The voice of reason. Mr. Kreps I think you hit the nail on the head. All I wanted to know is where I stand. My system is pretty common. An Abit mobo, Celeron cpu, Maxtor and WD hd's, etc... No one replied to my support requests, and relying on the end-users/customers is fine for a lot of questions. But when someone runs into a problem that seems to stem for the core of the product - the vendor might at least address the issue. I'm not looking for someone to give me walkthroughs on the phone or in a chat. I just wanted some pointers and a little guidance. If my problems are due to something that SuSE has no control over I don't have a problem with that - sometimes it just ain't gonna work. All I need is someone to give me the lowdown about my situation. Thanks, Curtis Rey -----Original Message----- From: Jerry Kreps [mailto:jerrykreps@jlkreps.net] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 2310 To: SLE Subject: Re: [SLE] Support vs Support (Was: [SLE] util-linux and Kernel 2.4.3) On Monday 23 April 2001 21:34, Rafael E. Herrera wrote: <snip>
I use 2.4.x on a 7.0 system. I had problems with the VIA chipset, but none from the init system. People's hardware varies a lot, what may work you/me may not work for me/you.
<snip> I have two PC's here at home. SuSE has always slipped onto the 5 year old Sony VAIO (P166 -64MB) like a silk glove. My new Beast, on the other hand, fights SuSE like it was possessed with the spirit of Bill Gates. One of the problems is the VIA chipset, and I've yet to hear of any successful BIOS upgrade being successfully burned in. The newest 2.4.x kernel is supposed to have a kernel workaround, but I'm not moving to the 2.4 kernel until SuSE makes it their primary kernel. I doubt there are many newbies who could get SuSE to install on my Beast without getting bite by something. In fact, if I had not been using SuSE for 4 years, and as my only OS for 1 1/2 years, I would not have had the knowledge and skill to install it. As I used to tell my Engineering Physics students, "Everything is easy once you know how", but learning how takes time. Merely saying how easy something is to do doesn't teach HOW to those who don't KNOW how to do it. I would have given up and installed about any version of WinXX. The VIA chip, the AC97 sound chip, the wheel mouse, the r128 video card, the cdrw and the zip250 were all bears to install and even now I am simply using the cdrw as a cd because of the VIA problem. The Beast is running, although not exactly as I would like it. Were I to spec the Beast again I would require all storage perhiperals to be scsi, and I wouldn't use the ATI r128 or the wheel mouse. People with machines like my Sony don't need 'installation help". People with machines like my Beast can't be helped by support staff unless the support person is physicall setting at the machine. There are too many subtle problems and disjoints with the hardware and software for a newbie to adequately describe the problems to a support staff. Most people own machines between my Sony and my Beast. Some can be helped. The trick SuSE has to learn is to figure out which ones can be helped without making all of them angry or insulting the ones they can't help. This thread demostrates a lot of frustration, some by SuSE staff but most by SuSE's customers. SuSE would do well to listen.... carefully. -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq and the archives at http://lists.suse.com