* Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. <[email protected]> [2009 Nov 10 15:41 -0600]: > On Tuesday 10 November 2009 15:27:35 Nate Bargmann wrote: > > * Jan De Luyck <[email protected]> > > [2009 Nov 10 09:28 -0600]: > > > I'm using KDE4 on my sid (unstable) workstation and laptop without any > > > KDE- related problems. > > > > This may be KDE or Debian related, but I know that on this T41 laptop I > > cannot run full desktop effects with the latest Sid. I use the Radeon > > Xorg driver and when I select desktop effects all of the Plasma related > > stuff on the screen is corrupted. Meanwhile, I have Kubuntu 9.10 > > installed on another partition on this laptop and it absolutely rocks > > with full desktop effects enabled--same hardware and Xorg driver. > > Did you install the proper firmware package? The firmware is arguably non- > free, so it doesn't appear in Debian kernels. It may appear in Ubuntu > kernels > because they take a different stance on such firmware.
I think so as I have the firmware-linux package installed which pulled in firmware-linux-free and firmware-linux-nonfree. Last I checked (it was some time back) I think the Kubuntu installation has similar packages installed. > > I'm not sure if the reason is simply the 2.6.31 kernel in Kubuntu > > versus the 2.6.30 kernel in Sid or if the Kubuntu kernel has been > > compiled with desktop support and Debian's has not. Some time ago > > after discussion on this list I filed a Debian bug wishlist report > > asking for a Debian kernel with the desktop support enabled. It was > > closed as "will not fix". > > Yes, pending a formal vote, firmware without source code will not be added > back to the Debian kernel, and such firmware will be removed as bugs are > filed > against it. Apples and oranges. I did not ask for firmware, in fact this was before certain firmware was placed into non-free as I recall. Searching I came up with: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=375845 as the report. The actual closing report was that activating PREEMPT support triggered a lot of bugs but the possibility was left open of eventually enabling PREEMPT support. There are a couple of lines with PREEMPT in them that differ between the Sid kernel and the Kubuntu kernel here most that Debian sets CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE=y and Kubuntu sets CONFIG_PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY=y (they are consectutive lines in the config files). > I agree with Debian's stance on the firmware issue. Others may not, even if > they are similarly concerned with software freedoms in general. So far it's not bothersome to me. - Nate >> -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://n0nb.us/index.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
