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Ubuntu "Karmic" 9.10 release notes for ARM

These release notes document known issues with Ubuntu 9.10 on ARM platforms.

All systems

• Offline installs might prevent timezone selection if the time is wrong: When booting a board with an incorrect time, the Linux kernel will clamp the time to the epoch but using this time still exposes issues such as preventing proper timezone selection. We recommend setting the time from the live session before starting the installer. This can be achieved by right-clicking on the date/time applet in the top panel, selecting Preferences, then Time Settings, then chose a date/time and click Set System Time. See 461812.

Freescale i.MX51 Babbage boards

• DVI port output does not work / is unstable: Display output on Babbage 2.x boards is underpowered and relatively unstable. The board might not be able to display any image with some DVI screens. This issue is particularly visible on Babbage 2.0 boards. Freescale recommends various hardware modifications to workaround the issue. This hardware issue is not tracked in Launchpad.

• SATA port hangs on GNOME startup: The SATA connector on Babbage 2.x boards will disconnect under some circumstances, in particular when starting a GNOME session as it initializes various subsystems in parallel such as display, sound etc., while doing a lot of I/O. We recommend installing to a USB or SD device and not to a device attached to the SATA port. See 431963.

• Resuming from suspend isn't possible: while gnome-power-manager exposes a suspend function, it is not possible to resume Babbage 2.x boards. See 456659.

• Hibernate not supported: the hibernate functionality is not enabled in i.MX51 kernels. See 458537.

• RTC clock not preserved on Babbage 2.0 boards: Babbage 2.0 boards can't preserve the time across power cycles. We recommend starting the board with network plugged in to allow the system to set the time via NTP or to use Babbage 2.5 boards. This hardware issue is not tracked in Launchpad.

• Reboot not supported on Babbage 2.0 boards: On Babbage 2.0 boards selecting reboot from the indicator session applet actually shuts the board down instead. See 444386.

• Kernel and bootloader not started: Babbage 2.x boards might not be able to start when the Ethernet and DVI port are plugged depending on the current draw; the Babbage 2.0 sometimes won't boot immediately after having been shutdown. We recommend removing the power cable for some minutes to unblock Babbage 2.0 boards and to unplug Ethernet and DVI cables when first booting for the first couple of seconds.

Marvell Dove boards

• System hangs after some seconds: Dove boards will hang when the CPU goes idle for the first time if you use the latest kernel with stock bootroms. We highly recommend updating your bootrom before installation, this is covered in the installation instructions for Dove boards. See 450940.

• Manual partitioning on Dove fails under some conditions: Under certain circumstances, manual partitioning on Dove boards may fail if the target hard drive has a blank partition table, or has a new one written to it by partman. This bug can be worked around by using an ext2 partition as the first partition, and setting its mount point to /boot, then bypassing the warning about not having a u-boot partition on the drive. See 462798

• Screensaver hangs on unlock: When unlocking the screensaver on Dove boards, it will hang and hog the CPU. Use "killall gnome-screensaver" from a text console to recover your session. See 458501.

• System really slow after resume: After resuming from suspend on Dove boards, the system will behave very slowly. See 453682.

• Hibernate not supported: the hibernate functionality is not enabled in Dove kernels. See 459558.

• No sound on Dove boards: After installation, sound settings may require adjustment before working properly. See 451635.