So. Installed Linux Mint. Still crappy internet. But I know what’s the problem now, ha ! At least I think so. Half the fun with Linux, isn’t it, getting stuff to work, because it’s not that I have two other jobs or anything !
I like the Mint interface, the Desktop, the absence of Unity etc, but the internet interruptions were not Ubuntu’s fault after all. It’s the driver used in Ubuntu (and hence also Mint) to work with the Realtek RTL 8111E/8168B LAN device that is used in my Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3R motherboard. They don’t like each other, and consequently you get frequent dropouts, and generally low data speeds of below 100 Kbit/s.
So far I have seen 2 possible solutions, and I’m going to try them tonight. One is to update the linux-backports-modules package (via your software manager or apt), the other is mentioned and explained here, and involves blacklisting the Ubuntu r8168/r8169 driver, and replacing it with the original one from Realtek, which can be found here.
I’ll let you know how I go. If you get blog posts, it probably worked.
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Update : Problem solved and internet fixed with method number 2.
