Slackware vs the others

[Michael Butash]

Any of the 8xxx and 9xxx cards from nvidia were iffy, mine was a 9600, 
and I had an 8400 too that used to be spotty.  I'd got to a 240gt and 
didn't have a problem again (until the mobo died).

Oddly I have less driver issues with linux than I did with windows - it 
either works or never will.  If the hardware is exotic/abnormal, than 
yeah good luck with it.  Otherwise most odd bits like usb ethernet, 
serial, and other random devices usually probe and load a driver 
automagically.  I deal with routers/switches mostly, so usb serial 
hardware is common and usually a trick with windows to find drivers for 
them.  I've never had a random off-brand serial usb adapter NOT work 
under linux when windows guys get all depressed to spend an hour hunting 
them down.  I've had to lsusb the device it to tell them what they had.  :)

One note I found recently if upgrading, intel z77 motherboards suck for 
linux, any/all of them.  The gpu switching "lucid" chip every one uses 
has crap support under linux.  I couldn't even use my ati6950 card in it 
as even windoze implements all kinds of driver hacks for it.  Forums are 
full of complaints.  I had to go back to using my defective p67 board, 
and might go back to amd all together as it all rather irked me.

-mb


On 01/07/2013 08:35 PM, Derek Trotter wrote:
> This beast has a radeon card in it and I have the non free driver
> installed. The interesting thing is that I didn't have the locking up
> problem when I ran xp on it. The other machine I have has an nvidia
> 8400GS in it. I'm told there was a fault with that series that caused
> them to lock up at random. It ran just fine under Kubuntu 8.4 but when I
> tried to upgrade to anything newer than that, It locked up.
>
> The newer beast is an HP pavillion p6-2003w. I bought it a year ago. It
> came with 4GB of RAM. I bought a new 4GB stick and replaced the old one
> with it. The problem was still there. HP only supports windoze on this
> beast. So for all I know there may be some crap parts in it that work on
> windoze but not so well on linux. When I buy my next machine I'll decide
> what I want in it. Then I'll look to make sure all the hardware is
> compatible with linux. I've read about people having trouble with
> finding linux drivers for some hardware. Then I'll go to Fry's and buy
> the parts.
>
> On 01/07/2013 08:05 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
>> Last time that happened to me under linux, the video card was on the
>> fritz. Got worse enough it finally just died (mass distortion of
>> display on boot), replaced it, and never locked up again. I've had
>> memory (ram) cause this kind of thing, saw a crappy WD external drive
>> enclosure do it too (pc bios wouldn't boot with it connected either,
>> replaced enclosure). Most hard locks I always suspect hardware now.
>>
>> I bet largely it's using a different driver, or it's not loading a
>> video driver to use gpu. As long as something isn't using a feature,
>> the system doesn't lock. GPU went out on my laptop where as soon as
>> compiz kicked in, the display would wig out, but using 2d/safemode
>> only was just fine. I think you might have a similar problem.
>>
>> -mb
>>
>>
>> On 01/07/2013 07:25 PM, Derek Trotter wrote:
>>> This machine had ssh installed. When I say it locked up, it locked up.
>>> Nothing worked. Ssh wouldn't work. Http wouldn't work. It just stopped
>>> responding to anything.
>>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>
>
> --
> "I get my copy of the daily paper, look at the obituaries page, and if I’m not there, I carry on as usual."
>
> Patrick Moore
>