Sarissi

I can only report my personal experience. Please note that I stated this card is a Leadtek Winfast! Mandrake 9.1 Powerpack install absolutely refuses to work with it. Mandrake 10.0 CE Powerpack's install works. However, when it starts X at boot, I get a bunch of garbage on the screen (this is with my Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe Apogee). The same card works in Mandrake on my Gigabyte GA-7N400-L. Though it can take 10 installation attempts before install no longer hangs at Installing Bootloader. However, the eVGA GeForce 4 MX440SE 4X Dual VGA NEVER had this problem. No problem at all. So, I am stating that not all cards are equal, even though they may have the same graphics chip. I got the Leadtek Winfast A340 GeForce FX 5200 8X, 128 MB for my CGI system, until I can afford a Quadro FX 500. (Gigabyte mobo) My Internet and general usage system has my Chaintech mobo.

Two things are likely: 1: Power cable from monitor to Mains and/or 2: Power supply inside Monitor is going flakey. (CRT) 2a: IFF it is a TFT with an External Power Supply, that could be the problem.

Run Mandrake Update from Confiure your computer section. I have done this. No big deal.

nVidia is usually best. However, Not all nVidia cards are liked by Mandrake. This usually boils down to who made the card. My FX 5200 is a Leadtek Winfast, and Mandrake does not like it, unless, it is on an nForce2 mobo.

Darkelve, it is true! In Windows 2000 Pro, or Win98SE for that matter, I sit back and look at the Zone Alarm Log and watch it add a blocked probe (incoming) sometimes on a minute to minute basis. I have yet to see it add something in more than 10 minutes to the log file.

I have never known of a way to upgrade from one to the other. I made a choice when I first got Mandrake (7.0) to get the Powerpack and stuck with that decision.

SoulSE; It works with my nForce2 mobo. The Chaintech is a Via KT400/vt8235 chipset Mandy 10.0 CE Powerpack has the nForce and nVidia binary kernels. I suspect that it is installing the nForce kernels, along with the nVidia. I had 10 CE PP running with the FX 5200 on the nForce2 mobo, with hardware OpenGL. Mandy 9.1 Powerpack causes the screen to go black and 2 of the keyboard LEDs to blink, immediately after choosing Enter to Install or Upgrade option, with the FX 5200 on the Chaintech mobo. These are problems resulting from the Installation programs for the 2 versions of Mandrake Powerpack, this video card (LeadTek Winfast GeForce FX 5200 8X AGP), and perhaps something else. Besides, it is VERY hard to edit config files when you can't even fraggin login! Another note: this FX 5200 works fine in this Chaintech, with Win98SE and Win2K Pro. I got the card for my 3D CGI work. My post was a notice, rather than a request for help.

Welcome! At least you won't get RTFM here like you might on Slashdot, or some other places. :D

Hardware: GeForce FX 5200, Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe Apogee (running Athlon XP 3000, 333 Mhz FSB, 1 GB DDR333, Optimized Defaults) OS: Mandrake Llinux 10.0 CE Powerpack Problem: OS installs. However at boot, once X is started, there is nothing but Garbage on the monitor. I do not change Monitor choice from Custom. However, with the ATI Xpert 2000 Pro AGP, Mandrake 10.0 CE PP installs, and boots with no problems, AND, I have hardware OpenGL!! Go Figure! I suspect that mandrake install is loading the nvidia/nforce or something it shouldn't. I couldn't even get to the login screen.

I think Linux is the first serious PC (Intel) OS that Microsoft has not been able to squish. People tend to get curious. I know I sure did.

I had some Mainframe experience back in the 1970s, and it was an NCR Century Systems, Model 100 with 32 KiloBytes Memory (maxed out too), and an 80 column punch card reader (Hollerith - EBCDIC). Certainly not UNIX! Never had any Unix exposure. So Linux was totally new for me. Curiosity is the one thing Microsoft can't stand........ :D

Simple: NEVER trust OEM systems! The only system I would buy, is a notebook. Otherwise, I will build my own.

Well thought out, but, it did not go far enough. I would have said to get rid of the apps that DON'T work, and bring back some apps that may be considered not that popular (Falcon's Eye).

