I have an nVidia Vanta AGP card, and I''m thinking about buying Linux-Mandrake 8.1. To be sure that everything will work, I went to Mandrake''s website, which has a section on supported hardware. The Vanta video card is not on there. I don''t have the money to buy a new video card, and in fact I don''t want to buy ANY new hardware just to use Mandrake. Does anyone use a Vanta or other nVidia card with Mandrake 8+?

A Vanta should work fine. My old TNT2 M64 and my new Geforce2 GTS both work fine in Linux. To get hardware acceleration for OpenGL you will have to download the drivers from NVidia and install them. Other than that, X will use them fine.

[Resist Windows XP''s Invasive Production Activation Technology!]

I am using Mandrake 8.1 with a Nvidia Geforce2MX and almost everithing works..I have only some problems with DoubleBuffer and libSDL.

I looked into nVidia''s website, and it says that the Vanta card is based on the TNT line architecture, which is supported by Mandrake. So, you''re right, it should work.

Now how reliable is the hardware database on Mandrake''s website? My Lexmark printer model is not on there, but the manual says it should work with Mandrake 7+ or 8+ (I can''t remember which). My Liteon DVDROM and CDRW drives are not on there-- in fact they have hardly anything from Liteon in the list. I''ll have to look into Liteon''s website like I did with nVidia to see if they have drivers for Mandrake.

Also, I have a VIA soundcard (I will never buy a computer at Best Buy again), but I can''t find the model number or anything under Control Panel (I''m running Windows ME).

quote: Original post by Some Guy
I looked into nVidia''s website, and it says that the Vanta card is based on the TNT line architecture, which is supported by Mandrake. So, you''re right, it should work.

Now how reliable is the hardware database on Mandrake''s website? My Lexmark printer model is not on there, but the manual says it should work with Mandrake 7+ or 8+ (I can''t remember which). My Liteon DVDROM and CDRW drives are not on there-- in fact they have hardly anything from Liteon in the list. I''ll have to look into Liteon''s website like I did with nVidia to see if they have drivers for Mandrake.

Also, I have a VIA soundcard (I will never buy a computer at Best Buy again), but I can''t find the model number or anything under Control Panel (I''m running Windows ME).

It only tells hardware they have tested, so many more works with mandrake distro.

If you find linux support to your hardware ( any distro or linux) they should work with mandrake.
You might need to compile some stuff for it, but it should work. So look info for linux and liteon in net, not mandrake and liteon.

For VIA soundcard look at alsa or oss drivers , I do not remember what the web addresses are.

Look around for a hardware identifier. I found one a little while ago that ran in DOS and correctly identified all my hardware b/c I needed to know the kind of sound card that was on my motherboard.

quote: Original post by Some Guy
I looked into nVidia''s website, and it says that the Vanta card is based on the TNT line architecture, which is supported by Mandrake. So, you''re right, it should work.

My Lexmark printer model is not on there, but the manual says it should work with Mandrake 7+ or 8+ (I can''t remember which).

Also, I have a VIA soundcard (I will never buy a computer at Best Buy again),

Hey, don''t knock VIA soundcards, i have one. I don''t use it - but that''s a different story. It''s built into my motherboard so it chockes when I scroll windows. But it does that under any OS, it has to do with the bus width or something. My Lexmark printer looks like it works, but doesn''t print anything - could be I''m all out of ink. But the lexmark at work works. I have a TNT2, works fine. Here''s the deal, when you''re looking for supported hardware, look for chip names over brand names.

NVIDIA has EXCELLENT linux support. ''Nuff said

rm -rf /bin/laden

Alright, I bought Mandrake. I read a little in the manual. Didn''t say much. So I installed Mandrake. Or so I thought. I used a "Recommended" setup for installation, since I''m new and I don''t want to mess around with something I don''t understand yet.

Well, when I turn the computer on, a graphic menu comes up (I guess it''s LILO or Mandrake''s graphical front-end of it) that asks me what I want to use:

linux
linux-nonfb (I think that''s what it was called)
failsafe
boot disk
windows

If I don''t press a key within 3 seconds, it automatically selects linux, which sends me to a graphic screen and sets up Linux. Then it goes to what I think is the Linux console (I''m new, remember) that has a little picture of the penguin on there. THEN THE SCREEN STARTS BLINKING UNCONTROLLABLY! It does that for like a minute, and then says:

INIT: ''x'' respawning too fast... something else I can''t remember

5 minutes later, it starts blinking again. I tried to repair the install by reloading DrakX and selecting "Update" rather than "Install" when it asks me at the beginning. Weirdly, more options appear on LILO:

old-linux
old-linux-nonfb
old-failsafe
old-bootdisk
old-windows

I''m lost. I don''t know what to do. I can start Windows just fine (that''s how I got here) but I can''t do anything with Linux. Should I uninstall it, and then reboot my hard drive under Windows, reformatting it, and then try to reinstall Linux?

when the screen times out login as root (you should have set the password on install) and at the prompt enter "depmod -a" hit enter and then enter "reboot" your system will restart automaticly and boot as advertised. This is the same problem I had and found the answer on the Mandrake site. Good luck.



Grellin - IGP