3.3.1 final CD will not boot
Posts: 387
MEPIS 3.3.1 final CD does not boot with the current genuine intel D915GAG mainboards (and possibly with the GEV, GUX and GAV).
Knoppix 3.7, Beatrix and Ubuntu 4.10 all work with it at their default settings, except for sound.
Xandros 3.0 needs the vesa option (from the menu).
The problem is that MEPIS does not support the video or sound components of the intel 915 chipset.
Intel has provided linux drivers for these for over a year at the links I posted, but it is very difficult to download them from the net and install them when the live CD won't boot.
I posted a question to MEPIS support on this some time ago, while still testing the last 'test' version of 3.3.1, but it appears there is not much interest in the problem.
RossD.
Well, what do you......blah
Posts: 27
Hey aysiu, I would have expected that sort of retort from the linux zealouts of the days of old. This is a forum that aims to assist. Ross does some great work with these distros and all you can do is subvert his attempt to solicit some ideas from the 'open source' community with your petty immature reply. Take the flame buddy. If you've got something constructive to say then say it otherwiswe shut-up! Keep digging for the answer Rossco.
Don;t get too aggro with
Posts: 387
Don;t get too aggro with him/her Al. I tend not to be very subtle when I advise MEPIS team that the release doesn;t work with something and I get a stupid reply from them - like the last one, which was basically 'once we've released the final, we're not interested in the test version.'
Considering the final was released about a week after the test, and the test had NOT BEEN TESTED at that time, I thought this was a less than intelligent response!
So I found out intel had released the drivers publicly more than a year previously. Now, I have not been a programmer for many years, and I was never a particularly good one anyway. What I am though, is a very good diagnostician. If it can be broken, I can usually break it, and if I understand the nuts and bolts, i can find a solution. If not - I'll ask someone who does know to fix it.
If I see a problem that is being ignored, and it is a big enough problem that will affect the distro, or other users I will continue to make noises about it until it is fixed.
Aysiu is right in a narrow minded way. If this was about me, I could use another distro, but it is not aboout me. It is about making MEPIS the best Linux distribution for other people. You can;t do that by ignoring intel chipsets for heaven's sake. Intel. They make lots of stuff for computing. Heaps of mainboards use their chips. Lots of other components use their stuff.
So, ayisu, I run five or six different linux distros at any given time in this workshop. I have been running my business on linux since 1998. I have been helping in the development of several distros since that time in one way or another, and if I see a flaw, I hassle about it until it is fixed, because I sell computers pre-installed with linux, and have been doing that for years. As far as I know, I was the first computer business in this country to offer linux in a standard pre-configured system.
MEPIS just happens to be my favourite, and I will continue to do everything I can to keep the development team on their toes until things like this are fixed. I can change distros, certainly, but doing that simply means MEPIS stays incompatible with certain hardware.
I hope that explains to aysiu and others that I am not knocking MEPIS for fun. I am forcing the issue until it is fixed for the people who are going to try installing it with particular popular hardware somewhere down the track.
I had better add, after all
Posts: 387
I had better add, after all this, that a maintenance release was let loose a few days ago that might have fixed this particular problem. i've been away, so have not tested it yet, but it is being downloaded now for testing.
I will post my findings for anyone else who had a, intel 915 series board.
Curious, does the new
Posts: 472
Curious, does the new 2005-03 Kanotix work with the 915? That distro is bleading edge on everything (KDE 3.4, 2.6.11 kernel, O.O. 1.9, etc.) and a lot of stuff does NOT work in Kanotix all that well... but at least it boots on everything I've thrown at it so far... but I don't have a 915 mobo.
Keep us posted on this issue if you can. Thanks.
Al
Ok, the 3.3.1-1 maintenance
Posts: 387
Ok, the 3.3.1-1 maintenance release will boot LIVE if you select failsafe.
I had to cut testing short as I am doing a test of Linspire 5, but I will get back to it shortly to see if the 2.6 kernel will work by passing the vesa option.
There was no sound on boot, and I did not see the network come up.
There will be more as soon as I can test it again.
RossD.
Better modify that
Posts: 387
Better modify that statement. The 3.3.1-1 maintenance release will SOMETIMES boot in failsafe on the 915 series intel boards.
I tried to boot the live cd again a couple of days ago and even in failsafe it didn;t want to know.
Using xdrvr=vesa in default mode didn;t work either. It isn;t even booting to a command prompt. Just a black screen with no cursor.
RossD.
Well, what do you want us to
Posts: 232
Well, what do you want us to say? Find the distro that works with your hardware. For me, that's Mepis. For others, it's Ubuntu or Mandriva or Xandros.