[Cialug] debian 3.1, and back to Gentoo

[Alan Maupin]

A few comments about my first install of debian using the 3.1 install CD's .
I was hoping for something on the order of Mandriva.

 

The hardware:  P1000, 512 MB RDRAM, 18 GB SCSI 160 system drive, 2 x 40 GB
ATA100 RAID -0- extra storage, NV Ti 4800 Video.  

 

Initially I had a problem with the two 40 GB ATA100 IBM drives connected to
a SIIG PCI raid card.   First off, I didn't expect to be able to configure
the ATA drives as RAID 0, and pretty much expected to configure them as two
separate 40 GB drives.  After about the third install attempt, which had
nothing to do with the drive configuration (Grub was not working, more about
that in a moment) I discovered the automated RAID configuration utility, and
wham bam, one each, 80 GB RAID 0 partitiion established.  

 

Things began to look better, and after I scratched Grub and used Lilo
instead the install was off and running.  A little while later I was booting
into Gnome and immediately wanted to increase the screen resolution on my 19
inch Viewsonic analog montior from 800 x 600 to a more acceptable 1280x1024.
This is where things got a little sticky again.  

 

First off, the default installation did not recognize the fact that I was
running a mainstream three year old GeForce Ti 4800 - 64 MB video card with
a 19 inch Viewsonic monitor, and would only allow me a max resolution of 800
x 600.  Next stop, Nvidia.com to download the latest Linux drivers.  After a
little while jerking around with the Nvidia drivers I decided that Debian
was probably going to cost me nearly as much time in configuration as a
custom compiled Gentoo install and thus have decided to scratch Debian and
return to Gentoo.

 

It is my opinion that between the extremes of a plug and play installation
like Mandriva, and the customised (compiled) installation of Gentoo, there
lays Debian.  

 

 

 

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