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I experienced really slow internet connections all of a sudden through a wired connection to my Ubuntu desktop. It was weird as the wireless connections were all faster and the router was getting good signal. Anyway, it turned out (after much tweaking & a fresh install!) that it was something to do with DNS resolution!?

sudo gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf & change:

# hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
hosts:          files dns

I reckon mdns is to blame…

At the end of the day, I wanted to upgrade to 10.10 anyway and it forced me to backup my files. A good spring clean & learning experience.

As an addendum to this post…

Since I made it, the network connection on the “fresh” install ground to a halt. It turns out that its the default network manager which is to blame (thus far). I’m not sure how it manages it, but it breaks networking in some fashion.

What you need to do is install “wicd” network manager in place of the default installed network-manager.

Then remove the network manager using synaptic or the Ubuntu software centre(er).

If you want to get the buttons back onto the right hand side on the windows use:

tim@laptop:~$ gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close

This is for 10.10 which I just dual booted on the laptop.

After about 2 weeks of trial and error during friday afternoons I finally managed to get Xinerama working. You have to run through this process:

1. You also must disable RandR (look that one up on Google).
2. Delete everything in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
3. Boot into shell.
4. Run this comand “sudo aticonfig –initial=dual-head –screen-layout=left –dtop=horizontal,reverse –xinerama=on”
5. Hold your breath, reboot.

Hopefully it works for you. I’m annoyed that the mouse cursor remains on the main screen when you move across to the second one. Ubuntu/ATI graphics fail. Next time I’ll definately get an Nvidia card. Also, the second monitor looks terrible. Poor colours and contract and everything. Its a Dell.

There are other options which you can enter at the same time relating to screen resolutions and overlay types etc… look up “aticonfig –help” for more info.