thank you for your comments, if somebody still need to be convinced about the advantages of open source, this is the definitive proof that cooperation and the possibility to modify the software can solve all problems.

I have experienced the same problem. Using the laptop’s built in sound control wheel on the side causes an iterative increase in volume and is horrible. I have done some research, and I have found the solution. It is a problem with evdev. Download the evdev source at http://packages.ubuntu.com/source/karmic/xserver-xorg-input-evdev and then unzip it, and edit src/evdev.c. Find the following lines

/* filter repeat events for chording keys */
if (value == 2 &&
(ev->code == KEY_LEFTCTRL || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTCTRL ||

ev->code == KEY_LEFTSHIFT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTSHIFT ||
ev->code == KEY_LEFTALT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTALT ||
ev->code == KEY_LEFTMETA || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTMETA ||
ev->code == KEY_CAPSLOCK || ev->code == KEY_NUMLOCK ||
ev->code == KEY_SCROLLLOCK)) /* XXX windows keys? */
return;

Immediately after these lines, add:

/* fix events for volume keys */
if(ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEDOWN || ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEUP) //MODIFY THIS LINE
{
//post a keydown and then a keyup, as media keys have no automatic key-up
xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 1);
xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 0);
return;
}

Then make sure you have the correct programs for compiling:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool automake gcc xorg-dev xutils-dev

cd back out of the src directory, and run:

./configure

make

sudo make install

sudo cp /usr/local/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/

and hey presto.

I found this solution at http://www.tsenyurt.com/2009/03/29/ubuntu-volume-wheel-problem-fix/

hope this helps

The speech marks around the code posted by mihal need to be replaced by the ones in the code already – i.e. copying and pasting from the website doesnt work. The bluetooth finally works brilliantly

I used this page to configure Kubuntu on my Satellite U300-14U, which all seemed to work well as described here.

However, since the last update (21) of my kernel on Kubuntu 8.04, there seems to have been a change in the driver of my wireless device: some wireless networks are listed, others aren’t (amongst which my home network).
If I reboot with kernel 19, all is well again, and the same wireless networks as before are listed.

Has anyone noticed this problem?
Does anyone know about the difference? Are some wireless networks somehow ‘filtered’ differently?

compiz fusion will work on this laptop, even without proper drivers i believe. If you get the appropriate modules from synaptic or aptitude, and when trying to enable them, it reports that they cannot be enabled, try executing the following at the terminal…

SKIP_CHECKS=yes compiz –replace ccp &