Ubuntu on the Acer Aspire E15 (E5-571G-51TH)

Having failed the 3rd repair attempt at the Thinkpad E540 [1] I gave up and bought the next best laptop from the nearby store that somehow is usable for programming. Behold: the Acter Inspire E15. 8GB RAM, i5, matte screen (1920x1080). It worked out of the box with the SSD transplant from the old Lenovo, … Continue reading Ubuntu on the Acer Aspire E15 (E5-571G-51TH) →

Ubuntu 14.04 on the Lenovo Thinkpad E540

Update 25.03.2015: I strongly recommend against the Thinkpad Edge 540. There seems to be a systematic manufacturing problem with keyboards in many Edge models. Mine broke down a week after ordering, I installed a replacement keyboard which broke within two weeks of installing. For details see: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/11e-Windows-E-and-Edge-series/thinkpad-edge-15-keyboard-problem/td-p/406731/page/8 Original text: After not being so long … Continue reading Ubuntu 14.04 on the Lenovo Thinkpad E540 →

Smaller brightness steps with the Asus N56VB and Ubuntu

Ubuntu on the laptop is definitely maturing. We're way past "at least it boots" and now that survival is ensured, it is time for luxury illnesses. One of those on the Asus N56VB is handling of screen brightness which, for my taste, comes in too steep steps. Especially the minimum brightness is still too bright … Continue reading Smaller brightness steps with the Asus N56VB and Ubuntu →

VLC / Ubuntu out of sync sound

In ubuntu 12.04 VLC runs out of sync when pausing a video. First, when pausing the video, sound will continue playing for a couple of seconds. Then when resuming the video, it will lag behind but eventually resync after several seconds. Somehow I lived with this bug for a while, unnecessarily as it seems as … Continue reading VLC / Ubuntu out of sync sound →

Automatically regulating volume on a USB headset with Ubuntu

When you connect an external speaker or headset to your computer you normally expect the sound to play over those and you'd also expect the integrated speakers to mute. Windows does that well and you'd expect that Ubuntu can do that as well, unfortunately it doesn't. Not without some scripting. So here we go: The … Continue reading Automatically regulating volume on a USB headset with Ubuntu →