Complaints - problems w. installer and graphics card drivers

[doktor5000]

hi,

after a new vision of mageia 3 cames out some days ago, i thought i might give it an other change...but mageia still sucks on all possible areas...

1. i wasn't able to select one suitable video driver during the installation process, i have an older ATI video card and knows exactly what drivers fit - the x.org-radeon driver or the x.org-radeonhd driver, scrolling in the list shows me not one of these driver, neither in the ATI section nor in the X.Org specific one, so i could not other do than choosen the simple VESA driver.
I hoped for an opportunity to set the right driver after finishing the installation process, but oh wonder, the same stupid menu with the same stupid driver list where i get five times a redeon/fglrx combination but not one single open-source driver without VESA

2. mageia does a good job in offering proprietary software, not only that it told me to reinstall my video driver to radeon-firmware during installation but also installed flash player on my computer even while i discard all nonfree software in the inital settings, and even now i get an broken firmware driver when i select "AMD HD4870 and earlier" in the control center while ever stupid idiot who has such a card knows that all support for newer X.Org server is dropped off by AMD since years!

3. i got a lot of opportunities to choose a mouse-driver in the setup, but most of them seems to me complete useless or similar to the video-driver just a huge amount of opportunities to do it wrong, i chose several of those drivers and my mouse does still not work properly, why do i have to choose so much things - an unbounded procedure - only to get a distribution that sucks so much?

[wintpe]

why do people keep insisting on installing upto date just released OS distributions on hardware that should be put in the skip.

I know this is an old Linux tradition from the early days of slackware, and you will probably find that slackware works well on your hardware, if you are willing to spend 3 months tweaking it.

but the modern Linux distributions are best shown off on modern hardware, and the developers/maintainers of this OS resources are limited, and they do a damm good job with what they have. But they cant check out each and every hardware option, that's up to YOU.

how much of this did you bring to their attention during the alpha and beta phases of mageia 3?

if you want the world to be a better place, then contribute your time to help.

But ive been using mageia and its evolving heritage for years now, and while there are still a few minor issues, i would not switch to anything else.

regards peter

[bassplayer]

...
I know this is an old Linux tradition from the early days of slackware, and you will probably find that slackware works well on your hardware, if you are willing to spend 3 months tweaking it....

So, moving the slam to Slackware now? If it takes you 3 months to tweak Slackware, you should be using Ubuntu or Puppy Slacko (Moving the slam to yet another distro. )

[wintpe]

i used slackware for 6 years before moving to mandrake 9.

each and every release used to take weeks to perfect, with no tools to auto setup graphics,

add packages not supplied by the operating system, no online updates to fix known problems,

no X login manager configured by default, no groups setup, or sudo, to simplify the users experience,

a basic fdisk partitioner followed by an archaic installer.

maybe its changed since 2001, ......... but we are wandering off topic

regards peter

[bassplayer]

i used slackware for 6 years before moving to mandrake 9.

each and every release used to take weeks to perfect, with no tools to auto setup graphics,

add packages not supplied by the operating system, no online updates to fix known problems,

no X login manager configured by default, no groups setup, or sudo, to simplify the users experience,

a basic fdisk partitioner followed by an archaic installer.

maybe its changed since 2001, ......... but we are wandering off topic

regards peter

Yes, it definitely has changed since then. All of those processes are much, much easier these days.

Yes, we did wander off topic.

[shazeal]

why do people keep insisting on installing upto date just released OS distributions on hardware that should be put in the skip.
regards peter

Hi troll...

I have to agree with the OP. Mageia has the best looking installer that does not work. When it installed dkms-nvidia drivers for my nvidia 650 ti it crashed, screen just went blank. So I rebooted and just used the nouveau driver, great I could get past the video driver part... So I setup grub for my Gentoo install which forces me to use UUID?! Manually editing the grub.conf fixed that since I use a kernel using a kernel seed with no initrd on gentoo.
Ok great so now I boot into Mageia? Nope it cannot find the boot disk? Great... do i feel like continuing well no not really. Why do people keep insiting on making distros that look amazing but are about as easy to install as slackware 1?

I find it far easier to install gentoo or slackware current since I have control over what is being done. This thing is just hit or miss. OP and myself are misses.

[isadora]

Whatever you may like, or may not like about Mageia, is a call to yourself.
Mageia is the community, and in the end yourself.
Rather than kicking around, would be supporting, to make Mageia the distribution, the way you would like it to be.

