Subject: Linux Hardware Nightmare!

Subject: Linux Hardware Nightmare!

[Reza Roboubi]

I do not at all think that Linux should support all (crappy) hardware
that is out there.  It is perfectly okay with me, if Linux supports a
decent selection of properly designed hardware, and does it
_flawlessly_.  "Flawless" is what Linux, for the most part, is known
for anyway.

However, I have had this TERRIBLE X-freeze problem with my machine.
After _much_ research, I realized that it is probably a bug (hardware
or driver related) that will never go away :(

You see, I have some VIA chips, and they seem buggy (or Linux does.)
I found posts such as this:
http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=linux+hardware+excuse+wearing+thin&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=20010329071729.B16495_auckland.ac.nz%40ns.sol.net&rnum=1

plus _many_ more VIA "DMA bug" related posts.  Could not read them
all.

I tried the suggestions that I could, like hdparm -d0 to turn off DMA on
my disk.  The bug _always_ persisted.  This is despite the fact that
my machine is _much_ better behaved under Win98!!

NOW: That is behind me!  I have decided to buy a new system.  But
understandably, I _really_ need a FULLY Linux compliant system.  You
know, something that doesn't crash.  I know I'm not asking too much,
and Linux can make me just as happy as it has made countless others.

But I go to RedHat Hardware compatibility list, and voila: No
motherboards listed:
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhl9_hcl.html
Please understand: ALL I am asking for, is an actual listing of
product IDs that will not freeze/crash under Linux.  But the RedHat
site does not appear to list even _one_ RH9 compatible motherboard.
So how can I _possibly_ be expected to make a decision?

I would be very grateful, and you would make my new year a really
happy one, if you help me just a bit.

Kindly give _exact_ motherboard names/numbers, that you know work
_flawlessly_ with Linux.  Other hardware NOT listed on the RedHat
site: RAM, Hard, Mouse, Keyboard, CDROM.  What do we do about those?
Part numbers? Please suggest.

This particular machine will be on the cheap end: no super fancy games
or anything, and no cutting edge features are necessary.  Main use:
software development.  Reasonably fast PC (2.6 GHz),
but very _very_ stable, and reliable.  Fully Linux ready.

Thank you for all help in advance.

Regards, Reza.

Re: Subject: Linux Hardware Nightmare!

[Krzysztof Halasa]

Reza Roboubi <rob@mail.requestfinder.com> writes:

> You see, I have some VIA chips, and they seem buggy (or Linux does.)

Are you sure it isn't a RAM problem or something like that? While
probably all chipsets on the market are buggy, I don't see any hangs
with Linux (with VIA or non-VIA chipsets). I'm using VIA MVP3 with
AMD K6, VIA 686B with dual PIII, VIA KT266A and KT333 with Athlons XP.
The video cards are various older S3, NVidia GFIIs with XFree86 driver,
ATI Radeon 8500.

It might be a problem with the video card as well, are you using NVidia
drivers by chance?
-- 
Krzysztof Halasa, B*FH