On Wed, 20 Jan 1999, Alvaro A. Novo wrote:
> Before I attempt to install Linux (RedHat 5.1) on a new dual processor
> machine, I would like to hear from you about any possible incompatibilities
> (particularly hardware). I have been using Linux in a "simple" PC, but this
> is completely new to me. These are the details:
>
> o Dell PowerEdge 6300, 400 MHz/512K Cache
> o Intel Pentium II Xeon (2 of them, dual processor!)
> o 512MB RAM (4x128MB) EDO DIMMs
> o 32 SCSI CD ROM
> o 9GB LVD SCSI Smart Hard Drive, 7200 RPM
> o 12/24GB DDS-3 DAT internal Tape Back Up
> o Intel Pro 100 Plus Ethernet Network Card
> o AccelStar 2d/3d Graphics Accelerator w/ 8mb SGRAM
> o DellPlus Intel Ultrascan 1600HS (19.8")
>
> I would appreciate any help, including Linux packages suggestions (RedHat,
> SuSE, Caldera). This machine will be a multi-user one, networked through
> University of Illinois services.
>
I have a similar machine (WS 610) except for the video card (which
is always a wild card when it comes non-MS OS on Intel hardware), and I
ended up going through a short learning period while trying get it SMP
to work reliably. By now it's been thru just about every pre-2.2.0
kernel and running non-stop large both computationally and IO-intensive
simulations to test for stability.
Here's what I did:
- Install RH 5.2 (which is "almost" 2.2 ready, but not quite)
- get a whole bunch of *source* rpms from rawhide
(fast link: ftp://rufus.w3.org/linux/rawhide)
- kernel-2.1.133
- modutils
- knfsd
- util-linux
- net-tools
- initscripts
- procinfo
- autofs
- X
- and a few others.
Most of these are mentioned in the kernel Documentation/Changes files.
Some I needed, such as X, to get around Permedia 2 card bug which
was screwing up the system clock.
DON'T get the binary RPMs, since those are linked against glibc
pre-2.1. This mistake cost me an entire evening of agony!
- build everything and just go.
I'm now running 2.2.0-pre9, and probably need to update util-linux and nfs
yet again (I think Changes file mentions these).
Oh, and my entire setup is built with egcs-1.1.1, not gcc-2.7.x. I'm
*so* happy to finally rid of gcc-2.7.x from my home machine (it's not
the space, it's the issue ;-).
Of course, you could just wait for Suse 6.0 out "any day now", that is
supposedly 2.2.0 ready out of the box. Debian's pretty close as well,
and RH is probably in the 3rd place in terms of readiness. I personally
would not touch Slackware ever again since I don't have the time to
diddle with broken development environments it's been shipping with
since day 1.
Regards,
Mumit
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