Weblog entry #4 for yaarg
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#4
distro wars: the favourite petty argument
Posted by yaarg on Mon 22 May 2006 at 22:08
You know what really gets my goat? It's the whole argument of some $distro_of_the_moment has better hardware support than Debian thing. People really need to learn what the kernel does and exactly what their distro is actually doing for them. Now I do realise that some distros do have better hardware detection. But even that's just too subjective and thus I believe a bit of a superficial argument.
But I guess that's really because I don't really rely on auto detection stuff at all. Typically the first thing I do when I'm setting up a new machine is wget the kernel sources from kernel.org (and things like nvidia drivers) and apt-get install the relevant packages in another screen session and compile a new kernel.
But I guess that's really because I don't really rely on auto detection stuff at all. Typically the first thing I do when I'm setting up a new machine is wget the kernel sources from kernel.org (and things like nvidia drivers) and apt-get install the relevant packages in another screen session and compile a new kernel.
Comments on this Entry
Everyone has their favourite "how long is a piece of string?" argument.
Some times they are a fun distraction, most of the time they are as you suggest a meaningless waste of time.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
Some times they are a fun distraction, most of the time they are as you suggest a meaningless waste of time.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Unfortunately there are certain hardware issues where I have seen a benefit in using commercial supported Linux distro's, like with certain SAN implementations. Sometimes the hardware vendors are not even interested in supporting problems on Debian systems, although the basics remain the same as with RHEL (as an example).
I belief this is a hardware vendor problem, not a distro problem. We may need to educate our hardware vendors of these issues.
Cheers
===============================================
=== http://4j.blogspot.com/ ===
=== http://sourceforge.net/projects/lampas/ ===
===============================================
Joh 3:36
I belief this is a hardware vendor problem, not a distro problem. We may need to educate our hardware vendors of these issues.
Cheers
===============================================
=== http://4j.blogspot.com/ ===
=== http://sourceforge.net/projects/lampas/ ===
===============================================
Joh 3:36
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (217.195.xx.xx) on Tue 23 May 2006 at 14:24
Exactly!
We need to be very selective; buy from pro-linux suppliers and confirm per mail that their pro-linux attitute helped in selling their product.
Cheers
Willem, NL
We need to be very selective; buy from pro-linux suppliers and confirm per mail that their pro-linux attitute helped in selling their product.
Cheers
Willem, NL
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Interesting to hear, I guess I'm a little naive in many respects.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
"...and compile a new kernel."
Okay at the risk of hypocrisy [Linux version 2.6.15.2 (root@derek) (gcc version 3.3.6 (Debian 1:3.3.6-12)) #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Feb 3 21:25:29 GMT 2006], you are a dinosaur.
(and I guess I am one too -- can I have stylish twin set of spikes on my back like the Ankylosaurus?)
Some of the benefits of the free software model should arise from our ability to ship all the driver code, make it all work the same, and make it "just work". Debian is already easier to install on most servers than competing proprietary operating systems, as you don't have to have a load of third party drivers.
Whilst I agree specific complaints about hardware support are anecdotal, I've done enough installs and LiveCD sessions of various GNU based systems to know some distros are clearly better on average at autodetection, and for most normal people what is autodetected is what they will use (this is true whatever the OS, unless the OS suggests to the user what to do next).
For similar reasons, how many people here are running non-SMP kernels on hyperthread capable processors? I bet a fair few relatively clueful admins get caught by the defaults not being optimal.
Okay at the risk of hypocrisy [Linux version 2.6.15.2 (root@derek) (gcc version 3.3.6 (Debian 1:3.3.6-12)) #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Feb 3 21:25:29 GMT 2006], you are a dinosaur.
(and I guess I am one too -- can I have stylish twin set of spikes on my back like the Ankylosaurus?)
Some of the benefits of the free software model should arise from our ability to ship all the driver code, make it all work the same, and make it "just work". Debian is already easier to install on most servers than competing proprietary operating systems, as you don't have to have a load of third party drivers.
Whilst I agree specific complaints about hardware support are anecdotal, I've done enough installs and LiveCD sessions of various GNU based systems to know some distros are clearly better on average at autodetection, and for most normal people what is autodetected is what they will use (this is true whatever the OS, unless the OS suggests to the user what to do next).
For similar reasons, how many people here are running non-SMP kernels on hyperthread capable processors? I bet a fair few relatively clueful admins get caught by the defaults not being optimal.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]