JM, First and foremost, thanks for the feedback.
> Subject: RE: [expert] 8.1 Piece of Crap! NOT! Please note, I only continued a thread. Wether it is or is not, is up to each one to decide. Anyway, a little venting never hurt. In fact, this time, I (or we) even get some interesting feeeback. Reason why it is better to maintain the subject which others may flag for easier reading. Some comments... >>1. Creating boot floppies generates empty initrd.img. > >1) This may be true only due to the fact that a kernel AND initrd.img >will not fit on the same floppy disk, which the floppy disk creator >tries to do. I haven't played with it enough. Interesting. To be honest I played a bit ;-). The script to make the boot floppy did not work. I created the initrd.img on disk, copied that to the floppy and 'voi l�', it worked. Now, I just resort to removing the append. >>2. DMA time-outs on previously working Chipsets/drives. > >2) Nope, no problems on 32+ systems I've upgraded, varying from LX's >thru AliMagik's and Vias. > >I have noticed (which may be the reason you talk about this) that the >kernel (not Mandrake per-se) now enables DMA on IDE chains that >sometimes (due to misconfiguration) cannot handle this... > >I.E. A CD-ROM on the same channel as a UDMA-33 Hard drive, etc. This has >caused a freeze or timeout, until I either changed a cable or moved >devices around a bit. > >Linux also exacerbates an already existing problem with mixing drives >from different manufacturers, and of course Civilme's often complained >about HD data CRC's vis-�-vis Western Digital drives... Ok, I admit the drive that "holds" linux is a slave on the same IDE that connects to the first drive that boots the system. (CD is on a seperate IDE, and yes drives are from different manufacturers). I have not moved hardware around because I have MS$ on that and this would break these systems. Please note, I had installed 7.1 before and that seemed to work. I say seemed because I am not an experienced user and cannot garantee this. This is the reason why I commented. Needless to say, my set-up should work. Thats what I expected, alas it was no so.... BTW, where is the best place to turn DMA off? >>3. Sound card correctly detected but not working. > >3) Nope. Normally this is because the user has not elected a full >installation. >Many programs and scripts are interrelated. When you omit something you >get into strange situations. > >For the most part LM8.1 has done a fine job detecting and supporting >previously non working sound chipsets including brain damaged integrated >motherboard chips... With a few exceptions, such as already inherent >configuration issues... Hmmm, I will repeat what I said: "sound card was correctly detected". It simply did not work. Expert help pointed me to sndconfig. It then worked, no additional installation needed. What do you think was missing in the install that nearlly filled a 1.5 Giga disk? Development tools or servers? >>4. Access to CD not correctly set-up (permissions and). > >4) Nope. Again I've had no trouble. Most people overlook that device >perms have been changed with 8.1 and the security settings are handled >differently. No one bothers to look in /etc/secure... correction "... (permissions and links) Newbies have very little knowledge of this. Any recommendations or suggestions to facilitate the starter's life? BTW, I found the ideia of a higher security level preventing users having access to the card so that no "eves dropping" could be done, to make sense. Go figure! >>5. Using command line configuration, KDE configuration and/or Mdk's >>configuration seems to wreak havoc on the system. > >5) Nope again. I've had no problems with this. The "firewall" >configuration and other wizards do want to exclusively control setting >things up, so when users go back in and use other techniques they are >working at cross purposes. > >That said, there is always a problem or two that may escape testing, >however LM8.1 has NEVER >"Wreaked Havoc" on any of my systems so far... Remember: I am a newbie that selected LM 8.1 because of it's ease of use. When you say "When you omit something you get into strange situations." and "so when users go back in and use other techniques they are working at cross purposes" only shows that some stuff is really "broken". This does not mean Mdk did a bad job (on the contrary, I have never gotten so far previously), but the truth is, more work is needed. Thanks once again for the feedback. HF
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