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Old 05-15-2008, 03:30 PM   #1
artvet2
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Registered: Apr 2008
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Unhappy Drivers please!


Been trying hard with different distributions to get Linux installed on a Gigabyte Mob. Problems: that company only sends driver disk and utilities for configuration on a Windows disk. Can't install from web sites because can't connect for lack of drivers for Linux for my on-board ethernet.

So, question is why, above most all else, don't the Linux distro teams ensure that the Live CDs have latest and greatest drivers!! Then newbies like me could fix most of our own problems (you think?). Thanks!
 
Old 05-15-2008, 03:59 PM   #2
tredegar
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You don't need "Driver disks" with linux: these are currently only for windows. With linux, either there is support "out of the box", or there isn't - in which case you may have to do a bit of searching, especially if you have really new hardware.
Generally though, things just work.
Quote:
why, above most all else, don't the Linux distro teams ensure that the Live CDs have latest and greatest drivers!!
New hardware comes out all the time, and it is difficult for linux to keep up without support from the manufacturers.

My suggestion: try a few different distros: knoppix is generally highly regarded as being a distro that recognises new(er) hardware. The (k)ubuntu distros do quite well also.

If you had posted what you have tried, and the error messages you received, we'd be better placed to help you.

Welcome to LQ!
 
Old 05-15-2008, 04:02 PM   #3
BobNutfield
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What drivers do you need? Most of the most recent distros will detect all you have on your Gigabyte board. I am currently running five distros multi booting on a Gigabyte MB with a VIA chipset. Most Gigabyte boards with on-board ethernet use Marvell or Realtek chipsets, which Linux picks up just fine. Post a little more about what you need,

Bob
 
Old 05-17-2008, 08:18 AM   #4
artvet2
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First - your "niceness" is fully appreciated! Need more nice people in this world like you guys!

I have a new GA-MA78GM-S2H: has AMD 780 chipset and ATI graphics. Athlon 64 X2. I am trying to get XP out of my life (XP threw me out when I changed mobo), but I can't get a distro to load. A couple of times, Ubuntu went in, and Knoppix. Now Ubuntu won't load. Just tried Fedora 9 (amd64), no luck. These all get near the end of loading and just quit, monitor powers down and computer freezes - hard reset required. Upon reboot, I get a variety of grub error msgs, i.e., error 15, 18, 22. None of the times that I managed to install Ubuntu gave me access to ethernet (on board). Not recognized. Knoppix didn't not find it either (v.5.1.1). I have tried Bios set to fail safe and optimized and with various custom settings - no luck.

Have an old PIII and have been running Ubuntu with no problem. Starting to learn some things about Linux, but really would like my newer setup to work!

Thanks, and please take care.
 
Old 05-17-2008, 08:44 AM   #5
tommytomthms5
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are you using ubuntu x64???
 
Old 05-17-2008, 09:25 AM   #6
q.Epsilon.p
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Noob in need

ok really stupid question here.

like many people i have had incomparability with the 9600GT and linux,
But i have downloaded the drivers but problem is thats in windows and i cant start up linux in GUI so i can open up the web bowser. so i was wondering if there was a way to run the file from the windows partition sorry what i mean is that o want to run the file in CLI in linux but i downloaded it on windows so how would i run it? im a total noob so sorry if this seem obvious to you but

Last edited by q.Epsilon.p; 05-17-2008 at 10:06 AM.
 
Old 05-17-2008, 10:18 AM   #7
Wim Sturkenboom
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@q.Epsilon.p
It's generally not appreciated to hijack a thread; please start your own and provide a little information like distro.
It will help us to help you.

Your windows drive might already be mounted so you can copy the downloaded driver 'to your linux' and run it there.
 
Old 05-17-2008, 12:47 PM   #8
BobNutfield
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I am not an expert, but it sounds very much like there is a problem with your graphics hardware. ATI is not a linux friendly as Nvidia (I had some difficulty getting Ubunty on a laptop with an ATI graphics driver.

You might try to install either Ubuntu or Fedora in text mode without an install GUI. I know some have done this and have been able to sort out the desktop graphics after it is installed. If you are successful, you will not have a graphical desktop to configure things, but you can look at and post your graphics settings and configuration. Also, Ubuntu has a Debian command that MAY work to configure your desktop once you have it installed. It has worked for some in with this proble,

Quote:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver.org
This will bring up a text-based screen where you answer questions based on your hardware.

Hope this helps

Bob
 
Old 05-17-2008, 01:56 PM   #9
Shadowmeph
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that is really strange because I installed Ubuntu hardy 64bit with only one problem and that was the Xonar soundcard I had to recompile OSS to get my sound card to work but before I installed the sound card my onboard sound worked perfectly the only other thing I had to do was turn on the ATI accelerated graphics driver and everything worked great
 
Old 05-18-2008, 01:18 PM   #10
tredegar
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@artvet2,
This thread is about to veer "off-topic".

XP "threw you out" when you changed MoBo. I fully understand your frustration and wish for change. But you are having trouble installing any version of linux on your hardware.

Here's my suggestion: The 64-bit versions of linux tend to lag a bit behind the plain old 32-bit versions. I do not know why this lag is. It looks like you have an AMD 64-bit (dual?) processor. Probably high-end hardware and very desirable

But why don't you just start simply, and then work up? Install a plain "ordinary" 32-bit linux for a 686. Maybe even try disabling one of your processors in the BIOS if at first install, it falls over. 32-bit 686 linux should be 100% compatible with your chipset. Use it, get the functionality you need now, and play with linux. There's a lot to learn, but it is also a lot of fun, if you like that sort of thing. Whatever you learn with 32-bit linux will also apply to 64-bit dual processor.

Perhaps it's time to learn to walk before you try to run

If you don't give your 686 install ALL your HDD space, but leave some room on another partition to install other distros, with the laudable intention of eventually getting the maximum performance out of your hardware, you'll be sorted out.

Your newest distro won't work? Grub will let you choose to boot to 686 (32-bit), have everything working (albeit with a really annoying 0.12S delay before the next window opens) and you can (hopefully) use functioning tools to find the answers you need.

My linux philospohy is to have a "favoured" distro that runs well on my hardware always available. That favoured version has all my important documents & emails (Yes, I keep backups of my personal data [which reminds me ....])

I also have spare disk space for installing the "latest & greatest" where I test them out. When I find a distro that works well, is stable, and I like, it replaces my favoured distro. The cycle repeats.

Let us know how you get on.
 
  


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