Ubuntu 8.10 and Intel i845 chipsets

Today I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 on an old Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop. Most of the process went well, but when I tried to login the screen went black.

Okay, sometimes it went to the default amber Ubuntu background color. No matter: I never got any windows or menus. Since I was unfamiliar with Ubuntu's key bindings, the only way out was to cycle power.

It turns out that compiz, which provides the default Ubuntu 8.10 window manager, does not like the old i845 graphics chipset.

Google eventually turned up a way to disable compiz. Here's what worked for me.

Summary

Login using a Failsafe Terminal session, remove compiz and compiz-core, then logout and log back in using an Xclient script session.

Details

1. Boot as usual.
2. Before logging in, click the Options link at the bottom left of the display.
3. Click Select Session...
4. Click the Failsafe Terminal radio button.
5. Click the Change Session button.
6. A dialog will pop up, explaining that this is the Failsafe xterm session. Click OK.
7. An xterm will open. At its prompt, type
   sudo apt-get remove compiz compiz-core
8. Enter your password, etc. and confirm the package removal.
9. When the removal completes, type
   metacity --replace &
   (I'm not sure this is necessary.)
10. Exit the shell.
11. When the login screen re-appears, click Options.
12. Click Select Session...
13. Click the Run Xclient script radio button.
14. Click Change Session.
15. Login again.

TODO

When I get more free time I need to repeat the entire installation process, this time collecting detailed information on the failure. Given enough info, I bet the Ubuntu and/or Compiz teams would be able to fix this problem.