Right now, I am having less trouble with Win98SE and Win2000 Pro, than I am with Mandrake (none, none, and tons of total lockups, respectively). I am sorely tempted to go back to my Chaintech mobo, and old ATI card, just to have my Mandrake again (9.1 Powerpack). Then the CGI only system will wait until I get the remaining parts for it. Either that or NO linux for now.

I just used Mandrake Update to get the bugfixes and updates for Mandrake 10.0 CE Powerpack, and had no problems. Mandy didn't even think about choking.

It is interesting how we all got bit by the Linux bug.....

Just have it detect and setup a LAN connection (Mandrake). I also have Cable ISP and run the cable modem through the mobo's builtin NIC. As long as the NIC is functioning in Mandrake, it should be easy to setup a LAN connection (which is how Cable internet providers treat the connections. USB ethernet nics are a whole different story.........

SGI Linux Super Computer. Likely a Beowulf Super Custer, given the number of processors. Hmmm.... SGI/NASA sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and, it is Tux with a flashlight......... :D

Darkelve, the GPL says 'Free as in Freedom, not Free as in Beer'. I read the entire GPL that came in one of the Mandrake manuals. I don't mind paying for my packaged distro versions. Besides, the price of SuSE Pro or Mandrake Powerpack is a bunch more reasonable than Windows 2000 Pro retail or XP Pro retail. Even if one got 2 version per year, it is still less than Windows Pro retail (full not upgrade). It takes 3 versions of either Linux distro to come to about equal to one Windows Pro retail. Linux has a faster version cycle, as we know.

Back in 1998 at Electronics Boutique (which is mostly software), I saw this thing in a box called Redhat Linux. This is the first I ever heard of Linux! Rather than buy and learn it was not usable on my computer (CTX EZBook 700E), I decided to do an internet search and found linux.org ...... Well, I found that I could not use linux on my computer (linux wasn't ready for notebooks). I decided to wait, and keep an eye on Linux, until it was ready enough, and I had had a computer with at least mostly compatible hardware. About the time of Mandrake 7.0, Redhat still had poor hardware support. After all, how much Hardware support does a server distro need? In searching through the long distro list on linux.org, I found that Mandrake had the best hardware support at that time. At either Staples or Office Max, I found Mandrake 7.0 Powerpack Edition and bought it. I have been using Mandrake Powerpack ever since. The only time I ever downloaded a version, was 10.0 CE 3 disk version, cause of my nForce2 motherboard.

What I said holds true. You HAVE to go in there and select the Mozilla packages or it won't install. That means select Individual Package Selection during the install process. Otherwise, 'start' menu - system - configuration - install software and supply root password. Installing Mozilla also installs other packages. I try to have everything I need selected during the OS install. Then I only have to swap CDs once the main package install, for the nVidia drivers (powerpack).

It may be the KM chipset. I run 10.0 CE Powerpack and only have experience with nForce2 and Via KT series chipsets. The KM series may be too new for Linux support, and it takes a while before that shows up in distros. My current mobo (see signature) has the nForce2 chipset. My first nVidia card was the GeForce 4 MX440SE 4X agp, dual vga. The 10.0 Powerpack supports the chipset even in the enterprise kernel, and also automatically and correctly configures the nVidia card during the post install process. It even does this for my current nVidia card. This alone makes the Powerpack worth getting. As i said, I suspect it is you chipset, and the nVidia card may not play nicely with it, as well.

I am using mandrake 10.0 CE Powerpack and have absolutely NO trouble with the nVidia drivers supplied. Mandrake Install actually sets everything up correctly, including Hardware OpenGL and nForce2 for the 2.6 enterprise kernel.

I noticed that Mozilla is not selected by default for the OS installation. You have to either select it (4 packages) during the install, OR, go to install software, and select it from there and it will install it. Mandrake will ask you for the correct CD (unless you are using a DVD version). I don't let mandy do a default install, since there are things I like that aren't selected by default.

Me? I am the wrong one to ask. I don't believe in overclocking. My Athlon XP 2500+ is a 333 Mhz FSB Barton Core (166 x 2). So yours is already overclocked to 354 Mhz FSB. My belief is to get a better CPU if you can afford it, AND, if your motherboard can handle it. I still haven't maxed out on the cpu, since this mobo can handle both 400 Mhz FSB and DDR400. Next step beyond this system will be AMD64 in terms of performance. Edit: first paragraph is for Swift Death.