JohnA Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 OS is Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, installed by Dell. Several weeks ago I got some updates from Dell as well as Ubuntu that disabled both my wifi and external mouse. I finally discovered it was synaptic-i2c-hid-3.13.0-32-backport driver in DKMS format for the mouse and a similar driver for the Broadcom wifi card it once had. I changed the Broadcom for an Intel to get native compatibility for a future LTS OS upgrade. Disabling the i2c/DKMS wifi driver restores my wifi. This laptop has no ethernet capability. If I enable the i2c hid driver, my touchpad (hated, but necessary) works, but no USB mouse will work. If I disable it USB mice work and the touchpad doesn't. Yet it will activate the keypad backlights if I touch it. I put messages out on the Ubuntu and Dell forums and have received no replies. Can you help me restore my touchpad function? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubeHiFiNut Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 Official support for Ubuntu 14.04 ended at the end of April. Current LTS version is 18.04, which will be supported until the end of April 2023. I would upgrade to 18.04 and then assess what does, and does not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 16, 2019 Author Share Posted May 16, 2019 I wasn't aware support had ended already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 So, upgrading to 16.04 did it and eliminated the Dell "updates" that broke it in the first place. Not satisfied, I continued to 18.04 and wow! THAT is a big Change. No more menu bars. No more Unity, that I did not like but had become accustomed to. Spent all last night on upgrades and this evening on sizing fonts and icons and settings so its easier to use. 1910 x 1080 on a 13" screen gives minute fonts my readers can't clarify! It seems just as snappy and so far everything works but MacSlow's Cairo Clock. :-/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubeHiFiNut Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 On 5/15/2019 at 8:43 PM, JohnA said: I wasn't aware support had ended already. Ubuntu LTS releases are supported for 5 years. Support for 14.04 ended 4/2019. Support for 16.04 will end 4/2021. Support for 18.04 ends 4/2023. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 I kinda knew that. I hadn't remembered it was 5 years or done the math. It has been such a toaster, I just use it and forget about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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