This is my first post here so please bear with me while I go into a bit of background…
I use this AGP video card on an MSI 815ET board that has built-in Intel graphics (which is disabled once an AGP card is inserted) and have been happily using it since Fedora Core 5. but recently there has been a bug in the xorg radeon driver:
that affects Ubuntu and its derivatives and Fedora 8, 9 and now the Fedora 10 beta/snapshots.
In Fedora, I either get the symptoms described in the bug report or a completely black screen with a monitor error message saying “Input Not Supported” and a mouse pointer.
So, my question is… why does my video card work perfectly in OpenSUSE 11 (and the 11.1 betas and also Mandriva) but not in other distros? In fact, I’m writing this from OpenSUSE 11 right now! Does Novell apply its own patches to the driver or is there another reason?
I can’t see the driver getting fixed any time soon as I’ve had a bug filed for about a year now. I’m just curious. Obviously, I need new hardware, but I can’t justify spending money on what is just a toy for e-mail and watching my PAL DVDs…
> <snip>
> So, my question is… why does my video card work perfectly in OpenSUSE
> 11 (and the 11.1 betas and also Mandriva) but not in other distros? In
> fact, I’m writing this from OpenSUSE 11 right now! Does Novell apply its
> own patches to the driver or is there another reason?
I know nothing about Mandriva, but as for openSUSE, is it possible that you
are using the driver that gets installed from the DVD? If I understand
correctly, that driver is an open source driver that works OK, but does not
supply the full functionality of the proprietary driver. Perhaps some of
that missing functionality includes the bug you mentioned?
In my (humble) experience, Mandriva has the best hardware recognition, preceded only by Knoppix, and with OpenSuSE a close third. Maybe that’s the underlying reason; recognizing the hardware correctly enables these distros to also set it up the right way, with any necessary quirks and tricks…
That’s my theory, anyway;)
Yes, I’m talking about the open source xorg radeon driver, not the proprietary driver from ATI, which my card is too old to support. There is a bug in the upstream build of the open source driver that affects Ubuntu and Fedora in the manner I described, but, to repeat myself, it works fine in OpenSUSE. So, my question stands, does Novell patch the open source driver themselves or is there another reason why their xorg radeon driver works but upstream doesn’t?
>
> Larry Bristol;1891201 Wrote:
>> beerislife wrote:
>>
>> > <snip>
>> > So, my question is… why does my video card work perfectly in
>> OpenSUSE
>> > 11 (and the 11.1 betas and also Mandriva) but not in other distros?
>> In
>> > fact, I’m writing this from OpenSUSE 11 right now! Does Novell apply
>> its
>> > own patches to the driver or is there another reason?
>>
>> *
>>
>> I know nothing about Mandriva, but as for openSUSE, is it possible that
>> you are using the driver that gets installed from the DVD? If I
>> understand correctly, that driver is an open source driver that works OK,
>> but does not supply the full functionality of the proprietary driver.
>> Perhaps some of that missing functionality includes the bug you
>> mentioned?*
>
> Yes, I’m talking about the open source xorg radeon driver, not the
> proprietary driver from ATI, which my card is too old to support. There
> is a bug in the upstream build of the open source driver that affects
> Ubuntu and Fedora in the manner I described, but, to repeat myself, it
> works fine in OpenSUSE. So, my question stands, does Novell patch the
> open source driver themselves or is there another reason why their xorg
> radeon driver works but upstream doesn’t?
Sorry. I do not have any information in this regard.
Thanks to those of you who took the time to read my post.
I was hoping that a developer who knew the answer would drop in, but at least I can be grateful that OpenSUSE does work with my video card and I can continue using it until I can justify spending beer money on newer hardware or the bug gets quashed. This crate is almost 10 years old now but I can’t throw it out until it actually stops working
>
> Thanks to those of you who took the time to read my post.
>
> I was hoping that a developer who knew the answer would drop in, but at
> least I can be grateful that OpenSUSE does work with my video card and I
> can continue using it until I can justify spending beer money on newer
> hardware or the bug gets quashed. This crate is almost 10 years old now
> but I can’t throw it out until it actually stops working
[Off topic question]
Beer seems to be important to you, just as it is to me! Are you a
homebrewer?
Not really, I’ve dabbled with a few beer kits over the years but am a member of a Tokyo English speaking beer enthusiasts group and attend beer festivals here when I can afford it. Craft beer is not cheap here! I’m also opening a little pub (12 seats) at the end of this month in the suburbs.
Edit: I should also mention that homebrewing is not strictly legal here, although you can purchase the equipment and ingredients and even order them from abroad. The law states that homebrew should be under 1% ABV but they have bigger fish to fry and turn a blind eye to it. Many of my beer drinking friends brew their own and we have a homebrew cherry blossom viewing party in the spring
beerislife wrote:
> Not really, I’ve dabbled with a few beer kits over the years but am a
> member of a Tokyo English speaking beer enthusiasts group and attend
> beer festivals here when I can afford it. Craft beer is not cheap here!
> I’m also opening a little pub (12 seats) at the end of this month in the
> suburbs.
KEWL!
> Edit: I should also mention that homebrewing is not strictly legal
> here, although you can purchase the equipment and ingredients and even
> order them from abroad. The law states that homebrew should be under 1%
> ABV but they have bigger fish to fry and turn a blind eye to it. Many of
> my beer drinking friends brew their own and we have a homebrew cherry
> blossom viewing party in the spring
[Remaining completely off topic]
When I first started brewing, it was not strictly legal here, either. It
took quite a while before all of the laws that were part of “The Great
Experiment” (otherwise known as “Prohibition”) were actually repealled. It
was not legal for an individuals to make wine or beer in the U.S. until the
old law was overturned not really that long ago. (The bill was signed into
law by then President Jimmy Carter.)
Even that did not affect the laws still on the books here in Texas. The
state legislature legalized home wine making earlier, but they cleverly did
not legalize beer making at the same time. After a long, hard battle, we
(individuals interested in brewing) managed to defeat the incredibly
powerful beer distributors’ lobby, and homebrewing finally became legal in
Texas around 1990. Until then, I was force to brew what I called “barley
wine”. (See http://www.doubleluck.com/things/brewery/index.php)
