MEPIS 3.3.3.1 on Dell Optiplex GX280
Posts: 2
Dear all,
I am trying to intall MEPIS 3.3.3.1 on my brand new Dell Optiplex GX280, but it failed in all cases. 
The 'postmodern' hardware is not supported by MEPIS:
- only USB keyboard + mouse --> no PS2 interfaces anylonger
- ATI Radeon Graphic card over PCI Express (kernel 2.6.12)
- Broadcom Ethernet chip
- SATA HDD
My main concern is the unavailability of the USB keyboard support of the MEPIS 3.3.3.1 CDROM image. I probably have to remaster the CD image with kernel 2.6.12 or at least with integrated USB keyboard support.
Any ideas how to solve the problem ?
You might want to try
Posts: 472
You might want to try another distro before you go to a lot of trouble to re-master. I think Kanotix liveCD (www.kanotix.com) will run with a USB keyboard. You might ask on their IRC #kanotix or their web-board before you spend the time to download. You might also ask Kano (the creator of Kanotix) for the link to the beta release candidate for you to test with. I'm sure he will give it to you. (It is not an open beta for control purposes, from what I understand.)
You also should write the Mepis guys and ask what they know about this problem as well as post to mepislovers.com as Lord Devon (one of the Mepis engineers) reads that list from what I understand. I'll bet Mepis has a rc (release candidate) that you can test with.
I know the USB mouse is not an issue for most Linux distro's these days.
Let us know what you find out.
Al
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EDIT: I asked on the IRC and was told that Kanotix will work with USB keyboard. YMMV. Burn their live CD run it and see. YMMV.
Optilplex GX280 Works fine for me!!!
Posts: 17
I'm using MEPIS and it's working fine for me. I just add the option xdrvr=vesa to the 2.6 kernel at boot. Let it do its thing and then just unplug and plug back in my usb devices if they aren't working after X is up.
Currently I'm using the latest "testing" cd. But I've had the same results with previous versions.
Re: MEPIS 3.3.3.1 on Dell Optiplex GX280
Posts: 519
Dear all,I am trying to intall MEPIS 3.3.3.1 on my brand new Dell Optiplex GX280, but it failed in all cases.
...snip...
Interesting. I run a Dell Optiplex GX260 at work (not 280) and Mepis 3.3 installs perfectly on it, including sound, accelerated vidio, keyboard and mouse.
In a similar circumstance I am currently using a 6 month old Gateway m675prr laptop with Mepis 3.3 on it. I get sound only out of my MICROPHONE jack, using headphones. It's good stereo sound, but at least it is sound. There are a couple of other minor things that don't work, like sd memory cards, or certain digital cameras not loading via USB, etc. Strangely, a relative of mine owns the same laptop, but it is 18 months old and is a previous version number. It plays beautiful sound out of its front stereo speakers, camera plugins work, etc...
I've often wondered.... is it accidental incompatible hardware or something more sinister?
I run it perfectly on
Posts: 4077
I run it perfectly on GX270... but I guess the point here is that it doesn't work on GX280, so it's kind of irrelevant if it works on 260, 270. I use USB mouse, I didn't try a USB keyboard though.
--
Post questions on www.mepislovers.org too -- very helpful community
DELL GX280 - NO INSTALL
Posts: 6
There is a thread in the Dell/Linux community that discusses this issue.
TRY THIS LINK: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5885
Dell does not support Linux on desktops or laptops. They support SUSE and Red Hat on servers however. Many of the new Dell servers do not have PS2 ports by the way.