Re: If a computer is sold with preinstalled SUSE, shouldn't it work with Debian?
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 20:52:21 -0500
alex <radsky@ncia.net> wrote:
> ABrady wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:37:57 -0500
> > alex <radsky@ncia.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> If a computer works with a preinstalled SUSE system and doesn't
> >have> an installed MS Windows system, what problems can be expected
> >with> adding and running additional systems like Debian and a MS
> >Windows if> the hard drive is properly partitioned?
> >>
> >
> >
> > None. Unless they installed a winmodem in it. Then you might have to
> > do a little extra work to get it working again.
> >
> >
> >
> It would seem ridiculous to sell a computer that has a modem that
> can't be used with the operating
> system that came preinstalled. But, supposing it does have a
> winmodem that works with one linux
> system, shouldn't it work with any linus system or would it be
> necessary to develop a different driver for
> each one? I suppose the easy solution is to install a modem that will
>
> work with any OS.
Yes, it should. SuSE has some prebuilt binaries for several modems,
though. Others have a few, too, but SuSE has sort of been in the lead on
the winmodems they support out of the box.
For all that SuSE automatically supports, people can download what they
need to build it themselves. That's why I stated it *might* be a little
more work to get it going.
Once upon a time there was a modem that the only place I could find a
binary was SuSE (can't recall the brand). Now several distros support
some of them with binaries.
The best solution is to use an external modem or an internal one with
some real hardware on it. Unfortunately a lot of people come to linux
already owning a machine. A lot of them aren't sure if they want to use
linux or not. For some, if they start off getting told they have to buy
different hardware just to try it, the decision is already made.
I'm not saying that's bad per se. I personally want to see people who
*want* use use linux coming to it. The last thing I want is people
changing in massive numbers, demanding certain things be easy or they'll
go away. That ends up being a double-edged sword because the ones who
are disappointed tell those who never tried it and help to discourage
them, OTOH, you don't end up with a lot of people trying to end up with
Winders on linux.
> The computers I'm referring to are Walmart's Suse Linux PCs. The
> specs look very attractive.
The only thing I know about those is Microtel (II think that's the name)
warrants the hardware to work with the software they put on it. I think
I recall reading they were using real modems for linux, but my memory
may be in error. I'd ask if I was considering one of those machines.
> My thoughts are to move SUSE to a different partitiion and install
> Debian in its place.
>
> http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111557,00.asp
>
> or you can try this one: (apologies for breaking the line wrap rule)
>
> http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp?cat=117880&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A106562%3A117880
(Mine unwrapped it OK.)
I really don't know what modem they use. If it's the same one with
Lindows and MDK (I know they *were* selling MDK machines at one time) it
should work fine with everything. It just comes down to the driver and
whether it's included or needs to be downloaded and compiled.
In any case, you could try it to see if it works by dual-booting a
couple of linux distros. You could also look in the SuSE /proc or in
/var/log to see what it sees. Or you could even boot Knoppix, Mepis or
other Debian-based CDs to see how they see it in those directories.
If you use one of the live CDs, you could easily install one of those if
it works with the modem and the release Debian tree doesn't. I'm using
Mepis right now. I have a mix of all sorts of things as a result,
including the experimental and testing stuff. It's been pretty stable
for me, though it has had a short-lived quirk or two along the way. I've
also installed and used Knoppix on a couple of machines after running
them from CD long enough to know I wanted them longer term.
--
Any dimwit can run Windows XP, and they usually do.
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