Mellis,
Paul Badger replied that he had limited knowledge about Linux so he could not help.
In any case, there is a development.
I was able to make it work some of the time, by holding releasing the reset button at the same time as I hit the Upload button on the ide. This is a workaround.
I would like to direct this item to your attention and Paul's attention: http://www.ladyada.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4703
Basically, under Win, Port settings must be adjusted using "Set RTS on Close". If you don't do this, you can only program the first time or after unplugging the USB cable.
Under Ubuntu 8.04, the behavior is identical (but of course, you can NOT change the port setting the same way, I believe. )
He goes on to say that a change is required to the RXTXComm package that Arduino uses. See the link for full details.
Could someone take a look at this? I think that possibly a change to the Arduino environment would be helpful.
Thanks,
Steve.