On 06/05/07, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dotan Cohen writes: > On 06/05/07, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> > Thanks. So, I need to replace: >> > 1) Vesa/Radeon in xorg.cong to fglrx. This is simply done with VI. >> >> Maybe, maybe not. I doubt that it's as easy as flipping a switch. First, >> you need to install ATI's non-free kernel driver. It's not a part of Fedora >> because it is not free software. And it won't magically appear out of >> nowhere. You have to install it, and it likely needs to be compiled for the >> kernel version you're running. Anytime you update the kernel in the future, >> you will need to recompile it again. > > Because of this and other reasons (VMWare, for one), I think that I'll > simply stop updating the kernel. Seriously. Yes, if you do not have anything directly connected to the Internet, you generally don't have to worry about it. But if you do have a permanent connection, then you certainly better keep an eye on kernel updates that include fixes for remotely-exploitable vulnerabilities (as there have been); then make a judgement call whether eye candy is more important to you than not getting hacked. In all cases, even if you do not have permanent Internet connectivity, you still need to evaluate all kernel updates for vulnerabilities in potential indirect internal attack vectors, in your environment, and make the same judgement call.
In the case of VMWare, it's a lot more than eye candy. Unless you know of a Linux replacement for Solidworks.
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 ~$250US right now. That's a lot of money that I'm willing to put where my mouth is.
>> I do not know if there's a prepackaged ati driver that you can install from >> some third-party yum repository. I can't find it in Livna, the usual place >> for these kinds of things. I have not looked at ATI's non-free driver, but >> it's fairly likely that its installation instructions is non-trivial. >> Welcome to the world of non-free, proprietary software. > > http://rpm.livna.org/livna-switcher.html Did you actually try this? Looks to me like this information is out of date, at least I can't find these packages in the FC 6 Livna repo.
I did, in January. Like yourself, I'm finding it out of date right now.
>> > 2) Xorg with XGL. This is done by installing XGL via yum. >> >> No, it's done by installing Xorg, which includes XGL. > > So I probably have it, then. The why isn't there much be that name: > [dotancohen@localhost ~]$ locate xgl > /usr/bin/beryl-xgl > /usr/share/apps/kdesktop/programs/xglobe.desktop > /usr/share/man/man1/beryl-xgl.1.gz > [dotancohen@localhost ~]$ 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. Dotan Cohen http://technology-sleuth.com/long_answer/why_are_internet_greeting_cards_dangerous.html http://what-is-what.com/what_is/linux.html
