Which to choose FC1 or FC2

[david walcroft]

Mark Eggers wrote:
> 
>>I have the subject problem,which both have their problems namely:
>>
>>FC1/ I have a GeForce fx 5700 video card,it's not detected/supported
>>so I get the Vesa driver and so no mplayer and the like.
> 
> 
> You should be able to get the NVidia drivers from the NVidia site, build
> it, install it, and be happy with Fedora Core 1.  I had this working on
> all the Fedora 1 kernels.
> 
I have not tried the nVidia drivers yet but did try Livna's rpm which 
locked up my box.

> The download link is here:  
> 
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-5336
> 
> Please note that this will NOT work with unmodified Fedora Core 2
> kernels due to a change in kernel stack size.  There have been numerous
> threads concerning this both on this mailing list as well as on the
> NVidia forums.
> 
> This is not just a Fedora Core 2 issue.  Fedora Core 2 gets the arrow in
> the back first since it's the first distribution (AFAIK) that has ONLY
> 4K stacks.  It's the price of being at the leading edge.
> 
> Personally, with the better memory management and performance I will not
> go back to an 8K stack.
> 
> 
>>FC2/ No sound after install/login to KDE,I thought I had it fixed but a
>>kernel upgrade killed that so silence.
> 
> 
> What is your sound card?  Please note that Fedora Core 2 uses ALSA (as
> do all 2.6 kernel releases).  You might want to check the following:
> 
SB Audigy emu10k1 : Tried all sorts things - adding alsaconf via 
cvs-alsa-utils but it failed after a kernel install/reboot.Tried a 2.6.6
kernel.org stripped out Alsa and CONFIG_REGPARMS then did a cvscompile 
on alsa cvs download but had compile problems and couldn't finish.Also
tried a script from www.alsaopensrc.org which has a script 'aabuild'that 
builds a kernel and alsa complete via cvs (includes installing)


> http://www.alsa-project.org/
> 
> to see if your card / sound chip is supported.
> 
> 
> I have two sound cards on this machine.  I have hand-compiled the latest
> alsa modules for both of them and installed them on Fedora Core 2 with
> no problems.  It's just one more step I have to remember when upgrading
> a kernel (build NVidia drivers - once the 4K stack-compatible driver is
> available, build the NTFS module, build the ALSA modules).
> 
> Also, when going to ALSA, the default is for all channels to be muted. 
> You have to enable the channels by hand the first time.  This is done
> using either alsamixer (curses interface) or compiling and installing a
> Gnome interface to alsamixer such as gnome-alsamixer
> (http://www.paw.co.za/projects/gnome-alsamixer/).
> 
> You can get an RPM for Fedora Core 2 - see rpm.pbone.net.

Did that.

> 
> I also do a bit of tweaking to KDE when i have it running.
> 
> 1) Turn off ARTs since I don't like the delay and don't need the
> software mixing.

Do that
> 
> 2) Use an external player for System notifications, such as aplay

Didn't know that one
> 
> Please note that if you do the above two items, the only way to go back
> to using ARTs and the internal player is to hand-edit the following XML
> file.
> 
> ~/.kde/share/config/knotifyrc
> 
> It's a bug.
Thanks nice info
> 
> The actual nv driver for Fedora Core 2 is tolerable unless of course
> you're doing graphics (povray, etc.) or playing games.  Sound is nice
> under Fedora Core 2.  Performance is nicer, especially if you run a lot
> of services as I do.
> 
> My personal preference is for Fedora Core 2, and periodically post "are
> we there yet" messages to the NVidia forum (which is all we can do since
> it's a closed driver).
> 
> Please note that there have been some USB and apmc problems with Fedora
> Core 2, older motherboard BIOS loads, and the challenge of writing
> proper drivers.  Please Google / check the mailing list to see if you're
> going to be bit by one of those issues.

I don't seem to get these problems
> 
> In short:
> 1) If your sound card is supported under ALSA - go for FC2
> 2) If you are going to be bit with apmc or USB issues, stay on FC1

I agree with 1) if I can get Alsa to work
If I can get the nVidia drivers into FC1 I just may stay with FC1
> 
> Hope this has been of some help
> 
> /mde/
> just my two cents . . . .

Thanks Mark,posts like yours make it worthwhile having Fedora and this 
mailing list.

        david