[cooker-amd64] Re: Re: Re: using and compiling rpms not specifically put together for amd64

[Duncan]

Arie Folger posted <200401281556.29522.afolger@aishdas.org>, excerpted
below,  on Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:56:29 +0100:

> BTW, I also installed my previously habitual distro (still on the office 
> computer), Fedora for 32 bit machines, and although everything works, the 
> sound card doesn't, even as it is recognized. Is that a 64bit issue, or was 
> there an issue a few months ago with support for i810 ac97 soundcards?

I can't really say.  I'm guessing it's more likely something to do with
either the board, or the driver implementation on that distro, or more
likely a conflict between the two.

Which driver does it attempt to load, the OSS one or the ALSA one?  With
Mandrake, they patch the 2.4 kernel to include ALSA  directly, so if it's
ALSA support only, as newer cards may be (2.6 includes alsa rather than
oss directly), and Fedora only includes OSS, that might be the problem.

Or.. it might be that the OSS version simply has problems with the
configuration on your particular board.

Something else to consider..  ALSA, at least, starts off with all the
sound channels at 0, plus all mutes on, with a new install.  They mention
this specifically on their site for folks doing their own install. 
Apparently, enough folks couldn't get it to work, and it was just both the
individual channels and the master muted and at 0, that was the problem,
that they decided a specific warning was in order.  If it seems to be
installed, and you can get a mixer running, check that.  If you can't get
a mixer running, then it probably didn't install correctly.

If that isn't it, see if the modules are loading.  (lsmod, as root,
keeping in mind that the output is likely to be more than a screen.)  If
the modules aren't loading, that's one thing to tweak, if they are, but
sound is simply not working, that's something else.  Beyond that, about
all I can suggest is going to the appropriate oss or alsa site, and
looking at the info there for the chip/card.

FWIW, I'm having issues with sound as well, on the 2.6 kernel, tho 2.4 has
usable sound.  Thus, I have my own sound issues to work on, same i810
based sound.

> I basically installed both distros because I wanted to see what a gnome 
> environment without kde programs looked like, and whether I could live 
> without kde. (answer: perhaps, but gnome needs some more work. Plus, I like 
> kde, but hate the way RH treats kde in its menus)

Well, I'm a strong KDE supporter, here.  Tell me when Gnome gets an applet
that can customize individual GUI interface colors, instead of forcing the
user to either choose from whole themes, or experiment with tweaking
poorly documented text config files, and I might start considering it a
serious desktop contender.  Until then, I simply can't.  Sheesh!  Even
MSWormOS has such an applet!  It's easy with KDE. using their kcmshell
colors applet (or just doing it from the appropriate applet in kcontrol).

If you've ever visited OSNews and read any of Eugenia's work, she seems to
rate Gnome higher than KDE.  However, both she and Gnome seem to take the
idea that less is more, when it comes to configuring.  Don't confuse the
user with to many options, because after all, the person making the
default choices MUST know best, because they have all these usability
studies they are basing their choices on!    BAH, HUMBUG!!  Forget all the
usability studies.  Just give me a customizable interface I can make work
the way **I** want, the more things open to customize, the better!  It
seems KDE agrees with that, while Gnome agrees with Eugenia and the other
"experts" that don't want to "confuse the user".

Also..  Gnome is more popular with closed source folks, because of its
LGPL license, while KDE is based upon TrollTech's QT toolset, and is
restricted by their GPL license.  To make proprietary extensions, you have
to buy a developer license from TrollTech, and some don't like that idea. 
Here, I like the GPL better anyway.  Proprietary app developers can go
hang, for all I care.  I didn't switch to Linux after a decade on
MSWormOS, to continue playing with proprietary-ware!  If I'd wanted
proprietary-ware, it would have been FAR less hassle to simply stick with
MSWormOS.

That's my (obviously strongly held) opinion on THAT, FWIW.  <g>  My
desktop is KDE, but I do use GTK based PAN for my news groups, including
this one, thru the list2news gateway at gmane.org, and of course, the
occasional GTK based Mdk config tool.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --
Benjamin Franklin