Hi Long time since I posted to the LUG, or (my apologies) attended any meetings!
I thought I'd share with you an amusing tale - for which I need some help. Basically you all know that thinkpad I used to bring to the LUG meetings? (For those that don't its an IBM Thinkpad T20 ( http://stuff.silverorange.com/images/t20/t20_large.jpg )). its quite old but happy running most lightweight distros like Xubuntu, Knoppix or Debian.. Anyway I have been happily running Xubuntu 7.04 for ages, but decided to "rock the boat" and install Debian 5 (lenny) off the coverdisk of LinuxFormat to see how it handled and to be fair it was pretty good, my wireless (atheros) pcmcia card was detected ok and I was able to link it up to my WPA enabled lan and get internet access, playing around on it for a few days I started a few basic games (Frozen Bubble) realised it was a bit quiet and found I had no sound, a fow todges around in the system revealed output from lspci can see the card, but there are no drivers for it. Anyway I searched around the forums and found that due to some legal hurdles the drivers for a select amount of CirrusLogic CrystalClear SoundFusion cards had been removed from the kernel by Debian due to the fact they have no license and are therefore legally not redistributable under Debian's strict policies. This is a bit annoying. I did however find out that Etch still contains these drivers so I backpedalled a version and installed Etch, with KDE and indeed sound works perfectly, but now I have no network! The Aheros card cannot be detected - although the output of lspci lists it in the devices it found. Now I have a dilemma, I can either have a semi useful laptop that I can browse the internet with (lenny) or I can have a Laptop that has sound but no network! I would like to have both and I am thinking the easiest thing to do is re-install Lenny and - according to a few forum posts I read, install an "upstream" kernal that contains these CirrusLogic soundfusion drivers. I have never built or installed a new kernel before so if anyone can point me to a step by step guide I will have a go. Meanwhile I am going to put Lenny back on and at least meanwhile I can surf the net and stuff even if I have to play Frozen Bubble in silence! PS I also installed Debian 5 on my old desktop PC and it works a treat. - This particular problem is a Thinkpad / CirrusLogic / Debian Policy issue. Regards Richard -- ***** Richard Forth For great natural health, nutrition, animal care and beauty products, visit my online store: http://www.aloevera-crowland.co.uk To change your life and circumstances: http://www.soaringteam.com/users/invite/MyVideoPage.php?Passcode=2118 Call me now for more info: Voicemail: 01733 807 861
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