Re: [SLE] Machine Building - Nightmare Alley - Compatibility and Upgrade

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Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 11:58:48 -0600
To: suse-linux-e@suse.com

Ted Hilts wrote:

> Anyone having experience and useful information on this subject,
> PLEASE respond.
>
> I have tried several times to email you back but the list has been
> rejecting my email thinking it to be much larger than it is. Since
> that time my entire email system has been in trouble. Some kind of
> virus was pumped through my Linux gateway machine and into my XP
> Netscape managed email system. I lost some 7000 messages before I had
> everything fixed and running again. Only my Inbox was hit and made
> completely useless. Any way I would like to pick up from where I lost
> my email ability and so have created a new thread on compatibility
> issues when building a new Linux machine. I notice there is a
> somewhat similar thread of a 64 bit Gigabyte board.
>
> Does anyone know where I would get CHIPSET information in the Linux
> SuSe 9.1 help files? However I'm not sure if this (as a separate
> exercise) would ensure compatibility. See what I have to say further
> on and everyone is welcome to comment.
>
> Hans
>
> Thank you so very much for your very informative and detailed reply.
>
> Can you make a specific recommendation from the most recent Gigabyte
> boards (including processor choice, memory choice, on board "Chip
> Set", etc.). If you feel safe in your recommendation I would
> appreciate hearing back from you on your recommendation. I don't want
> an older Gigabyte board?
>
> I have 2 CICERO computers (one XP, the other XP Pro, manufactured for
> Future Shop, a computer and appliance super store here in Canada)
> I mention this only because the XP machine CPU board died and the
> extended warranty applied. The service company wanted to put a
> different board in because the original was no longer manufactured. I
> guess this must be a problem with big retail chains -- they constantly
> shop around for the best deal from a money standpoint rather than a
> quality standpoint. Anyway, I insisted that the repair service find a
> board with the same chipset (so I could use my backup if required) and
> hopefully so we could bring the system back up from the existing disk
> boot MBR. It went well except some applications reinitialized. The
> new board was a Gigabyte P4 Titan socket 478 mother board with a
> Pentium 4 processor running a little less that about 2 Gig (or so I
> understand). The model was GA-8SIMLH-P SIS651/962I/AGP4X/Socket478 for
> Pentium 4/2 DDR DIMM/Micro ATX/LAN/6-CH Codec/USB 2.0/.
> As a result of this board switch the graphic card misfunctions using
> HotMetal Pro 6 web authoring tool and I had to use the built in on
> board graphics function (at lower resolution) which steals memory to
> operate. BUT I have never used a Gigabyte CPU board for Linux let
> alone one with an AMD chip.
>
> Yes, you have somewhat relieved my concerns but I would feel better if
> you or someone else could come up with a recent or the same board
> along with all the components in the system. That graphics board which
> I cannot use was costly. The other day I began to experiment around
> with a refurbished unit (Pentium 4 at 450M -- would have preferred at
> least 1 gig) unit and had installed Linux SuSe 9.0 from a CD-Rom kit
> that came with a magazine. It came with 2 CDs, desktop and server. I
> could not install TELNET, FTP and other servers as both CDs seemed
> to be identical and desktop. The desktop was nice but I did this
> towards getting a SuSe based server centric gateway/router system up
> and running.
> The first problem other than no servers to speak of was the the LAN
> NIC card was not detected. I put in an expensive 3 Com card (my
> maintenance spare) and it was immediately detected. By this time I am
> getting upset as I spent an entire day fighting with the Magazine
> special (full distribution, they claimed) SuSe 9.0. The other day my
> wife and I made a 63 mile one way trip to Edmonton (Alberta, Canada)
> from our farm location where I have my home and development LAN (some
> 15 computers, Linux, XP, and Win95) to Compuserve where I paid $129.00
> CDN dollars for SuSe 9.1 Pro and I am hoping the Box set will give me
> all the servers I want. It costs about $20.00 to $30.00 dollars to
> drive round trip to the city and shop around plus meals. So now I
> have the SuSe User and Reference Manual and I don't have to go blind
> (my eyes are very sensitive) reading a PDF file from a bright glaring
> screen. I decided that the price was close enough to the large money
