Windependence Day

Or "My Transition from Windows Hurt, Dammit!"

 
For lazy readers, the point of this story is...
 
If you try to install Linux on a new computer and it crashes all the time, it might _not_ be the software's fault.  Try a different stick of memory for starters. It takes little time to do this, and it might save you testing everything else.  
 
Now, on with the story...
 
I wish I could say my transition was a picnic. I wish my battle to transfer from Windows wasn't so bloody.  
 
I have used Windows 95 since it was released until now, preferring not to upgrade since I had an operating system that worked with all my hardware. Then I received a USB camera, and I was faced with a choice: I could get Windows 98 (or better) to unleash my USB port, or try linux. Each of the four times I tried a new version of a linux distribution, there was usually a critical element missing (specific software features, decent Office file conversion, decent installable 3D drivers, etc.), and I would go back to Windows 95 for a few more months.
 
Then Redhat 7.3 was released. What a dream! It went on to my computer like butter,  and it had (nearly) everything I wanted. So I thought to myself, "Why don't I just teach myself C++ and add the features that are missing?"  With a few CVS scripts and a good night's sleep, I had KDE ready to build. I started compiling, and waited... it dawned on me that I needed a new computer to finish compiling this year.
 
Two hours later, I came home with the bits to build a new computer.
 
Several hours later, I fired the thing up and started installing Redhat 7.3, in eager anticipation of coding some enhancements to my own operating system.
 
Two days later, I had successfully completed an installation that had an uptime of anywhere from one minute to several hours followed by a total lockup.
 
Two weeks later, I had a stable system, that KDE is compiling on as I write this.
 
What happened in between? Fortunately, my old system still worked so I was connected to the internet and able to search for help as I went. Otherwise, I would DEFINITELY have Windows 2000 on here. Or whatever the latest product-activation-free version is :) I looked for advice on Google and Google Groups by using combinations of my linux distribution's name, version numbers, chipset and motherboard specs, and the words 'problem', 'hang', 'freeze', 'help', and 'shit'.  
 
The only advice I acted on was advice that had actually helped someone, evidenced by a thank you post, or sometimes a "woot!" post.
 
 
THINGS I TRIED THAT DIDN'T HELP:
 
BIOS
Make CD drives 16 bit mode in BIOS
Try Optimal and High Performance BIOS settings
Made sure PNP Operating System was "No" in BIOS
Turned Power Management/ACPI off in BIOS
Make CPU/Memory speeds slower
Reserved/Unreserved IRQ for VGA
 
BOOT PARAMETERS
Add "disableapic mem=nopentium"/"nodma"to boot parameters (Athlon processor)
 
HARDWARE
Remove one CD drive at a time, and use the other for the install
Make more room for the graphics card fan
Removed TV card / DVD Card / Sound card / Network card
Moved cards/memory around different slots
Flash bios to the latest version for better chip/hardware management.
 
INSTALLATION
Try LILO and GRUB
Use MBR or root partition for storing boot loader
Try ext2fs/ext3fs file systems
Made partition smaller than 30Gig  
Text and graphical mode installation
 
SOFTWARE
Used accelerated/non-accelerated nVidia drivers
Compiled/installed a 2.5.x kernel specifically for my hardware
Compiled/installed a 2.4.18 kernel specifically for my hardware
Compiled/installed X 4.2.0 kernel specifically for my hardware
Compiled/Installed GCC 3.1 and tried to recompile previous
 
I also tried all sorts of combinations of the above.
 
 
THINGS I DIDN'T TRY, BUT APPARENTLY THEY WORKED FOR SOME PEOPLE:
Get a bigger power supply that can handle your chips/hardware.
Run memtest86 to find if your memory is defective.
 
The computer wouldn't stay up for long enough to run memtest86. That led me to  
my next idea.
 
 
WHAT WORKED:
Put everything back in and turn all the good options back on.
I bought a new stick of RAM (SDRAM) from a different shop and replaced the current one (DDR).
The motherboard took either type, so by this stage I thought, "WTFN try the other type?"
 
It has been said that linux is only free when your time has no value. I am now inclined to agree. Please do not flame me on this, I am stating my opinions correctly, not yours incorrectly :)  
 
This time around, I poured about 60 hours of hope and pain my transition from Windows and it is still not complete (conservative guestimate, not including unattended compiles). I work full time (winprogramming), and if I didn't love computers so damn much, it wouldn't have been worth it. If you do the maths, you'll see there was not much time for sleeping, mating, etc.
 
This was, without doubt, a "bad" linux experience, and I have toned down my advocacy at work for now, if only because of the following badly paraphrased quote:
"Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Give him Linux, and you'll never hear the end of him"
 
By the way, Windows 95 never booted on my new system. XP is great, though.
 

© Copyright 2003 Mark Daniel Osborne