Docking Station Support in Ubuntu 8.10

I am pleased to say that 8.10 supports my docking station and attached external monitor.  Kudos to the devs, this is the first time this has been supported in at least four versions by my count.  This is not unmitigated success however.  When I attach the computer to the dock I have to open the lid to use the function key to switch from the laptop display to the desktop display.  You can guess what happens next.  Because I have the system to set suspend when I close the lid, bingo, it suspends when I close the lid.  With the lid closed I can resume the system with the power button on the dock, but its a pain in the neck.

Other problems are surfacing as well, mostly regarding Thunderbird.  All-tray, an application in the Ubuntu repositories, will not work with Compiz turned on.  Rather it works when you set it up initially, but it forgets the settings for any apps you close.  There are posts and bug reports all over the place about this, but nothing has changed here since 8.04.

Another weird issue is the inability of AWN to display a simple launcher with a Thunderbird Icon on it.  Any other app works, just not Thunderbird.  Passing strange.

There is also some problem with  network manager and the Wi-Fi setup here at work.  At home I use a pass phrase to connect to my Wi-Fi router using WPA-PSK.  No problem.  At work, same setup, but we use a 256 bit Hex key represented by 63 ASCII characters to log on.  Every time I entered the Hex key network manager would change it.  I can’t log on.  Windows has no problem with this set up. 

In addition, ScribeFire really stinks compared to Windows Live Writer.  Not even close.  So this is being posted from Vista using Live Writer.

Ubuntu almost got me this time, but there are too many nagging issues to make me want to undergo the pain of a switch.  I’m still on Vista.

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