> exchange difference between USA and CDN dollars plus shipping and
> other charges to buy the box set from the store rather than have it
> shipped to me by courier from the USA.
>
> Also I notice that Linux now has more than ext2. My current Linux
> machines all run ext2 and they were put together using SuSe 6.4 and
> 6.2. One of my concerns is that almost all these computers are unique
> with most having a different CPU board than the other. I could not
> afford the Enterprise version and am having a hard time understanding
> the difference between the 9.1 Pro and the Enterprise version other
> than the enterprise version comes with a special server (s) that do
> MORE of what I don't know but do it from a central network location
> and somehow bridge the differences between machines .
> So I am gambling that 9.1 Pro will at least give me what I've got with
> 6.4 Suse but more recent. Another concern, and I thought I had it
> solved with 6.4 SuSe was the ability to make transparent upgrades
> including the kernel. But SuSe has told me by email (from the pre
> purchase sales department) that I will have to install their SuSe 9.1
> distribution from scratch on all my SuSe machines. I am hoping that
> 9.1 will allow me to install the latest browsers as they evolve and
> other things. I CANNOT do this now with SuSe 6.4. I tried installing
> Netscape (again using the binary from one of these Magazine CDs) and
> the first problem was I was lacking certain libraries and even if I
> went out and got them there was probably some incompatibilities
> between the kernel calls of my present kernel and what the binary for
> Netscape would be calling and expecting as results.
> And it turns out that with 9.1 Pro I have obtained the latest KDE.
>
> So I am beginning to wonder how best to put a system together when it
> is possible it could go obsolete hardware and software wise over
> night. I was going to ask some of these questions in a separate email
> to the list. I notice a lot of people are having problems of various
> sorts with SuSe 9.1 (mine is PRO and not yet installed until I have
> thoroughly read the manuals),
> So, as you probably recognized, I am trying to get as educated as
> possible on my next few Linux projects (since 6.4 distribution) in
> and effort to thwart my LAN from turning into a monstrosity to
> maintain -- although I think it has come close to that state
> already. I need a 60 hour day to keep up with the problems.
>
> So that's why I am trying to get a dependable and maintainable set up.
> That involves being able to upgrade on a continuous basis and do it
> transparently to the existing system, including the kernel.
>
> I notice on this list (I subscribe to 14 SuSe lists) a lot of hype
> about Red Carpet which appears by the e-mail to be some kind of
> upgrade/installation facility based on RPMs. For a week now I have
> seen e-mail on this subject but have had time only to read a few. I
> would like to read them all. I don't think this facility comes with
> the SuSe 9.1 Pro distribution BUT I am looking for an application that
> will allow me to make "seamless" upgrades" to my Linux systems once I
> wipe them of the hard drives and install SuSe 9.1 Pro on the works.
>
> What I am going to do, and this really hurts financially, is simply
> save the old hard drives and put in new hard drives . That way I can
> go back to the original system and data by putting back the original
> drives (about 3 per unit, although one has 7). That is one of the
> reasons why I have another email on backups. I want to make a single
> backup of the first SuSe 9.1 installation and then use that backup (if
> possible) regardless of the difference in computers (CPU, graphics
> boards, sound boards, LAN NIC, etc.) . If this is even possible and
> no one on the list has yet been able to demonstrate it is possible,
> then there is still the task of identifying each LINUX computer with
> its own (original) name and original static IP address which involves
> numerous config (hosts, smb.conf, httpd.conf, and many others) and
> other locations within the distribution.
>
> Can't see the screen very well any more so I will generate more
> information if you get back to me on what I have already written.
> ANYONE else is also welcome to join in.
>
> Bye to all, thanks, TED
>
>

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• Previous message: Ted Hilts: "[SLE] Machine Building - Nightmare Alley - Compatibility and Upgrade"
• In reply to: Ted Hilts: "[SLE] Machine Building - Nightmare Alley - Compatibility and Upgrade"
• Next in thread: Jerome R. Westrick: "Re: [SLE] Machine Building - Nightmare Alley - Compatibility and Upgrade"
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