Re: Debian help, please
Not that I'd want to spoil anyone's fun of compiling KDE, but I consider myself a Debian fan and I wouldn't willingly set out to do that kind of bare metal. So I'd recommend (especially for the first install or three) working from a packaged distro. Ubuntu is VERY snifty, and is Debian based. Libranet works on every piece of hardware I've thrown at it, and that includes some pretty crufty laptops. You'd be welcome to borrow the CDs for either one. .02 es 73 Bill, Appliance Operator N1BFK On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:46:19 -0500 Bill Freeman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I thought that I'd try the LUG before I go more global. I've been a RedHat/Fedora guy for a long time. I have a couple of new (to me) machines to install on, so I'm trying some other distributions ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Debian help, please
I thought that I'd try the LUG before I go more global. I've been a RedHat/Fedora guy for a long time. I have a couple of new (to me) machines to install on, so I'm trying some other distributions. (Gentoo on one of them. Man, does kde take a long time to compile! Don't set up to build -j2 if you've only got 64Mb. When two compiles have a RSS together greater than available RAM, and that often happens doing a stage 1 gentoo, you drop to a few percent of your machine's performance.) One is a Compaq Presario 1200Z. I sucessfully shrank the NTFS partition with XP on it (not permanently my laptop) and burned myself a net install CD, and installed woody. (I figured that stable would be wiser until I'm wiser.) All well and good. I even got it to install the tulip driver on boot, though I'm still running dhclient -e eth0 by hand. But, no sound. Some fooling around later I realized that its, at least in part, because I wound up with kernel 2.2.20-idepci (probably because that was what was on the netinstall CD?), and the idepci versions have no sound support. So I did an install of 2.2.20, the full version. Yeah, 2.4 is in the apt accessible stuff, but I figured I'd take baby steps. And it boots, all well and good. But 1. still no sound, even when I modprobe via82cxxx_audio (which is what works for knoppix); and 2. the tulip driver will no longer load (something about device busy, I'll get the real message if desired, but that's a ways back, see below). Yes, the error message implies that it's attempting to load tulip.o from the correct subdirectory tree of /lib/modules. OK, so maybe the 2.2 stuff isn't being kept up and tested as well as one might hope, it being a few versions back and all, So I tried 2.4.18-k7, which hangs initializing USB stuff. There's a sticker on the laptop that says Duron, but uname reports i686. Yes I got the initrd stuff straight. So next I take two steps back and try 2.4.16-i386. This boots fine, will happily modprobe via82cxxx_audio, and kde's sound server no longer complains (though I haven't heard any sound yet). But, tulip still won't load (no such device this time from tulip.o's init_module). Any insights? Bill ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: Debian help, please
On Saturday 26 March 2005 05:46 pm, Bill Freeman wrote: a net install CD, and installed woody. (I figured that stable would be wiser until I'm wiser.) All well and good. I even got it to I might suggest trying Testing until you're wiser. It's notoriously hard to start with Debian Woody (and far harder to start with Potato or something, too). The new installer is the first that's really a smooth installation start to finish. That said... it boots, all well and good. But 1. still no sound, even when I modprobe via82cxxx_audio (which is what works for knoppix); and 2. The via_82cxxx chips are a pain in the ass at times. While it's possible this is a Debian problem, I've had systems where I just gave up trying. Lots of via_82cxxx systems I've setup, I've used the ALSA drivers with more luck than the OSS ones. YMMV. One consistent thing I've noted with lots of via sound chipsets is that Master doesn't do anything in the mixer. Lots of times it's the headphone or surround or some other slider that actually makes sound come up. Make sure to play with the mixer a bunch before discounting that the driver is working or not. That said, the drivers can often yield rather sub-par sound quality too (but it may be fine). the tulip driver will no longer load (something about device busy, I'll get the real message if desired, but that's a ways back, see As for the tulip driver, that's odd. That usually is one of those drivers that just works - so long as it matches your kernel version, I can't imagine why it wouldn't. I haven't used tulip cards in awhile, though, so I can't say I've done any troubleshooting with them really. Anyway, this seems more a kernel version issue to me - very odd. Hope some of that helps somewhat (at least for sound). -N ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
