On Sun, 23 Sep 2001, Tom wrote:
> Inrestingly - Linux was running one of the Random Screen Savers (the
> one where the screen is broken up into Blocks) and QUIT.
>
> Froze Solid - Mouse no work - Cmd-Alt-Del not work...
> (interesting for a system that was idling and suppose to be so rock
> solid and stable and run for days...)
I am familiar with the sentiment, but usually this behavior arises from
hardware problems, though bugs in the kernel (modules, usually) can cause
it also. Windows has lots of slow death mechanisms that Linux doesn't
have though, so don't start doubting Linux yet.
I have had two computers freeze because of cpu fans, one due to poor
thermal contact between the cpu and the heatsink, and one particular
kernel (2.2.14 I think) had a freezing problem in the kernel ... seemed to
have something to do with the mouse, though I never quite figured out
what. Upgrading to 2.2.19 fixed it.
The fact is, there are bugs in both Linux and Windows. It is just that
such a small number of people see the code for any given driver in Windows
that its bugs are never revealed to the programmers. Unusually obscure or
new hardware is most likely to have buggy drivers, but sometimes a change
may be made throughout the kernel because a subroutine's behavior must
change and they just don't get every place that depended on the old
behavior. If your kernel is not behind in the minor revision cycle,
careful observation of the circumstances of the behavior may allow you to
report something repeatable to the kernel developers who can fix it. If
your kernel is behind, upgrading before complaining is recommended.
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