--- "J.A. Magallon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 20020131 SI Reasoning wrote: > >I disagree, > >first, this is a major problem as it completely > >freezes the box and it has to be turned off > manually. > > > > OK > > >second, when you release a distribution it needs to > be > >able to run on as many boxes as possible without > major > >crashes, if you can turn off an item and it creates > >more stable boxes, then you are less likely to lose > >people, especially newbies > > > > Then disable DMA for ide drives, it can crash on > some > ServerWorks boxes. So put all Linux users down to > slowliness because the implementation of a feature > (read DMA or APIC) is broken in certain hardware > (ServerWorks or Inspiron). > The DMA problem is easy to solve, it can be disabled > selectively depending on chipset. I do not know if > it can be done also with apic. But but will happen > if not ? Would you release a distro without DMA ?
If APIC could be successfully disabled (append=noapic does not resolve this problem), then I would recommend a script to notify users of this problem on install or at least have a readme available while installing the kernel and a place for newbies to add these particulars fairly idiot-proof during install if it is not automatically detected. However, this cannot be done and it is a major issue. DMA can be turned off however, so a similar script as mentioned above would be helpful. We get a modem warning when installing winmodems with a url for more info (how about auto creating a bookmark for all browsers whenever this warning pops up during initial install or hardrake install attempts. > >thirdly, this is a feature that more experienced > users > >will take advantage of and they are more than > >qualified to rebuild their kernel. Mandrake is > geared > >towards user friendlyness and having your system > crash > >so easily is not user friendly. > > > > A newbie without a feature will just see his box is > much slower than windows, and think 'mdk sucks' Does this affect speed that dramatically? I am not familiar enough with what APIC does. . > > >Because the Fn key is right next to the Ctrl key, > >there has been quite a few times that I am trying > to > >change desktops and end up freezing the system. > > > > ?? Laptops have an added "control" key called function (Fn) and this enables specific hardcoded features in the laptop, such as suspend, entry to the bios at any time, keypad functionality, audio volume control, lcd brightness control, etc. > >Finally, this feature has recently been turned on > in > >the kernel, prior kernels, esp in the 2.4.16 and > prior > >did not have this turned on. It is not an > improvement > >when the stock kernel creates more problems as it > >progresses forward. Let the maintainers of APIC > >resolve some of these issues and make this feature > >more stable across many different types of boxes > >before it becomes part of the default kernel. > > > > Changelog from mandrake kernel: > > * Mon Mar 05 2001 Juan Quintela > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2.4.2-7mdk > ... > - Use APIC also now on uniprocessor. > > And you always can boot with noapic on BUGGY boxes. again, I have tried this option and it does not resolve the problem. I wish it did! > > -- > J.A. Magallon # Let the > source be with you... > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Mandrake Linux release 8.2 (Cooker) for i586 > Linux werewolf 2.4.18-pre7-slb #2 SMP Thu Jan 31 > 00:35:23 CET 2002 i686 > ===== SI Reasoning [EMAIL PROTECTED] "There never was a good war or a bad peace." Benjamin Franklin __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com
