Upgrade… shmupgrade!
I have been experiencing a problem vvhich I believe is rather common -İ since I upgraded from Linux Mandrake
7.1 to 7.2.
I have a Pil 350MHz CPU dual-booting vvitl Win 98, a Matrox G400 (vvhich is supposed to be vvell supported) and a 17-inch WYSE sereen. İn 7.1 I had 1024×768 resolution, sound, links to my USB Zip drive and ali four Windows partitions automatically set up.
I decided not to bother vvith the upgrade, I just deleted the relevant partitions and did a nevv install. Ali vvent vvell until it got to configuring X. I had a choice of tvvo versions o XFree86, and I tried both (this involved re-installing from scratch each time). My Matrox G400 vvas recognised and my monitor as a sereen capable of 1024×768 at 85Hz; but the highest display rate offered vvas 800×600. Hitting ‘Shovv Ali’ gave access to 1024×768 but on seleeting that I got a black sereen. Finally accepting 800×600,1 let the install finish at the third attempt.
When it booted up, I had no sound, although it vvas shovving it had correctly identified my Soundblaster 64 card; ali of the links to my Windows drives vvere gone, also the USB zip, and I gave up on resetting the modem vvith my UK Linux account.
I vvent in to Drakconf and reset the resolution to 1024×768, and it black-screened on me. After a reboot it vvould not go to the
K’tphlcal login and startx said “time out error” Hid refused to play anymore. So I wiped the loi «ınd vvent back to good old 7.1.
I vvill not upgrade any part of my 7.1 \y*.tc*m unless I can be convinced that this vvill not happen again. Perhaps I should vvait for v<‘i%ion 8 vvhich is in beta already and has XPree86 4.something-better, KDE 2.1 and Kı rnel version 2.4.1 the last time I looked. ihıvid Robertson
m V Once you have a functional Linux i i| installation, there is little reason to do a ı 1 mass update to the nevv release, other Hum ıf there are majör security or stability issues, .ınd there is no guarantee that vvhatever you install ıw*xt isn’t going to have it’s fair share of problems. Ap.ııt from majör things, including glibc, gcc and a
< («iple of others, everything else just needs ııpgrading as, and vvhen, problems are found.
Why upgrade XFree86 if it’s vvorking fine .ılnvıdy? Why upgrade the kernel, apart from the .’•curıty issue in pre-2.2.19 kernels, vvhen the %(»und is happy?
If you vvant to upgrade, then do it in stages. IMore you begin, back up ali configuration fileş, m ıı h as /etc/X11/XF86Config, and then install the n<!W version of XFree86. If it vvorks, great. If not, you can reinstall the original release from Mandrake 7.1 and pop your original configuration filo back in. Of course, by the time they release M 0, the kernel and lots of components vvill be out of date.