[PLUG] How to confirm OSS support before hardward purchase?

[alan]

On Mon, 11 Sep 2006, eehouse wrote:

> I'm shopping for a new machine to run Debian or Ubuntu fulltime.  So
> I'm looking for a way to confirm, ideally prior to purchase, that a
> machine is fully compatible with free software.
>
> I used to think just booting it off an Ubuntu Live CD would be enough:
> if video and sound work it's cool.  But my work-issue Dell laptop runs
> Ubuntu, and I recently discovered Ubuntu installed proprietary
> binary-only video drivers for its nvidia graphics subsystem.
> Binary-only is ok for work, but not for a home machine.  So I need
> another strategy.
>
> (Maybe.  A related question is whether it's possible to run nvidia or
> ATI chips, perhaps without using all their features, using open-source
> drivers.  I need to run Gimp and emacs on this machine, not Doom.)

The ATI open source drivers work fairly well, the nVIDIA open source 
drivers less so.  The part you want is not just the OpenGL, but the 
hardware acceleration.  You will want to avoid the real high end ATI 
chipsets though, because some are not supported.

The Intel video chipsets are also well supported with xorg 7.1.

The other closed source place you might get bit is if you need a modem. 
Most of the "WinModems" are pretty hard to get working under Linux due to 
proprietary bits.

Wireless cards are sometimes a pain.  Depends on the chipset.  The MadWifi 
drivers cover a number that are not supported out of the box.

One way to figure out what you are in for is to boot off a knopix disc and 
look at /sbin/lspci .

> There's also the issue, mentioned here recently, of testing whether an
> Intel-based box has "Virtualization Technology" disabled.  That's
> never written up in company specs, and sales droids don't know what it
> is.

I am not certain how you would check that other than booting off a very 
recient kernel and checking dmesg output.

> How do folks on this list verify that a machine is fully open-source
> friendly?  Short if taking advantage of Fry's 14-day return policy, I
> mean. :-)

"Fry's" is a descriptive verb.

-- 
"Oh, Joel Miller, you've just found the marble in the oatmeal. You're a
lucky, lucky, lucky little boy. 'Cause you know why? You get to drink
from... the FIRE HOOOOOSE!"
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