Besides: please use to-the-point subjects, and use different topics for different issues.

[doktor5000]

As no support was requested here, only complaints were posted, i've moved this to the proper subforum, and adjusted the thread title.

[shazeal]

Whatever you may like, or may not like about Mageia, is a call to yourself.
Mageia is the community, and in the end yourself.
Rather than kicking around, would be supporting, to make Mageia the distribution, the way you would like it to be.

Besides: please use to-the-point subjects, and use different topics for different issues.

I use linux, I understand how it works. What you are missing is that neither of us was able to obtain a working install. If this had been due to user error it would be easily solved, and I am sure we could ask for help. The Mageia installer is quite simply broken, and it will cost Mageia users, which as you pointed out could help make Mageia better.

I dont see the need to rename the thread either I thought it explained the thread quite well. And would allow users to make a better judgement as to the content. Now it looks like a help thread or something.

Another thing you may have missed. Both of us are 1 posters... ie we gave enought of a **** to actually register an account to vent our fustration. I think this distro has alot of potential from what I have read and I would of liked to get involved but refer to my point above.

TL;DR Your installer is broken.

[isadora]

Another thing you may have missed. Both of us are 1 posters... ie we gave enought of a **** to actually register an account to vent our fustration. I

Point made and taken.

[doktor5000]

I dont see the need to rename the thread either I thought it explained the thread quite well. And would allow users to make a better judgement as to the content. Now it looks like a help thread or something.

Well, it's about complaints and the installer, current title and subforum reflects that rather good.
How i like complaints without any constructive points attached to them ...

[ca-on-adam]

I've been playing around with linux distros for 5 years. Specifically, I have a stockpile of old graphics cards (about 30) and my project to get a working driver has been a failed project for me, no matter the distro.

Expecting Mageia to install an older version of X.Org so it can run a proprietary ATI video driver is totally unfair. The entire distro and all software packages would have to be downgraded to older versions.

My most recent attempt to switch out the open source 'nouveau' for an old Nvidia binary required finding an older distro that had a version of X.org that was compatible, and even when I found one, the driver still caused the OS to crash. That's with Ubuntu and Fedora, supposedly more mature and easier to install. It is amazing that the open-source drivers still work with these older cards, albeit without 3D support.

The fact of the matter is, obsolete proprietary video drivers are a nightmare, and no distro is going to be able to support them no matter how loudly you complain.

[petrherynk]

I have installed mageia 3 64 bit with new nvidia card. I am experienced user of linux distros. I do not know, how developers want to attract new users. From preparing usb flash, long installation process, halfscreen of basic elements, for example user, language. Graphic installer is quite useless, I had to boot live distribution and than very difficulty to install mageia. But after installation mageia working perfectly. I believe developers will change installer to install from unetbootin, with proper screen for normal users.

[mageiawant]

In frustration I googled Mageia sucks and arrived here. I want Mageia to work. If I could simply install it then I might discover it works. I tried twice. After what I thought was an installation, my computer stops at a grub rescue during boot up. Never had this happen before. This not only prevents me from booting into magia but also prevents me from booting into mint on the other drive. Both times I ended up re-installing mint over what I thought was a Mageia install.

I started with Ubuntu several years ago. I switched to Mint when Ubuntu pulled a Vista and left users desires behind, however since mint is still based on ubuntu I want to get away from anything ubuntu before they go completely off the chain with whatever they call themselves doing. It seems like once they got microsoft people working over there things went downhill. Plus I am not entirely happy with the way any of the mint 15's perform. Manjaro,Solydk, Pear, nor Sabayon seemed to be the solution. I am still holding out hope that Mageia is going to be the solution.

Although I have used ubuntu and mint for several years, I b a dummy. I am not learned in any of the stuff beyond following an on screen instruction. I did not come from Slackware. I can enter a command in terminal if I know what that command is. I can enter a command in the grub rescue if I know what that command is. I found no solutions which worked for me. None of the commands I entered worked to allow Mageia to boot up. Alas, my hope of escape from ubuntu and it's relatives seems to be fading.

Mageia did seem to be the new kid on the block which was going to topple Ubuntu but I notice Mageia is falling behind Ubuntu on distrowatch.

[benmc]

Sorry to hear you are having problems.

