card error in the connection manager with some USB dongles.
3. At least with my Toshiba Satellite L455D-S5976, installing the proprietary ATI graphics driver crashes the network manager. At least it does still work
with the vesa driver. From what I understand, the ATI chips handle the usb and wireless in this laptop.
4. The connection manager, at least with the AT&T Mercury USB Broadband has not been stable since Mint 7. Mint 8 worked, sorta. Mint 9 won't configure.
5. The backup manager hangs when trying to backup installed software.

I love the way Mint 9 looks, and really like some of the added features. I really wish I could use it. Stuck with using Mint 7 for now.

[altair4]

5) But now for the really annoying feature, or more precisely a feature removed from Nautilus, unable to change the properties of the location bar - there doesn't appear to be anyway now of changing the location bar in Nautilus to a file location string rather than the fixed path buttons we have now. It can be changed in a file dialog box, but not in a fully opened Nautilus session.

I agree this is annoying. To fix it:

Open Terminal
Type gconf-editor
Go to apps ->nautilus -> preferences -> always_use_location_entry

To temporarily enable it press Ctrl+L

But there is one thing that just might make you smile. The next time you're in Nautilus, press F3

[DonnaFontenot]

Oh yeah! F3 in Nautilus rocks! Thanks for mentioning it. I'll be using this constantly now. Woot!

[rhodry]

Even better, in Nautilus try pressing Ctl-L!! Sure looks like the old file location string to me?! Also accessible from Menus under 'Go -- Location...'.

It's just different, not broken.

Rhodry.

[mzsade]

Scrolling doesn't work on Workplace Switcher in panel.

[dunnie]

Cheers for that, but not instantly obvious. Biggest concern is the Xserver Intel driver issue again - sigh. I had the same problem with Linux Mint 8 (to be fair more a Ubuntu issue than anything else), but was resolved last time by back porting to version 2.4, and stability problems resolved. Got similar (but not identical) problems with the 2.9 Xorg Intel Driver, but in Linux Mint 9, unable it seems to go back to version 2.4. If someone knows how to install the Xorg Xserver Intel driver version 2.4 into Linux Mint 9 please let me know, but for now had to revert back to Linux Mint 8 again.

5) But now for the really annoying feature, or more precisely a feature removed from Nautilus, unable to change the properties of the location bar - there doesn't appear to be anyway now of changing the location bar in Nautilus to a file location string rather than the fixed path buttons we have now. It can be changed in a file dialog box, but not in a fully opened Nautilus session.

I agree this is annoying. To fix it:

Open Terminal
Type gconf-editor
Go to apps ->nautilus -> preferences -> always_use_location_entry

To temporarily enable it press Ctrl+L

But there is one thing that just might make you smile. The next time you're in Nautilus, press F3

[dunnie]

Another issue which hopefully has a fix similar to the annoying location bar issue in Nautilus is selecting icons for application launchers - not sure about anyone else, but I liked the little gallery tool which would appear when you went to select an icon for an application launcher - this appears to have gone now, and all you get when you click to choose an icon is a standard open file box window. It was easier to select an icon with the gallery tool. If there is a way to turn that back on, would be interested to know. Hopefully that feature hasn't been removed permanently.

Some of the decisions made for Gnome 2.30 are a bit perplexing, to say the least. Was wondering for a second if a rival commercial OS maker hadn't got programmers infiltrated into the open source development sphere

My biggest concern is the dreaded Intel Xserver bug/stability problem again (and again seems to affect a lot of Dell PCs - a leading brand here in the UK). I would consider switching to Linux Mint 9, if I knew of a way of backporting that Intel driver back to one which works correctly for my PC - versions 2.4 and 2.6 were fine on Linux Mint 8 (I stuck version version 2.4), later versions caused all sorts of instability problems from total random hanging (requiring a hard shutdown on the PC case button), random insane flickering (requiring a controlled shutdown on the PC case button) or as in the case of Linux Mint 9, random insane flickering for 1 minute and then an auto Xserver restart with login screen (improvement, but still unworkable). I have heard that there is a Xorg Xserver Intel version 2.11 - anyone tried that with Linux Mint 9 with a similar problem ? Not uncommon with Intel chip sets. Ideally would like to backport it to one that i know works.

[dunnie]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler ... riverTo2.4

Above is the method that used to work on Linux Mint 8, perplexed why it doesn't now work for Linux Mint 9. Anyone know of an alternative way to install the earlier driver into Linux Mint 9 ? Done a search on google, and found all the usual screams and shouts at Lucid, but no solution so far.

[mzsade]

video is choppy in VLC, nit-picking and loving it...

Edit: Power Manager doesn't work, black screen after every 10 minutes of idle time, didn't work in Mint 8 either.

[remoulder]

Genuine bugs that are duplicable and are not just personal gripes or upstream feature changes, should be reported here. This section is no longer being used for reporting bugs.

[dunnie]

Checking this out later for version Linux Mint 9 freeze /xserver restart bug FOR INTEL CHIPSETS - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes It claims that upgrading to xserver-xorg-intel-2.11 fixes a lot of these issues. Although also claims it is possible to go back a version, which failed when i last tried it.. might try the other solutions suggested. I hope this helps anyone else. I will report if it fixes the xserver bug/glitch.

[dunnie]

Using Linux Mint 8, but using the Xorg-edgers fresh X crack version of the Xserver, via Xorg Intel version 2.11 (the Xorg Intel driver currently shipped with Mint 8 / Mint 9 has a nasty tendency of causing pc freezes or random xserver restarts with a lot of in-built intel based graphic chipsets, as used on many Dell desktops/laptops, a leading brand here in the UK - Xorg Intel version 2.9).

Fingers crossed, but after 10 hours of use, Xserver now appears to be stable via version 2.11 and updated libraries. I will test it for a bit longer, and then move back to Linux Mint 9, and then replace the packaged Xserver with the one I am using right now.

https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

[dunnie]

Alas spoke too soon. Everything was working wonderfully today until i went to watch some youtube videos in firefox.. everything was fine for about the first two/three videos, then out the blue on opening up the forth youtube video window, xserver crashed or restarted and I was returned to the login window - lucky i didn't have any files open at the time. It seems Xorg Intel version 2.11 is more stable than version 2.9 (2.9 couldn't been anymore unstable on my system), but alas not stable enough. Just had to backport back to version 2.4 again to have a truly stable system again (and watch youtube videos without fear of an auto logout). it's a shame that version 2.4 doesn't appear to work on lucid / Mint 9. Will have to wait till a stable update is made to Xorg Intel drivers - maybe 2.12? Getting there.

[gychang]

MPlayer sometimes seems to play 2 songs simultaneously and when playing does not show up on taskbar...

Connection to windows-7 PC machine is intermittently gets cut off (samba issue?)

gychang

[dunnie]

This isn't a bug, but a change which warrants as a potential hazard to users.

There appears to have been a change made to OpenOffice Spreadsheet which if you aren't careful has the potential to corrupt contents. There appears to be a new feature or alternatively an old feature which is now set on by default, which examines the first two characters of a string entered into a cell, and if the first two characters are upper case it changes the 2nd character to lower case. Not sure why this has been introduced, all I do know is that it has just corrupted my spreadsheet file holding over 260 server domain ftp passwords, by auto changing the 2nd character of the passwords. Also appears to change previous contents on saving document.

This can be disabled by click on 'Tools' -> AutoCorrupt sorry 'AutoCorrect Options' -> Correct Two Initial Captials, and unchecking the check box.

Thank you OpenDocument developers.. you have just corrupted my customers database of ftp passwords !

OpenOffice 3.1.1.
Build 9420