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Re: Trying Debian?



On Mon, 2005-11-28 at 10:26 -0800, Johan van der Meer wrote:
> Laptop update:
> 
> Well, now i have a Fedora Core 3 distribution on my laptop.  I got a
> bit disheartened with the difficulty to install new software, and saw
> that FC3 had an apt-get tool. I tried apt-get on centOS, but it didn't
> work however (dependencies didn't work out). 
> 
> Where FC3 falls short (and FC4 too, for that matter...) is the sound.
> The quality of the sound is not as good as it was in centOS, when I
> start up dosbox (an util that lets you play old dos games). Since
> yesterday however, the sound stopped working altogether. Probably it
> had to do with the FD3 Kernel upgrade.
> 
> That leaves me without sound... so I looked up a sound HOWTO that
> deals with recompiling the kernel :-/
> 
> Somehow I was hoping to avoid having to recompile a kernel to make a
> distribution work. That is the reason why I didn't install Debian in
> the first place, thinking it was a tool only for the  REAL
> purist-experts, and went with 'easy' distributions such as suse or
> fedora core 4 (both of which do NOT work). :-)
> 
> So the next step is *drum roll* recompiling the kernel and installing
> the sound driver (or module). I have a sound 'Howto' that tells me how
> to do it... With this new skill, hopefully I will have a working
> system... someday.
> 
> However... should I stick to FC3 for now, or should i really go to the
> debian side of linux? Or does the distro not really matter (that
> much)?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> Johan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/25/05, Jiri Svoboda <svoji@centrum.dk> wrote:
>         Johan van der Meer wrote:
>         
>         > I have both Knoppix and Kubuntu.
>         >
>         > Also i've tried CentOS, and it's the only distro that
>         actually managed
>         > to install itself without hanging up the system. However
>         the 
>         > resolution can't be set right (to 1280x800).
>         >
>         > I've just tried SuSE 10 :-( After the install, it didn't
>         detect the
>         > monitor as it should, and now I''m stuck with a black
>         screen. Booting
>         > failsafe, running yast (the setup tool), and selecting
>         'monitor' also 
>         > produced a black screen :-/. So much for SuSE. Maybe I'm
>         quittng too
>         > soon, but i don't really like suse that much, and I was
>         willing to
>         > give it a shot only if it detected my hardware all in one
>         go :-) 
>         >
>         > So now I'm really thinking of going with Debian (and go on
>         the
>         > adventure...). I've heard from a friend (who is a sysadmin
>         and a linux
>         > geek, and gave me Kubuntu and Knoppix) that Debian has the
>         better 
>         > software support and online community. Is that true?
>         >
>         > Should I try out Kubuntu, or Knoppix? I have Kubuntu 5.04
>         and Knoppix 3.8
>         >
>         > Cheers,
>         > Johan
>         >
>         >
>         > On 11/23/05, *marc* < gmane@auxbuss.com
>         <mailto:gmane@auxbuss.com>> wrote:
>         >
>         >     Johan van der Meer said...
>         >
>         >     > Is it, for someone fairly new to linux, feasable to
>         install 
>         >     Debian on
>         >     > a laptop?
>         >
>         >     It's feasible, and likely to be an adventure.
>         >
>         >     > To give you an idea on how my linux skills are:
>         >     >
>         >     > I have an Acer Aspire 1692, and in trying out
>         different distro's 
>         >     came
>         >     > upon the following things:
>         >
>         >     Search for as many howto and install docs for your
>         specific model
>         >     as you
>         >     can and inwardly digest them.
>         >
>         >     > Would Debian be THE choise for me, or should I rather
>         go with 
>         >     SUSE (or
>         >     > another distribution)?
>         >
>         >     One of the benefits of Debian is that you can take
>         advantage of
>         >     distros
>         >     built upon Debian. I don't think that I'm alone in using
>         Knoppix to 
>         >     assist with installation difficulties. Also handy is
>         (K)Ununtu.
>         >
>         >     One other point, it is likely that you will have to move
>         away from
>         >     stable, which brings with it possible problems of its
>         own. With the 
>         >     current state of testing, this might not be a great time
>         to start on
>         >     this adventure.
>         >
>         >     Also, be prepared to compile your own kernel and a few
>         >     drivers/utilities. You might not need these, but don't
>         be surprised if 
>         >     you do.
>         >
>         >     --
>         >     Best,
>         >     Marc
>         >
>         >
>         >     --
>         >     To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to
>         debian-laptop-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
>         >     <mailto:debian-laptop-REQUEST@lists.debian.org>
>         >     with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact
>         >     listmaster@lists.debian.org
>         <mailto:listmaster@lists.debian.org>
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         > --
>         > J.N. van der Meer, PhD-student
>         > Department of Clinical Neurophysiology 
>         > Academic Medical Centre
>         > P.O. box 22700
>         > 1100 DE Amsterdam
>         > telephone: ++31.20.566.2965
>         > e-mail   : j.n.vandermeer@amc.uva.nl <mailto:
>         j.n.vandermeer@amc.uva.nl>
>         
>         You can try Kanotix, I was pleased (base: Debian / sid and
>         system - Knoppix)
>         
>         / Jiri


First, top-posting is frowned upon. That said, I've been using debian
since it *came out*, and would never use anything else on a server. For
my laptop, however, I have just discovered ubuntu, which is essentially
debian with a focus on the desktop/laptop user, and it absolutely rocks.
It discovered my centrino wireless during installation and set my
widescreen resolution (Dell D810) up out of the box. Everything - sound,
usb, wireless, etc. just worked. Definitely the best laptop linux I have
ever used. (and it's still really debian, so I don't feel like a
traitor...;)

-C



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