Like you I am just a person who doesn' t get under the hood much, but I have installed Mageia in a variety of systems, single O/S, dual boot with various Windows and Linux, multiple Linux and Windows O/S on single and mixed IDE / SATA mobos. Each has its own quirks!So....

Which version of Mageia ? 1 / 2 / 3, 32 or 64 bit?
Was your install media live cd / dvd or installation media?
Is your Hdd a single or multiple set and are they / is it IDE or SATA?
Are you running a raid set up?
If SATA, is you Mageia hdd connected to SATA 1 mobo connection?
Did you attempt a dual boot option? If so, did you add Mageia manually to your Mint bootloader
At the configuration menu at the end of the installation did you set up the graphics drivers correctly, and, choose which and where the bootloader should be installed, or did you just " accept " and reboot?

looking forward to hearing from you

[isadora]

...............................
Mageia did seem to be the new kid on the block which was going to topple Ubuntu but I notice Mageia is falling behind Ubuntu on distrowatch.

First, a very warm welcome to the Mageia forum!!!

Second; pity to get involved into Mageia by means of frustration, that is never a good beginning, i guess.
You are in the right place, in the end, for getting things discussed and maybe even solved.

And third: Mageia has never had any intention toward other distributions, to be into competition, and surely we never declared, to become the new kid on the block, like being a "number one" in Distrowatch, for what that is worth.

But, on the other hand, one never knows, what future might bring, and so it's probably not such a bad idea, to have a look at:
https://www.mageia.org/en/contribute/

Have magical times around!!!!

[mageiawant]

Sorry to hear you are having problems.

Like you I am just a person who doesn' t get under the hood much, but I have installed Mageia in a variety of systems, single O/S, dual boot with various Windows and Linux, multiple Linux and Windows O/S on single and mixed IDE / SATA mobos. Each has its own quirks!So....

Which version of Mageia ? 1 / 2 / 3, 32 or 64 bit?
Was your install media live cd / dvd or installation media?
Is your Hdd a single or multiple set and are they / is it IDE or SATA?
Are you running a raid set up?
If SATA, is you Mageia hdd connected to SATA 1 mobo connection?
Did you attempt a dual boot option? If so, did you add Mageia manually to your Mint bootloader
At the configuration menu at the end of the installation did you set up the graphics drivers correctly, and, choose which and where the bootloader should be installed, or did you just " accept " and reboot?

looking forward to hearing from you

thanks for the response.
Mageia3 from a dvd. I had no option to go live from the dvd.
Three sata drives. I never purposely set up raid so If it is something I have to do purposely then it is not raid.
Each drive has a linux swap partition, one drive sdc has three mint desktops (ext4), one drive sda is ntfs for data backup, the other sdb is where I tried to put Mageia. once with ext4 then with btrfs.
sdb is set up to boot first via bios. In the past in never mattered which one was hooked to sata 1 connection when installing os. On the first attempt (kde)I chose accept and on the second one (i586) I chose to put bootloader on sdb1. I also tried using the command at the grub rescue screen for putting bootloader on sdb. I also tried using command in terminal via a live mint dvd. (Various info from web) I am puzzled because with my other installs the bootloader arrived where it needed to be when I did the initial partitioning stuff at the beginning of the install. The Mageia options at the end of the install process befuddle me a bit as to why I have a choice to make that far into the installation process, where if I chose wrong the whole installation is trashed. I would rather the installation abort at the beginning from making a wrong choice than the end.
No to dual boot option. Don't really know how it works. My understanding is that I would have to do a restart to boot into different os with dual boot, which is what I presently have to do. Being unlearned my understanding could be wrong.

Again I thank you for your response.

[benmc]

Hi

It looks like you are trying a multi boot option.
Mageia usually utilises grub legacy but Mint may use grub2. As you know, the installation overwrites your existing boot-loader, but it should find and install your Mint as entries for the boot-loader. In Mageia configuration page you can choose which boot-loader to use: lilo, grub legacy, or grub2. You can also manually add entries for other o/ses here if they are missing.

