Dell OptiPlex GX260 - teh suX0rz!

**ph34r** · 12-11-2002, 06:46 PM

Got a new computer at work, and it is far from Linux compatable - so so I think.

Anyone have any luck with one of these beasts? My big problem is the video (Intel 845G/GL) at the moment, but I'm thinking audio will be a problem as well.

Why o why did Dell stop making things Linux compatable ? My old GX110 was more Plug and Play with Slackware than it was with Win2k...

Do I keep the new beast, or stick with the old tried and true?

**trickster** · 12-11-2002, 09:47 PM

XFree86 4.2 has drivers for that onboard video card on CVS. http://www.xfree86.org/~dawes/845driver.html

The onboard sound card is described as ADI Ondboard audio, and uses the Soundmax driver on Windows. Other audio cards that uses that chip work on linux using the i810 and AC97 drivers in recent kernels.

So, probably your 260 is linux-compliant.
HTH.

BTW; We are probably going to get 260's at work (using W2K) since the GX400 are not being made anymore it seems. Are they nice? I really liked the GX400.

Fixed the link -- stryder144

**trickster** · 12-11-2002, 09:57 PM

Also, if the machine is a work machine, you may not even need to get the update from CVS. If you don't need hardware acceleration, just go with the "vesa" driver for video. Will work on almost any card.

**ph34r** · 12-12-2002, 03:23 PM

Gotta have OpenGL/DRI/Glide/something for those lunchtime LAN parties... God I love working in education!

The machine rocks in Win2k - I expect it will be a true screamer when I get it working properly in Linux.

Thanks for the info... time to hit the LFS docs and read up on installing X from source.

**ph34r** · 12-13-2002, 07:27 PM

Got it working!

Apparently, the NIC driver (e1000) got added to the kernel with 2.4.20... and the X driver just got commited to CVS on 12/9/02... the same day I got the computer!

Had to compile X and DRI from CVS source, sound card uses i810_audio, and life is good. Now to set up TTF support