On 08/18/2011 12:41 PM, phanisvara wrote:
> http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Configuring_graphics_cards
>
> (not sure if that’s the most up-to-date link for that purpose; perhaps
> somebody else can provide a better one.)
no, it is a good one to look to, because it among other things kinda
explains the “why” behind ‘nomodeset’ as well as points to the openSUSE
Graphic Card Practical Theory Guide for Users
<http://tinyurl.com/37v9y7m> which pretty well gives about all one needs
to know…
i also doubt the Asus driver will make that hardware perform video magic
like and bring a smile like the ‘scrawny netbook’ does (as it is
optimized for things like watching movies, youtube, etc and the server
optimized to do other stuff)…
but, to answer some questions:
- I’m rather curious what hardware is “certified” for openSUSE…
none i know of…enterprise level hardware makers are the folks who
generally test and certify enterprise level software to run on their
machine…as far as i know no one is trying to sell openSUSE as a
enterprise solution…
on the other hand 11.4 installed on this acer netbook and everything
just worked (well, to get it to work i did have to tell it the pass/id
for my wireless!)
as far as i know, these manufacturers sell hardware with SLES/D
installed, or certified for user additions: HP, DELL, IBM, and
Levono…and, there are probably others…
- Are there any potential problems with trying to install the Linux
drivers for the VGA adapter from Asus, even though they’re only intended
for SLES?
that would be a great question to ask the hardware maker…
- If they couldn’t work with openSUSE would the installation just fail
i would expect a correctly installed asus driver would result in
marginally better video…i say marginally better because i’d expect it
to not result in desktop/nettop/laptop like video performance (duh: it
is server hardware)
- … or could it screw up my system?
i wouldn’t expect it to harm the hardware.
- Could I roll it back if there were a problem?
yes, but i can’t tell you exactly how…
you might check the instructions in the asus driver package and see if
it gives a how to undo…
the biggest potential problem i see for you at this point is that in
trying to roll back to the default installed driver you could damage
the software system…but, that problem is easily overcome by making a
backup before hand, or just accepting you may mess up and have to
reinstall…
as mentioned earlier: if you want your server’s graphics to look like a
desktop you will probably have to add a video card which has the ability
(and on board video RAM) to do that…it would not have to be really
new, expensive or fancy to show a big boost in full screen streaming
ability, fancy rotating cubes, translucent panels, 3D games and all the
other glitz not required or needed on servers…
by the way, what video driver was installed by default? maybe the above
mentioned theory guide would lead you to a different, better open source
driver…i do not know. (but, still i bet it won’t reach the
performance of the ‘scrawny netbook’…)
–
DD Caveat
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobile” of operating systems!