AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Geforce 6800gt
1024 mb ddr ram
abit kv8pro 1.1 k8t800pro northbridge
ata 133 80gb hd
soundblaster audigy



Im a big in terms of linux (not in computers in general) but I have set my mind to using linux. I have been trying for some time but I always end up with problems because I have very little knowledge of how to get things done in linux.

First of all I had to decide which distro to use so I installed suse 9.1 personal, ubuntu and fedora core 3 alongside windows (not at the same time of course). Because Im not a n00b with computers this was no problem for me, but all three distro's gave me some kind of problems (apart from the fact I dont know how to install the nvidia driver...)

The problem I had with fedora (both 32 and 64 bit) is that when booting it often wouldnt go past the "network storage audio". Sometimes it got past, sometimes not. Tried removing my audigy, enabling and disabling onboard audio but it seemed random and happended often. Needless to see that if I cant fix this problem, fedora is out.

The problem with suse 9.1 is that that my onboard lan doesnt work. I *think* linux does recognize it, but if I type the ip adress of my modem/router is cant connect. I tried downloading the ethernet driver and tried to understand the readme but I couldnt. Then I just tried exactly following the readme, but again I couldnt (part of the problem is also that it only tells you what you should do, not what youre actually doing, I have no idea what everything I type does...)

Then ubuntu. Again no problems installing it (both 32 and 64 bit) but first of all the installer tells me it cant find my network card, and secondly, when the installation is completely finished (second turn) it tries to boot but tells me it cant start X. Again, no idea what to do to fix it

Weird thing though is that the live cd of ubuntu works without problems (apart from the network not working, although, in contrary to suse, in ubuntu I can connect to my modem, but even with trying many things to get internet working, it doesnt work).

btw: the times I was able to boot fedora, network worked perfectly..

Apart from this Ive also installed fedora and ubuntu on the microsoft virtual machine. Ubuntu only gives me problems with the network. The fedora installation works without problems but when it then reboots it tells me:

Right now Im trying to install the ethernet drivers on ubuntu on my virtual pc. The readme tells me to untar rhinefet.tgz, no problem. Then I must compile the source file, but with my very little knowledge of linux, this is where I get stuck

ps: I would love to use a 64 bit distro (suse, fedora and ubuntu all have one), but how worthwhile will that be? Is support for 64 bit good? I have no clue, except that I know there is no 64 bit flashplayer, but otherwise, should I at all bother using 64 bit?





So far it has been a very long story, and Im still not sure which distro to use, (thats why Im trying them all) but without being able to give them a real shot (any of them) this only makes my transition from windows tougher (and Im determined to get it to work, I wont just quit), altough right know I think ubuntu has the greatest possiblity.

If any of you can help me that would mean a lot to me. If you need more info, just ask, If you want me to do something, no problem (if its something in linux, then please tell me in detal what I should do, and what I would be doing. Just doing something without knowing what doesnt make it easier to understand linux)

A good place to know about is www.tldp.org, which documents most of the GNU/Linux architecture in some detail.

I don't know the details of your network problem, but to get you started on networking, you might like to look at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/NET3-4-HOWTO.html

Installing the nvidia driver can be quite annoying. NVidia uses a common codebase for its drivers regardless of the operating system, and this includes lots of intellectual property that they can't just open-source. So they don't distribute anything that looks much like a normal driver. The drivers can be downloaded from http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html which also contains instructions on how to install them. SuSE makes the whole process relatively easy (once your network is working); you just have to start Yast, go to Online Update, and find and tick the relevant box.

64-bit support in Linux is very strong, because the specifications for the chips were released long before the actual silicon. All programs on your system will use the kernel (at least in part), and most will use the standard C library, so having at least these two compiled for 64-bits will make a significant improvement to your computer's performance.

As to getting your network card to work, firstly find out what kind of card you have. If you run the command then it will list all of your PCI devices (including those built into the motherboard); somewhere in that tangle will be the chipset for your network card. Check if that chipset is supported by the distro(s) you are trying to use, and if it still doesn't work, search linuxquestions.org to see if anyone else has had problems and how they solved it. If that yields nothing, then post your own question.

For X not starting, look at your /var/log/XFree86.0 file, and see what the error message given was. To view a file from a terminal, use less, which is a pager application to display and scroll through files: Find out what the error message is, then fix it (by running your distro's configuration tool, or XF86Config or XOrgConfig). Normally, problems like that are caused by badly-behaved monitors reporting silly allowed resolutions.

this is usually just
./configure
make
su
make install
but if you need to do something different it would be in the INSTALL file.

Compiling: go into the folder the tar file created when you untarred it. Now there might be a few options. I'll just list them all and then you can post or figure it out yourself which one is it.

As root first try
With ./configure --help you can see the options you might want to set. If it doesn't work you don't need it.

Then do
This one should work most of the time. Then:
Then it installs the driver.

I think you better figure out what you need in your distro and if you like the looks from for example the site and the policy a distro runs. Then install it and get it to work. You migth have some trouble but it's better to focus on one thing than on 3 different things and don't get any of them to work.

For some things you have to install drivers like you noticed and some things you have to configure yourself to get it to work properly. It's not all point 'n click but you'll have to get used to the linux way of doing things. You have to completely change cause it just works different from windows. Keep windows on another partition till you know enough that you don't need windows anymore or you can troubleshoot in linux (via internet for example)

I have decided to focus on ubuntu because I like what I read about it. It will always be completely free of charge, you will never need to reinstall because you can just upgrade and supposedly it is very ease to download many programs from within ubuntu.

So later tonight Ill reinstall ubuntu again alongside windows and as soon as I encounter a problem (first one probably that X couldnt be started) Ill write down what the error message says and post it here. (does someone have an explenation why the live cd works without problems?)

btw: Im not planning on giving up windows, I unfortunatly need it for my games Ill therefore make 1 fat32 partition for windows (20gb) and then use the rest for ubuntu /, /home and swap.

shumi - welcome to Linux and LQ. keep at it, there is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but it's well worth it. I haven't tried ubuntu, but I've read good reviews - its based on Debian, which is an excellent project, and the apt-get system is really great.

unless your net card is ancient or obscure, you probably won't have much trouble getting it to work, just a configuration issue. check the HCL here, or http://www.linuxcompatible.org/ to make sure it's supported.

on X, check the logfile in /var/log (use "more <filename> to keep it from scrolling off screen in console) for errors - and if the live CD works, check the values used for the various settings in the X config file for clues. the config file is either XF86Config-4 or xorg.conf, depending on the version of X used, and probably located in /etc/X11. also find out your monitor's correct horiz and vert refresh settings (in the manual, or online), and check that those values are correct in the X config file you install.

good luck

This is not my mobo, but its the closest I could find (I have the kv8pro1.1).

As you can see it mentions a big problem with the via_velocity (the network card) on =< 2.6.8.1 (I have that one too)

Unfortunatly it doesnt say what problem exactly, nor do I know which kernel exactly ubuntu and suse 9.2 use (except that its 2.6).