When Ubuntu 8.10 got released, I was excited to upgrade to the new version. I did the usual procedure of backing up my notebook’s hard disk and started to install the new Ubuntu 8.10. I opted not to do the upgrade path ‘coz I wanted to start over a clean environment.

Being a newbie to Ubuntu, my 8.04 setup was kinda full of “test installs” of software to try out which one I would use. I thought this would be a perfect time to start clean and later just setup a “test” Ubuntu system on a VirtualBox machine.

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Version 2.0.4 update to Sun’s VirtualBox virtualization software has just been released. I’ve finished downloading the new version which is mainly a maintenance release.

Noticed one notable item in the changelog though — Linux additions: support Ubuntu 8.10. The update went smoothly without any problems.

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I’ve been using my Ubuntu-based Compaq C700 (specifically the C793TU) for a while now. For some reason during one of my updates, the brightness special function keys stopped working. I’ve never really gotten to fix the problem until now.

An idea of how to do it actually came from Valdir Silveira Jr’s “Ubuntu in Notebook” post (the post is in Portuguese but I used the ever so useful Google translation service) which did a trackback to my post about installing Ubuntu Linux on Compaq C700. Valdir showed how to adjust the brightness using a terminal session:

echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/OVGA/DD03/brightness

I decided to concoct a couple of bash scripts and map them to the “increase brightness” and “decrease brightness” function keys to allow me to adjust the brightness again.

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Last night before going to bed, I installed the recent kernel updates of Ubuntu. The update required a reboot so I decided to call it a day and shutdown my notebook instead of restarting and continue with what I was doing.

When I opened up my notebook (Compaq C793TU) today, the wifi and Virtualbox may have stopped working. Since a lot of people have been reading the following articles:

• How To: Install Ubuntu Linux on HP Compaq C700 notebook
• How To: Install Ubuntu Linux on HP Compaq C700 (Part 2)
• Upgraded to VirtualBox 2.0.2 on Ubuntu

I decided to post what I did to fix the problem in case some of you might need the information.

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Last time I posted what will work out of the box when you install the Ubuntu Hardy Linux distro on a HP Compaq C793TU notebook. Today, I’m spending some time writing about how to make some of the other things work like for example the Atheros wifi chip on a Compaq C793TU and dual head monitors that automatically configures itself whether there is an external monitor or none connected.

On this post, I’m also writing some special setup that I have that others might be interested like using a stereo bluetooth headset and a bluetooth mouse on the Compaq Presario C793TU.

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I recently bought an HP Compaq C700 notebook (Presario C793TU) and installed the Ubuntu Hardy linux distro. Before buying the notebook, I made some checking on Linux support for the Presario C793TU and it turned out great! I’ve gotten every device on the HP notebook to work under Ubuntu including 3GB of memory (published specs of the C793TU is only 2GB).

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