Cannot choose Beryl as the windows manager

[Dotan Cohen]

On 07/05/07, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:
> Dotan Cohen writes:
>
> > On 06/05/07, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Maybe it's just me, but I always found it easier just to buy and support
> >> hardware that's fully supported by free software.  I don't need these
> >> headaches.  I always thought that this is what Linux was all about, and if
> >> someone wants to use non-free, closed source, binary blobs, there are other
> >> operating systems that work better, and give you as many of them as you
> >> could possibly want.
> >
> > I'm not being sarcastic. If you know of a 256 MB graphics card (again,
> > for SW) that I can put in this Dell Inspiron E1505 that is fully
> > supported by open source software, I'll buy it right now. Up to 1000
> > NIS, that's ~$250US right now. That's a lot of money that I'm willing
> > to put where my mouth is.
>
> That's not the right approach.  As the old saying goes: the horse has
> already left the barn.  This is like buying a Hyundai, than offer to spend a
> reasonable amount of money for an engine that can make it go 200 mph.  And
> blame the auto makers for absence of any viable option.

I'm not blaming anyone but myself. I did, however, spend quite some
time on this list collecting recommendations and talking with people.
At the time of purchase, I thought I was covered.

> Before you purchased this laptop, the right thing to do would've been to
> verify that it's video hardware is supported by Mesa.  It's fine that you're
> willing to spend some of your money to purchase hardware that's supported by
> free Linux drivers, however, the time to do that was before you purchased
> your laptop.  You cannot just take it for granted that you can buy any OEM
> laptop, off the shelf, and have everything in it working, right out of the
> box, in Linux.  That, unfortunately, not how it works.  Maybe in about 10-15
> years, but not now.

Like said, I did do that. Seperate threads on this very list for the
wifi card, video, bluetooth drivers, and vefore all that for the
laptop model itself.

> I know that Dell has been making mild noises recently, regarding Linux
> support, but that's only for selected hardware, but it doesn't look like
> this model is one of them.

Yes, I know.

> If it is, and you bought this laptop from Dell based on their promise of
> Linux being supported on this hardware, well, I hope that you've got it in
> writing, and you'll need to take it up with them. I also recall that Dell's
> Linux support is limited to supporting Ubuntu; I suppose that Ubuntu
> packages non-free drivers in their distro, so the fact that this laptop may
> be supported by Ubuntu is no guarantee with regards to Fedora.

Actually, I do have a copy of the conversation I had with the Dell
tech, but he states that there is no guarantee. That was in November
2006, before Dell thought about installing Ubuntu at the factory.

> >> The reason there's nothing by that name is the same reason you won't find a
> >> distinct package called "smtp", even though whatever mail software you're
> >> using must certainly implement it.
> >
> > Hmm... good point. Thanks.
> >
> > So, I understand that I cannot run Beryl nor GoogleEarth (nor VMWare
> > Server, for that matter) with the current state of Fedora.
>
> For all practical matter, yes, it seems that you can't.  Others, who have
> done their due diligence and made sure their video hardware will work
> out of the box, with Mesa, before they buying, probably have much better
> luck.

You like rubbing that in, don't ya? :)

> Although I'll add that you might be able to wrangle it into submission and
> get it working, if you spend some time on it.  But this is one of those
> things that just doesn't have a general "How-To" regarding what needs to be
> done.

I'm not sure how much more time I'm willing to spend on Beryl, as it's
not that important. Google Earth, on the other hand, is rather useful.

Thanks.

Dotan Cohen

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