[NTLUG:Discuss] LapTops - was: Dallas Morning News article

[briank@hex.net]

On Sat, Mar 25, 2000 at 02:05:01PM -0600, Jeremy Blosser wrote:
> Can you explain why you think this is?  PCMCIA info is just based on the
> pcmcia-cs stuff, and video hardware is XFree86... 

As I recall, the SuSE release I was using (6.0) was unable to
recognize any of a number of PCMCIA network cards I attempted to use.
RH6.1 accomplished the task with no problems.  In the context of the
question Kendall had answered (first-time installers), this would be a
significant drawback.  The SuSE 6.1 release may have improved upon
this, but the correct PCMCIA drivers for the cards I have were
certainly available when SuSE 6.0 was released. I believe the SuSE
distro may have been using an older version of the PCMCIA code. 

As for the Xserver, neither the VGA16 or SGA drivers shipped with SuSE
6.0 would properly recognize the video hardware on the Dell Latitudes.
I could get some video working, but only low-resolution.  Thisi, coupled
with the inability to get on the 'net to download the correct X
servers, severely crippled the laptop install process.  RH6.1 had no
problems with recognizing the hardware, leading me to believe the
server they were using was more current than the one shipped with the
SuSE distro.

Like many things in life, though, I did not have the luxury of time to
investigate exactly what went wrong with the SuSE laptop installation.
There was enough anecdotal evidence, though, for me to conclude that I
would recommend the RH 6.1 distro for laptop installs.

  --Brian
--
http://www.nerdperfect.com
Smart as a chimp.