[wellylug] I blew it - lost a convert

[Wood Brent]

--- Eugene Van Wyk <Eugene.VanWyk at 4rf.com> wrote:

> I agree with MDK10 hassles.  I am still struggling on since I've had
> Mandrake8, 9 and now 10 Each new program install is a major fight, and I
> still can't get OOo1.1.2 to run from the menu.  (MDK8 or 10)  I've also
> had regular issues with X just going sad, and the machine sitting there
> with a black screen. 

I think there needs to be some clarification about Linux (esp Mandrake) and
hardware support, graphics in particular. (This is just how I see it- in a very
general sense. Flames to /dev/null, criticisms are fine :-) 



The freely downloadable version of Mandrake has NO proprietary software. So can
be freely copied, given away without restriction. So it does not have the ATi
or Nvidia drivers, because their licensing is not considered free & open.

Same for some other hardware, including some modem & LAN drivers.

If you purchase the Professional version of Mandrake, as a commercial product
the contents do NOT all have to be free & open. I can't speak for the ATi cards
from personal experience, but I know that I have NEVER had any problems with
ANY  hardware, from graphics, LAN, modems, sound, TV cards, etc when using the
commercial version of Mandrake. eg: it correctly identified an on board MX440
graphics, BT TV card, etc. Correctly installed the proprietary 3D Nvidia
drivers, video4linux, etc, set up my Windows partition in LILO to boot
properly.

This is pretty typical IN MY EXPERIENCE!!! (Yours may well vary)

So, the Mandrake "Community Edition" does not have all the bells & whistles. As
long as some hardware requires proprietary drivers, it is unlikely yhat any
free release of Linux will ever avoid such problems. The Community Edition is
so called because it is NOT intended as the total solution for everyone, but is
more for the Linux & Mandrake community to play with. I believe it does a
pretty good job overall.

Please don't expect any free & Open Source software to have full support for
all hardware when the hardware developers & manufacturers do not release open
source drivers. 

If this is a problem, then get the commercial version & I'm pretty sure most if
not all such problems will be avoided. 

FYI, the 10 CD Mandrake 10 distro that Damon put together & may still be around
has many packages not included on the normal Mandrake 10 version. You may find
that this solves some problems as well.



I would also note that in my experience, "name brand" systems, like Dell, IBM,
Compaq, Packard Smell/NEC, .... do have a habit of believing they know better
than everyone else & sometimes do things in a slightly different way. So
generic memory won't work, etc.... They are also more prone to having generic
software not work as seamlessly as well. A good locally assembled system made
of standard components is (IMHO) less likely to have niggles with Linux than
systems from the big companies...

(But I guess, as always, your experiences may differ :-) 



A final comment, at the last reckoning, before Xorg, the Xfree86 project was
larger than the Linux kernel project. Problems with X tend to be considered as
problems with Linux, but this is not actually the case. They are two separate
packages which are generally packaged together by distro producers. If you get
a text prompt, your Linux is probably fine. Not that that is much consolation
:-)


Cheers,

   Brent