Which Distro?

[Jerry Davis]

On Tue, 6 Jan 2009 22:53:39 -0700
"Alan Dayley" <alandd at consultpros.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 10:27 PM, Mike Bushroe <mbushroe at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am once again having trouble with my SuSe 11 system not booting. It
> > seemed to occur after I loaded the drivers in Windoze for a
> > video-to-USB converter. I tried downloading the latest SUSE 11.1 ISO
> > and do an update, but it still seems to get of the way through boot,
> > then die about the time it should be starting the Xwindow system.
> >
> >  Looking other posts on this forum, I see few others mention SuSe as
> > there distro, and many talk about switching from one to another. How
> > do you decide when it is time to switch distros, and more importantly,
> > how do you decide which distro to switch to?
> >
> >  I have been stuck running my Windoze partition on my main computer,
> > and my new (used) laptop running Windoze for some time now. Even with
> > Knoppix I can not get my Open Office files to work, so I would like to
> > find some way to get back in the running.. I have looked through the
> > latest boot log, and it shows no obvious sign of problems. I have not
> > yet checked for an X11 boot log to see if problems are creeping up
> > there, but I am also less clear where such a log would be.
> >
> > Mike (using Linux for several years now, but still just beginning)
> 
> Mike,
> 
> I move off of Fedora (5, I think) when I got tired of something
> breaking every upgrade.  From 3 to 4 the video went hinky.  From 4 to
> 5 Palm device synchronization broke.  So when Fedora 6 came out, I
> jumped over to OpenSUSE and was happy as a clam.  I found it much more
> stable than Fedora.
> 
> Then Novell got chummy with Microsoft.  And I stayed with SUSE for
> about a year before I couldn't stand my fears of potential patent
> tainting any longer.  I jumped over to Kubuntu and have been happy
> there.  My kid's computer is still SUSE but it will go Kubuntu as soon
> as school hits summer vacation.
> 
> So, my major changes have been two: The first stability related and
> the second philosophical.
> 
> As to your specific issue, I don't know what to say without diving
> more into the specific error messages, etc.  Video-to-USB drivers
> "shouldn't" effect Linux but I have seen cases where a Windows driver
> actually changed some sort of settings in hardware, making the
> hardware subsequently misbehave in Linux.  Went through that with a
> video card once many years ago.
> 
> I think you'll have to get your "hands dirty" to figure out what is
> going on.  Look at it from the Linux logs and information first.
> 
> Alan
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I too agree with Alan, that a video driver in Winblows should not affect the
booting of linux, or affect X11. But strange things happen when you use
proprietary stuff.

I have been using Unix/Linux for way more years than I care to admit. And my
distro of choice in the last few years has been kubuntu until this last release
and my new laptop. I finally broke down and after 5 good years with my old
laptop bought one with a NVIDIA board in it. I am very satisfied with it,
(except the DVD drive does not work -- another topic someday), but KDE 4.x does
strange things with NVIDIA. Very strange things. So this time I installed
Ubuntu instead, with KDE on the side, and I use gnome-terminal now, instead
of Konsole (which I really prefer).

Did you just try reinstalling Linux again. Or at least try re-installing grub
as the MBR?

Also, try booting up in vga mode, I can't think of a laptop made now that won't
at least work in vga mode.


Jerry

-- 
Happy Trails!
Jerry (K7AZJ)
Hobbit Name: Pimpernel Loamsdown
Registered Linux User: 275424
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	A man was reading The Canterbury Tales one Saturday morning, when his
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