Re: Why I left Debian
Bruno wrote:
On Sunday 29 October 2006 02:14, Damon L. Chesser wrote:
...
I 'll say that Debian detect correctly the hardware on my laptob (Dell
Aspire 9100). Except, it seems, video card ATI Radeon x600 for which I
had to install different stuffs fglrx and ati as it was not able to do
3D.
But I'm not sure about that because I have the feeling that 3D support is
in fact not included in the standard etch reposititories (but I might be
wrong on this last asumption...)
Bruno
No, you are right, but as far as I know, it is NOT included by default
in any Linux. Nos Suse, not FC, not Ubuntu, not Debian, not any I have
tried.
--
Damon L. Chesser
damon@damtek.com
damon@okfairtax.org
Hummm...I'm not sure about this : in fact I just installed KUbuntu 6.06 on my
laptop and found 'DRI enabled' (in Xorg.0.log) which should confirm (correct
me if I'm wrong) that 3d is available.
Bruno
Disclaimer, I missed this from your post
"3D support is in fact not included in the /*standard*/ etch repositories"
You are right. It is not. Nor are the w32codecs you need to watch video.
Nor are they included in any distro I know of due to legal reasons, by
default. This is not a Debian issue, it is a Linux/DRM/Copy right issue.
I went to kubuntu.org and I found on this page instructions on how to
set up ATI 3d drivers:
http://doc.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/desktopguide/C/hardware.html
quote:
3D ATI Video Card Driver
1.
Install the *xorg-driver-fglrx* package from the /Restricted/
repository (see Chapter 3, /Adding, Removing and Updating
Applications/
<http://doc.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/desktopguide/C/add-applications.html>).
2.
echo fglrx | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
sudo depmod -a ; sudo modprobe fglrx
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
sudo sed -i -e 's/"ati"/"fglrx"/' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3.
If you are using an NForce2-based motherboard you will also need
to do the following:
kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Change “Section "Device"” add the following line:
Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"
4.
Restart your machine for changes to take effect.
end quote
That leaves me to believe two things:
1. That it is not installed by default (though ati drivers are, NOT 3d)
2. That the install might be somewhat easier then in Debian, but that is
only because they allready installed all the other pieces ATI 3d needs
to run. No doubt to make it easier to do other kernel module things with
out having to compile your own.
Keep in mind that I am not that familiar ATI as I only have one box with
that card. I tend to set it up and forget it.
Also, I am not knocking your choice to use FC or any other distro, I
just wanted to point out that I personally do not know of a distro that
configures ATI "out of the box". Libranet used to, but Libranet is dead.
A better comparison to FC then Sarge would be Sid. I think you would
find that Sid is much more stable then FC. But: and this is a big BUT,
it does come with a 50/50 warranty: If it breaks you will own both
parts. Before you jump onto Sid (if you ever do) you should be able to
trouble shoot your way out of a bad upgrade, know when an upgrade might
break things, or be able and willing to learn how to do these things.
Debian is first and foremost a distro designed to be run on a server and
be rock solid stable. That is why the stable branch has "old" software.
New means untested. If you can run it on a desktop/laptop with new
hardware that is a bonus! Woot! Any comparison of Debian stable to any
other distro out there is not valid unless you take that into account
(for example, you can't compare FC5 to stable, but RHEL-4 to stable IS
valid)
To make the correct comparison, compare the latest FC release to Sid.
You will find that Debian holds up very well indeed and you still get to
keep your apt-get. Drawbacks: Since Debian is about installing what you
need, YOU need to configure your environment (3d vid, wireless (if you
need ndiswrapper, or need to go get firmware, etc). You will need to
have someone (like this mailing list or a real live person) you can
bounce help question off of. You might well need to be very good at
google to find config answers to your questions.
If you think that, after measuring all this against
FC5/Mandriva/Suse10.1 it is lacking and to hard then I advise you do
this: Search those other distros forums. Look at their mailing lists.
Jump on to their IRC channels and hang out and monitor the newbie
questions. They are flooded! I can't use this, this config will not
work, how do I get XYZ running? I upgraded to the latest point update
and now my system will not work! etc, etc, etc.
As for testing (etch) I advise all new guys to stay out! Testing is for
testing. If testing breaks, nobody really cares until you get close to a
release cycle. Either use stable or Sid. Stable will give you stability,
Sid will give you the latest kernel and software and will sacrifice
stability. In other words, you will have the latest point release of the
other distros, complete with all the headaches and responsibilities of
fixing it your self.
In 6 years of running Sid, I have had only one serious breakage and many
many "annoying" ones that took up to three weeks to fix (added just to
counter all my warnings about using Sid). Again, if you are not willing
or able to live with fixing your system when something goes wrong, DO
NOT USE Sid.
Any way, linux is linux. Find the distro that fits your "style" and
fills your needs, know it will have it's own issues and drawbacks. I
choose Debian because nothing comes even close to apt-get front end even
after all these years. It is a wonderful thing when you can go from one
release to another with nary a hick up. You do run into some problems
from time to time, but it is mostly a trivial thing to use the package
tools (you do have to know how) to overcome them.
I feel better by sharing, I think this has made us all better people!
I hope this helps.
--
Damon L. Chesser
damon@damtek.com
damon@okfairtax.org
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