[clue-tech] SFD 2008.

[Collins Richey]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 10:39 PM, David L. Anselmi <anselmi at anselmi.us> wrote:
> Collins Richey wrote:
>>
>> 1. On our RHEL4 systems (ancient, alas) we lost sound as soon as the
>> next level of HP desktop boxes arrived. Sure, we could rebuild alsa
>> from scratch, or switch to RHEL5 but then RH screwed up LDAP support
>> in 5.2 (appears to be fixed now).
>
> Really?  I'd think there would be a standard interface by now, at least for
> basic things.  And especially at the alsa level, even if new chip sets
> needed new drivers.  Do you have any more info?

It's the basic advantage (per the vendor) or disadvantage (in reality)
of running a so called Enterprise Edition. The vendor's standpoint is
this: we will only supply updates for bugs and security exposures -
for new versions/features/equipment, you're on your own. We have quite
a heap of RHEL4 systems without an easy upgrade path, and you wouldn't
believe the hoops we jump through to provide PHP5 or current Firefox
or Open Office. The vendors never heard of the install once update
forever philosophy that makes Debian and a few other distros so
attractive.

>
>> 2. A year an a half ago, I was running Ubuntu, and sound was working
>> fine on my box, but I tried Debian Testing, and the kernel was too old
>> to drive my card.
>
> How long did it take to get a new kernel in testing?
>

I don't know. I bailed out and continued with Ubuntu until I
discovered Sidux. Ubuntu (latest version) usually has a later kernel
than Testing because they put Unstable/Experimental stuff in the mix
master (sometimes the results are palatable). Sid, of course, is
somewhat ahead of Testing until just before the Stable release.

-- 
Collins Richey
 If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
 of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.