Fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10

I would like to perform a clean install of 8.10 0n my XPS M1530, which came with 8.04. Upgrading has caused numerous problems and faults, and rendered the system fairly unusable. I would rather not have to reinstall back to 8.04 with the dell 'rescue cd' (which I would have to burn; they included a utility to make the disk, rather than the disk itself).

However, the one Dell CD that came with my system is fairly useless (only contains the windows drivers for the webcam, as far as I can tell), so I have no idea how to setup the touch keys, Internet switch, fn button, scrolling, etc, or what drivers and settings to install or modify to make things like the wireless, bluetooth, webcam, etc. work properly.

Does anyone know what I need to do to get everything running in 8.10?

If I were you, I'd burn a live cd, boot off it, and see what works and what doesn't. Since I don't have that laptop, I obviously can't tell you what will and won't work right out of the box, but it will definitely let you know right off the bat what might be missing in 8.10.

I have been told that Dell will release an intrepid version to update from hardy. I cannot tell you where to look specifically but you might want to check out Dell's site and forum.

How's this for an odd one. I tried using a live CD and everything worked fine except the trackpad. It was literally completely unable to do anything. It clicked on things the mouse wasn't pointing at instead of moving, moved in completely different directions from the motions I was making and jumped from one location to another. I was barely able to get the system to shut down. If this isn't an isolated incident, I will have no choice but to downgrade back to Hardy.

Update: It turns out that for some reason, everything works perfectly on the live cd EXCEPT the trackpad, which functions not at all. Needless to say, having a laptop that needs an external mouse is highly inconvenient. Any idea what the heck is going on?

osiris2258 said: Update: It turns out that for some reason, everything works perfectly on the live cd EXCEPT the trackpad, which functions not at all. Needless to say, having a laptop that needs an external mouse is highly inconvenient. Any idea what the heck is going on?

I've read that it's a thing with the laptop's Bios.... looks like updating the Bios to version A..something..9 or so solves the problem. Dell has special tools on Ubuntu to let you upgrade the firmware. Good luck