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  • From: Joel Sinor <jsinor AT comcast.net>
  • To: sm-discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Supported SourceMage Linux Hardware
  • Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 15:23:25 -0500

I have found that some of the sites that used to give hardware advice no
longer do under the premise that "Linux supports everything now anyway."
( http://www.linuxhardware.net/ )
and some even advocate "buy it and see if it works, if it does not, too
bad."
This is not a good way to go, so I have found a number of sites that
will give you the info you need.
First off, you talk about your motherboard. I usually google for
information about motherboards and chipsets. In particular I am after
posted experiences of people who have installed linux on my potential
motherboard, and the posts of people on the linux kernel mailing list.
I pay particular attention to anything Linus and Alan Cox have to say on
the matter, both because they are experts and because if they like
features in a given motherboard it is going to be more likely they will
incorporate/work on patches for this in the kernel.
On the nforce2, I have found some information on it being workable under
Linux, and there is a set of spells in sourcemage to install the NVidia
drivers. I do not know how well they work.
I ended up getting an ATI IGP based botherboard which likewise
has the Via 686b (which although disliked by the kernel developers has
been worked around sufficiently to be usable for everything it
provides). (FIC AT31) My reasoning was that since it is supposed to be
a Radeon chipset and ATI has been helping the Linux community and the
drivers are open source (as opposed to nvidia) that I would have a
better time and whereas I did not expect my graphics to work right away,
I thought they would someday. It looks like I was wrong, and ATI is not
helping linux developers like they were, so I will be using the vesa
driver for the forseeable future (and researching with a bit more
diligence my 3d card). To be fair, this board was not meant to provide
decent 3d anyway.
Rant off, on with your question.
You were thinking about the Linux Hardware Compatability HOWTO
I believe. It is here:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/
but often wrong when it says someting is not supported. In LInux
remember that if someone says something is supported they are usually
right, but if they say it is not that means they have not got it to
work. Find the guy who did get it to work and your day will be a happy
one.
I have found that the best thing to do when it comes to researching
hardware is to stick with the area of linux that deals specifically with
your hardware. What I mean by that is, general linux hardware
compatability lists are misleading and often wrong, because you have to
have the right components to make the hardware "work." A lot of the
driver info you need will be discussed in kernel mailing lists, but I
have never seen a howto that specifically lists exactly what drivers are
in what kernel. I have also seen plenty of stuff that is in 2.2.x and
not 2.4.x and vice versa over the years, though newer hardware will
generally be better supported in 2.4.x. So pay attention to anything
you run into that was archived from the linux kernel mailing lists. I
often google for this, but you can also check Kernel Traffic
( http://kt.zork.net/ ) and you can always joing the Linux Kernel
Mailing List (if you have lots of room for mail)
http://www.tux.org/lkml/

But if you want to use digital cameras, you want to look at the gphoto2
pages: http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/
you also want to look at the linux usb group pages for any usb stuff:
http://www.linux-usb.org/
and the best list for usb devices and their working state is:
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/
referenced on the first site. If your chosen usb device is a printer,
you will want to check out
http://www.linuxprinting.org/
and the HOWTO
http://www.linuxprinting.org/howto/

These guys deal with scanning:
http://www.mostang.com/sane/

These guys have a slash-looking site with reviews:
http://www.linuxhardware.org/

also don't be like me and just buy something because you found a vague
support answer on it. Be sure you knwo what you will have to do to get
it working. I recently went on a long bunny trail to find out how to
install the printer at work under linux, only to be passed from the
HOWTO to the database to the HP site, where the answer was "install
RedHat." I did not like that answer, so I am working on one of my own.

Actually, I have been pretty bad about not using advanced stuff under
linux, like usb, printers, cdrs, and scanners. But I have recently
acquired all of that, and am planning to get it all working. So far the
usb and cdr works perfectly with no hassles, and I am hoping to get the
printing and scanning working eventually...

Oh one thing to remember as well, when you use modern athlon based
systems, make sure to use the
nomce
boot option on install and uncheck Machine Check Exception when
configuring the kernel. For voodoo reasons I have this in my lilo.conf
even though I have compiled it out. I have read various things about
acpi. Apparently it may work or not, and it may cause crashing to have
it enabled, so if you do panic, disable it in the bios, kernel boot
options, and in teh configuration of the kernel. On my system it does
not crash my machine, but I have not checked how well it works (although
the hardware part is working because when my apartment loses power my
machine comes back up).


On Thu, 01 May 2003 09:05:10 -0500
John T Copeland <johnc AT neto.com> wrote:

> I remember reading about and browsing a website dedicated to Linux
> Harware Compatibility, but can't remember the name. Does anybody know
>
> the name of this site or any sites dedicated to Linux Hardware
> Compatibility.
>
> I am currently in the process of building a new system and want to use
>
> the nForece 2 chipset. I remember someone talking about NVdia's
> drivers for Linux and Xfree86 but don't remember the particulars. I
> am looking at the Abit NF7-S and NF7-M motherboards, and wonder if
> there are any websites who review mobo for Linux.
>
> Also any advice/experiences related to nForce 2 mobos and Linux would
> be appreciated.
>
> I, of course, want my SourceMage Gnu/Linux system to be as stable,
> usable, easy to setup, etc as it currently is on my Soyo SY-K7V Dragon
>
> Plus based system.
>
> I don't know where to go for hardware info on Linux(lots of stuff for
>
> Windows of course), so I thought that a question to my compadres in
> SMGL would be a good place to start.
>
> Thanks,
> JohnC
>
> _______________________________________________
> SM-Discuss mailing list
> SM-Discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/sm-discuss
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Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Supported SourceMage Linux Hardware
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> Also, the #sourcemage channel in irc.freenode.net, I'm always in. drop
> in, leave me a message or mention it to the channel, and we can work on it
> together (I'm "swoolley"). I'm sure others in there have the same board,
> as I've seen discussion on it in and around the chat room.

Hi, just saw this and thought I would add a couple of my own cents.

Those of you who are in the US may just want to use asimov.freenode.net for
your IRC server. It's one that I set up, has really excellent latency, and
runs SMGL, hidden in Debian clothing :)

I notice that irc.freenode.net points mostly to the Germany and EU servers
(since a large contingency of their servers are there).

Anyhow, I'm on there 24/7 as WaRL0K. I may not be at the console when you
are there, but leave a message or send me an email, and I'd be glad to help.
I currently have SMGL running on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe with all of the
options working. Works pretty good, but I wish nvidia would get off their
butts and update the IDE drivers.

:)






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