Trevor Farrell wrote:
> When I first installed it, I really liked Mdk 7.0-2 - real nifty new
> installer, supermount, XFree3.3.6, the first graphical install to work
> with my SiS 6326 chip, ... Yes, I thought it was really nice. Then the
> cracks started to appear - sound card that worked under Ver 6 wouldn't
> install under 7, Netscape had yucky b&w icons, cd burner not linked
> properly, and wouldn't burn when it was, wheel mouse that wheeled
> without help under 6 didn't under 7, partitioning tool buggy, expert
> install option absolutely unusable - how the hell do you know what is
> selected and what isn't? - the "magic 50%" install rule - it only fills
> your partition to 50%, regardless of what you really wanted, ...
>
> Now, weeks later, some of the above are fixed and some aren't, but I put
> it down to my "el cheapo" buying - PCchips motherboard, ide cdrw, etc
> and lack of knowledge/skill - ie my fault...
>
> Today, I feel differently. We have had a Mdk 6 machine at work for
> some time, and its supervisor today decided to install 7.0-2 . He
> started by booting from a boot floppy, the install locked when it tried
> to initialize the CD. So I suggested that he set the BIOS to boot from
> CD (it was previously set to boot from the floppy, then the ide drive.)
> and this time the install went nicely, until he hit the expert select
> packages fiasco - he couldn't make any more sense of it than I could -
> so he cancelled that and started again, this time being careful not to
> select expert! It loaded the packages (why is Mandrake so slow doing
> this, compared to red hat?) and then locked up as it started the X
> configuration. Rebooted the machine, everything started up well, but no
> X. At this stage my colleague threw the ver 7 cd in the bin, and will be
> putting 6 back on the machine next week. (No - he doesn't want to know
> how to fix it, or what went wrong.)
>
> Also today, I installed the BeOS 5 (Personal Edition) operating system
> that I downloaded last night. It really just unpacked the files. I
> rebooted the machine, and hey! presto ... BeOS! Funny, video worked,
> sound worked, Cdrw burnt cd's, ... all with NO installation questions,
> NO how-to's, No hassles. OK - so there is nothing written for BeOS yet,
> and I'm not serious about keeping it, just curious, BUT, it proved you
> can write a hassle free installer THAT WORKS!
>
> OK - back to Linux - the current attitude that if something didn't work,
> it's because you didn't read the instructions or your hardware is faulty
> IS SIMPLY NOT ACCEPTABLE to me any more - If it doesn't work FIRST TIME
> it's because its broken, and needs fixing.
>
> The first Linux distribution that produces a hassle free installer that
> works (no if's, but's, or maybe's - I mean works - full stop!)
> WILL SUCCEED, all the rest will only be installed by enthusiasts (which
> I still count myself among) and are doomed to their rightful resting
> place in the garbage bin.
>
> Now, it's time for my big decision - Do I, like my colleague, consign
> the Ver 7 install I have spent so much time on to oblivion, and go back
> to Ver 6 because it worked, or do I persevere, and try to get 7 up and
> running properly, or, perhaps, do I try RedHat 6.2, or just wait for a
> distro with kernel 2.4 & XFree 4? I really don't know, and I really
> don't expect anyone else to decide for me, I just know that my
> perceptions of install problems will never be the same again.
Well, a PCChips motherboard is an open invitation to learning experiences
of the "in your face" variety. I have worked with more of them than I ever
cared to.
But your question may have more than one answer. For one thing, the sound
cards I had difficulty with in 7.0 I managed to "cure" by running the old
relaible sndconfig, so ALL my sound cards operate now. Netscape I see
yucky B&W for 24-bit color in linux whether it is Xfree 3.3.4, 5, 6 and
whether it is RH Caldera FreeBSD or something else. The key is 24 bit
color. Netscape behaves in 32 bit color.
I have
/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrw iso9660 .....
working in fstab so I didn't have to set the symbolic link
and xcdroast works
Now the other items... Since you do admit you may have marginal hardware,
are you willing to sacrifice a little of the speed?
Then try mandrake70-2.i486.iso from your favorite mirror. 486 code is far
less demanding on the specifications and the hardware.
Civileme
