Fedora target audience, what about the research area?

[alan]

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006, Krzysztof Halasa wrote:

> Laurent Rineau <laurent.rineau__fedora_extras at normalesup.org> writes:
>
>> At the ENS, it is 258 machines, and at the Inria it is 689 machines.
>
> And you tell us they have no central distribution points for updates
> and for custom packages, and have no single sysadmin able to, at the
> very least, exclude or include whatever is needed for successful
> operation of a particular binary driver?

A number of people here use the Livna packages for nVIDIA.  I always just 
build the driver myself.  (One of the first things I do is set the default 
run level to 3 when I install Fedora.)

> Of course I don't know if they have NVidia-based cards running NVidia
> drivers. Chances are they don't play Doom.

That is not the only reason to install the driver.  For nVIDIA, if you 
want to use the second screen or s-video output jacks, you have to use the 
commercial driver.  You also need it if you switch back and forth from X 
to console.  (Otherwise you get a corrupted screen when you leave X.)

> I can believe it might be a problem for part of home users (gamers?)
> but a research institute is way too much for me.

Unless you run on a laptop and have to give presentations.

> OTOH, I wonder how many people on this list would have a problem
> themselves. Especially if livna/etc. provided "conflicting" driver
> package(s).

The problem with nVIDIA and X 7.1 is not a crash, it is screen corruption.

I am coming to the opinion that we need to update anyways, if nothing else 
to prod the vendors into supporting code that has been out since May.  The 
attitude is that they won't support it until a bunch of people use it.  If 
we say we won't use it until it is supported then we reach a deadlock 
condition that will not be resolved until the vendor or the distro are 
rebooted.

-- 
"I want to live just long enough to see them cut off Darl's head and
  stick it on a pike as a reminder to the next ten generations that some
  things come at too high a price. I would look up into his beady eyes and
  wave, like this... (*wave*!). Can your associates arrange that for me,
  Mr. McBride?"
                       - Vir "Flounder" Kotto, Sr. VP, IBM Empire.