Would you like to try installing again?
This time, leave only the drive that you have attempted to install Mageia to plugged in, unplug the power and Sata cables for the other two.
If you choose , you can rescue the system and just reinstall the boot-loader [ quickest if you have already completed an install ] or you can do the graphical installer way. The installer should find the existing Mageia partition and after the user options,if you choose not to format " / " it should skip forward to the configuration page. As there is no special setup required you can accept and reboot.

looking forward to hearing from you again

[mageiawant]

I appreciate you taking time to reply. Yes I do want to try to install a third time. I was thinking of trying the install on the sda drive this time. When it asks me where to put the bootloader do I choose sda or sda1. There will be a linux swap on sda2. Should I choose ext3 or btrfs or just which one should I choose when I fomat sda 1? Mint uses grub 2. I think you are saying during the installation there is a point where I can choose the grub 2 option. Is that point near the end of the installation.

Once again I thank you for being kind enough to respond with solutions.

[benmc]

Hi

It reads that you are planning to wipe your Mint off your system. Have you saved any important data?

I think it would be simplest to get the basic system up and running first, and add the other drives in one at a time checking system operation each time you connect a hdd. Be sure to refit them in the sata connectors they came out of.
You can choose to format in ext3, ext4 or btrfs. I have yet to use btrfs , so I cannot say faster / slower access than ext3.

Regarding grub2, Yes, However I do not use it.
On the configuration page at the end of the installation, the installer gives options for: network, users, video, sound ,etc..., and boot-loader.
Options include type - lilo, grub legacy, and grub 2. Also where to install: sda.sdb,sdc, etc [ depending on # of hdds connected] , also where on that hdd : mbr or a partition.
It would probably be best to put it in the MBR

Again, just have the one hdd connected and try to get the basic system installed and up and running.

kind regards

[mageiawant]

Would it be correct to say that the mbr is on sda and not on sda1 or sda2?
I have no operating system on this particular drive I had back up files on it but moved them to an external drive. My sdb and sdc drives have operating systems on them.

thanks for the help

[benmc]

Correct. MBR on sda
The reason I suggest having just one hdd connected to the mobo to start with is that by doing so you and or the installer will not overwrite existing boot-loaders on any other drives by accident, causing more headaches to recover from.
After you have confirmed a useable system, then, when you reconnect the other drives, you can re-configure your bios to boot to your preferred drive, then edit the boot-loader entries of that system as required to enable a reboot to different operating systems.

[oj]

I was going to suggest this myself. Definitely install it on one single drive connected to the machine. If you like Mageia and want to keep it, you can straighten out boot loaders later. I'd use grub (over grub2) but that's really a matter of taste. But using grub, it should be easy to add your other OS's to the Mageia boot loader using the boot utility in the Mageia control center.

Correct. MBR on sda
The reason I suggest having just one hdd connected to the mobo to start with is that by doing so you and or the installer will not overwrite existing boot-loaders on any other drives by accident, causing more headaches to recover from.
After you have confirmed a useable system, then, when you reconnect the other drives, you can re-configure your bios to boot to your preferred drive, then edit the boot-loader entries of that system as required to enable a reboot to different operating systems.

[jiml8]

I also have had problems installing Mageia on a multi-drive system. However, I spend a lot of time "under the hood" on linux systems and therefore solved my problems without any particular difficulty.

Mageia 3 particularly is not friendly on install in terms of how it detects drives and orders them for its own purposes. To work this out, I set a label on each partition, identifying it the way I want it identified. I then mount all partitions in fstab by label, except for / which I mount by UUID. IIRC, I also had to manually configure grub to find the correct partition for /. Then, in BIOS, I told the system which drive to start booting from. My system contains 6 SCSI drives and one SATA drive, and the boot drive is the third SCSI drive, which I want identified as sdc, but which the system insists is sdd.

I suggest you mount drives by label, if necessary configure grub, and just tell your BIOS which drive to start on. That will work out OK.

[mageiawant]

Well I guess it is time to tryi it again. I appreciate the suggestions. One thing I expect from a distro is that it simply installs with what I got without me needing to unhook anything. So the only way for me to find that out is to jump in and try the install again without disconnecting anything. Everything I really need is backed up on an external drive. And that one you can believe is not attached. The other drives I can always reinstall distros on. I really do hope that it was just me not reading things carefully enough before.

Jimi8 .. . If I understood all of what you posted I would not have needed to post. Just to understand what you posted I need to google some of the terminology. I not b as learned as u. But I do appreciate the feedback because I did google a couple of the things and picked up a little more knowledge.

Now to pray. .. .. Please please please please Mageia, simply install right this time and allow me to be brain dead while you install. Well, maybe not completely brain dead. I do need to make the right choices during install. Help me see the right ones that I need to make.