Ubuntu under Virtual PC

I downloaded Ubuntu this afternoon and tried it out as a virtual machine. Unfortunately the screen was garbled as the default installation uses 24bits for the screen resolution andVirtual PC can’t cope with that.
It can be fixed (each time you boot the virtual pc) by doing the following that I have added to the Ubuntu faq

  • Press Ctrl Alt and Backspace at the same time. This will kill the xserver and drop you down to the console.
  • cd /etc/X11
  • sudo vim xorg.conf
  • Now, scroll down to Section “Screen” and find the entry named “!DefaultDepth”. Change the setting you find there from 24 to 16.
  • Move the cursor to the “2” in 24.
  • Hit the D key. Spacebar key. (You now deleted the “2”.)
  • Hit the D key. Spacebar key. (You now deleted the “4”.)
  • Hit the I key for insert. Type “16”. Hit Ctrl-C to stop inserting.
  • Hit a colon, cursor jumps to bottom left. Type a “w” as the command and press Enter. This saves your changes.
  • Hit a colon, type a “q” as command and press Enter. You are now back at shell prompt.
  • startx to get back to the xserver screen.

Note that you will have to do this each time you boot from your livecd.

Final rebate arrived

The final rebate (out of 5) arrived this afternoon and was actualy the first item purchased way back on the 23rd April 2005. It has taken 3 months and 2 days to arrive (as I sent the data off on the 24th) on a rebate that should have taken 6-8 weeks according to the small print.
The BestBuy (who got their wrists slapped for misbehaving on rebates) rebate on the same item arrived on the 31st May.
Now you can see why people refuse to use rebates for items. However, it is difficult to get the same or similar products at a comparable price without resorting to the rebate con.