PDA

Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : how good is Debian at detecting newer hardware?

jrbishop79
03-17-2004, 03:07 PM
I'm going to do a rebuild of my computer soon, and I've got Debian 3.0r1 that I want to try again. How good is debian at detecting hardware?

Specs:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Asus A7V8X-X w/ built in sound and LAN
GeForce FX 5600XT video card


would Debian detect these devices?
MB[DK]
03-17-2004, 03:24 PM
There are netinstalls with newer kernels than the 2.4.18 that 3.0 comes with. Check up on debianplanet.org
jrbishop79
03-17-2004, 03:37 PM
well I'm on dial-up and netinstalls aren't really an option...
Hayl
03-17-2004, 03:42 PM
then if you have a device that is not supported in 2.4.18 and you are using the debian install CDs, it will not work unless you install and then upgrade to a newer kernel.
jrbishop79
03-17-2004, 03:49 PM
so then I should probably stick with Mandy until I get broadband?
EdiieLives
03-21-2004, 08:21 PM
I know that your videocard won't be detected automaticly. You will have to download the drivers from nvidia homepage, and install them.
jrbishop79
03-22-2004, 10:24 AM
well actually, I'm more concerned about it detecting the onboard audio and LAN that anything else....
pezplaya
03-22-2004, 10:32 AM
Isn't the main reason why people use debian is to use apt-get? If you have a dial-up connection, why would you choose debian over some other distro?
root.veg
03-22-2004, 10:53 AM
My advice is... if you already have Debian 3.0r1 on CDs, then just suck it and see (after backing up your valuable data, of course :) ).

My guess is that the onboard LAN and sound cards will be off-the-shelf chips with well-known drivers.

Another particularly good way of checking would be a quick boot-up using Knoppix. The hardware detection is so good, that if it doesn't detect your LAN interface and sound card first time, I would think twice about trying to install Debian proper (Knoppix being Debian-based, just in case you didn't know). If the detection fails, Knoppix won't have touched your hard-drive and you can go back to Mandrake.

If Knoppix *can* detect your LAN and sound card, then it will tell you during boot-up which kernel driver modules it uses, for future reference when installing Debian.

Is that any help?
jrbishop79
03-22-2004, 04:54 PM
actually, I hadn't thought of using the Knoppix CD to try it out.... That does help. I'll try it and let you know....