Dell "Back To School Catalog Aug edition" Where is Linux????????

[Merrick Baldelli]

On Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:17:40 -0500, JEDIDIAH <jedi@nomad.mishnet>
wrote:

>On 2008-08-08, Merrick Baldelli <mbaldelli@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:41:04 +0200, "Dirk T. Verbeek"
>><dverbeek@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>>
>>>> Because people can turn on a MS machine and have it work without confusing
>>>> scripts and complicated installation of inexpensive hardware.
>>>
>>>Then why does it on the same computer take at least 4 hrs to install
>>>Vista or XP but less than an hour for one of the 'Buntu's.
>>>And the first one is then still without basic applications...
>>
>> While I *GREATLY* appreciate that Ubuntu was loaded up on its
>> partition in about 40 minutes, it took approximately 3 1/2 hours more
>> to get most of what I would use the partition for running, and there's
>> still parts of the hardware that still don't work the way that I want
>> it to. (SAA7130, SB Audigy OEM - that still doesn't have complete
>> support in ALSA and wonky support in PulseAudio, the USB Webcam that
>> only works in one program so far, just to name those that are on my
>> immediate hit list)
>
>That sounds odd.
>
>If it works at all it should work everywhere.
>
>Something as crude as cat /dev/video0 | random_app should be
>enough to get it working pretty much anywhere...
>
>[deletia]

Yeah, I was able to get that Video portion of it working, for
the most part. Sometimes though, Ubuntu treats me to randomly
swapping the Video controls of the SAA7130 to the Webcam, which I get
on either one side or the other "no signal".

However, the core of the issue is that the OEM Audigy Card
uses a shared Mic/Line-Out port which doesn't have complete support
according to the ALSA Site the last time I checked it a couple of
months ago. They said that they were working on it, the end of
spring, but unfortunately I haven't had the time to check it to see if
they've completed the work on the drivers.

What makes it even more fun (and by fun I mean scratching my
head and wondering, "WTF?") was that when I was running in Gutsy, I
had an OEM Soundblaster Live, I had removed and replaced with an
Audigy, which Gutsy had no problems treating the soundcard to
Soundblaster live Emulation, and would allow me to swap the controls
between mic and line-out.
Do a complete install (from scratch) and suddenly it doesn't
work.

Fun huh?

--
-=-=-/ )=*=-='=-.-'-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_( (_ , '_ * . Merrick Baldelli
(((\ \> /_1 `
(\\\\ \_/ /
-=-\ /-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
\ _/ Who are these folks and why have they
/ / stopped taking their medication?
- Captain Infinity

 

[Linonut]

* Merrick Baldelli peremptorily fired off this memo:

> What makes it even more fun (and by fun I mean scratching my
> head and wondering, "WTF?") was that when I was running in Gutsy, I
> had an OEM Soundblaster Live, I had removed and replaced with an
> Audigy, which Gutsy had no problems treating the soundcard to
> Soundblaster live Emulation, and would allow me to swap the controls
> between mic and line-out.
>
> Do a complete install (from scratch) and suddenly it doesn't
> work.

Well, if you're serious about getting doubtful hardware to work, you
have to do an lsmod while it is working (or at least look at the
contents of /etc/modules) and write down which module is being loaded.

Autoprobe can sometimes fail you.

Since you don't get a handy CD with the driver on it from the
manufacturer (in many cases), your stuck having to figure out the driver
yourself, if autoprobe doesn't do it.

--
ONE LIFE TO LIVE for ALL MY CHILDREN in ANOTHER WORLD all THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

 

[Linonut]

* Gary S. Terhune peremptorily fired off this memo:

> That is either one of the more admirable examples of WHINING!

Wow, that boggled me for a moment, until I realized that you were
commenting on text /below/ instead of /above/.

> --
> Gary S. Terhune
> MS-MVP Shell/User
> http://grystmill.com
>
> "Rick" <none@nomail.com> wrote in message
> news:qd-dnQPFkMjwjgbVnZ2dnUVZ_qzinZ2d@supernews.com...
> > On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:49:12 -0400, Ed Edelenbos wrote:
> >
> >> "caver1" <caver1@inthemud.org> wrote in message
> >> . . .

--
[Sir Stafford Cripps] has all the virtues I dislike and none of the
vices I admire.
-- Winston Churchill

 

[Linonut]

* Gary S. Terhune peremptorily fired off this memo:

> Well, trolls *can_be* entertaining, and can help one sharpen one's own wits.

Indeed!

> However, they mostly just annoy and get in the way of doing my "job".
>
>> Sometimes I succumb to my own trolling instincts and post some Windows
>> trashing messages, but it is not often.
>
> Same here, only I try to remember that I have nothing against Linux or it's
> honest users/developers/etc. I tend to simply flame the trolls who start
> things, arguing them into a corner they can't dig their way out of, which, I
> admit sometimes has me taunting them with the usual list of Linux failings,
> real and apocryphal. Mostly, though, I make it personal and attack with
> maximum viciousness, just because it's feels so good to let go every once in
> a while and the jerks (usually) deserve it. It's incredibly cathartic, <s>.

<knowing grin>

--
Life without caffeine is stimulating enough.
-- Sanka Ad

 

[Linonut]

* Gary S. Terhune peremptorily fired off this memo:

<snipping for emphasis>

> but freeware is becoming more and more rare and more and more like "Lite"
> versions that are severely limited in functionality until you pay for a
> license.

You inhabit a different world from the Linux, Solaris, or FreeBSD user.
Freeware is becoming ever more abundant, and it is not the "lite"
versions. Rather, it is stuff like:

* IBM's Lotus Notes
* Sun's OpenSolaris
* Sun's Java

> But a few years ago I developed an as yet undiagnosed pattern of seizures
> that blew huge holes in my memory. as I believe I already told you. So I'm
> not on top of my game, to the point that I feel can't trust myself with
> other people's systems, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. So I stuck
> with what I knew best, Windows 98. Believe me, that one is getting
> interesting at this point in time. You have your dual-booters who are
> finding that Win98 won't run on modern hardware, period, then you have the
> poor people and their hand-me-downs, with Support not just slowly
> disappearing from hardware and software sites but actually being excised
> from drivers packages. I multi-boot two computers, this one and an older
> test machine, and I have a difficult time getting up and doing something
> else. But I'm going to try now.

Thanks for the whole story, that's a lot to deal with.

Chris

--
Murray's Rule:
Any country with "democratic" in the title isn't.

 

[Linonut]

* Moshe Goldfarb. peremptorily fired off this memo:

> Ubuntu used to be solid I don't know what's going on with all these
> stability problems.
>
> I think too much focus on spinning cubes and eye candy and not enough on
> the substructure.

Maybe Canonical is getting a bit too "proprietary" with it <chuckle>

--
For adult education nothing beats children.