It’s the moment I’ve been dreading all week, when I realize that I’ve hit a wall with Ubuntu and can go no further. Today, the wall in question is ACPI support, which in version 7.10 is simply broken. Install “Gutsy” onto a notebook computer (take your pick of make/model – the problem seems to transcend the major brands), execute a suspend/resume cycle (for example, by closing and reopening the screen/lid), and It’s the moment I’ve been dreading all week, when I realize that I’ve hit a wall with Ubuntu and can go no further. Today, the wall in question is ACPI support, which in version 7.10 is simply broken.Install “Gutsy” onto a notebook computer (take your pick of make/model – the problem seems to transcend the major brands), execute a suspend/resume cycle (for example, by closing and reopening the screen/lid), and wham! You’re in the Linux ACPI twilight zone.In my case, the result is a kind of “black screen of death,” with no way to recover outside of a hard power-off/reboot. Worse still, there’s no known fix. I spent the better part of my Saturday trolling through the various discussion and newsgroups. I saw hundreds of posts (the “official” tracking thread on Ubuntu’s own support forums runs over a dozen pages), most echoing the same or similar experiences. Clearly, this is no isolated configuration problem. “Gutsy” is broken in a big way on laptops. And frankly, that makes me mad. Mad that I wasted a week of my life tweaking and tuning my Ubuntu installation (I even wiped Vista so I can boot 7.10 from my primary disk) only to discover that there are still major showstoppers like this. Don’t the guys at Canonical have any laptops? Didn’t someone think to at least *try* the power management scheme before they finalized it? How could such a critical bug slip through QA? Makes you question whether *any* of the major distro vendors can deliver a stable, enterprise–ready desktop image.Now before all the “fan bois” start piling on again I’d like to point out that, as of this past Thursday evening, I had formally decided to migrate full time to Ubuntu 7.10. I was genuinely pleased with the overall user experience and had worked hard to engineer a functional, day-to-day configuration. And for the most part, I had succeeded. Whatever ACPI-type quirks I may have observed in the early going I simply chalked-up to a lack of tuning. I told myself there was probably a parameter I missed or configuration setting I needed to change.A week later, and I realize this isn’t just some minor glitch. I’ve scoured the web for a solution, trying every recommended tweak and hack I can find. I’ve edited and re-edited the acpi-support file. I’ve reassigned the lidbtn script in resume.d to use the sleep.sh script. I’ve even written my own shell script to forcibly restart the network manager daemon at resume. Nothing works, a fact attested to by the many hundreds of frustrated users voicing their displeasure on the Ubuntu forums and across the web. So now it’s back to Vista, a process that’s been made a whole lot easier by the OS’ new Image Backup utility. Just boot the Vista install CD, click the Complete PC Restore option, and grab some coffee. In my case, it took less than an hour to restore my entire Vista configuration, including productivity applications, data and all of my developer tools (SQL Server, Visual Studio, IIS).It’s like I never left, which is sad because I honestly didn’t want to come back. I feel like the guy who spends weeks planning that romantic cruise getaway with his significant other only to discover that the boat sank on its way into harbor. It’s that frustrating.Bottom Line: I’d made a home for myself in Ubuntu. However, at the end of the day I still need to get things done on the road (I spend a great deal of time shuttling back and forth between the USA and Europe, the Middle East and Africa), and that means using suspend/resume to quickly access my laptop during and in-between trip segments. For me, it’s no longer a choice between OS. Right now, only one of these two options works reliably for mobile users. And that option isn’t Ubuntu. Hopefully, the folks at Canonical will heed to growing chorus of complaints and issue a patch soon. It’s worth noting that, before I wiped my installation, I made a point of backing-up my Home folder in anticipation of returning to Ubuntu if/when they get this whole ACPI mess sorted out (it wasn’t an issue under “Feisty,” and all the clues point to a problem with the newer kernel in “Gutsy”). Until then, it’s the Microsoft way or the highway…quite sad, really. Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business