[NMLUG] Sabayon 3.3 initially disappointing

[niosop at gmail.com (Matthew Bowie)]

No, it doesn't analyze the system.  It's based on Gentoo, which allows for
very granular configuration and building of every program on the system, but
the Sabayon install doesn't build anything, it just unpacks/copies a ton of
stuff to your drive, like most other distros.  Everything you install later,
or upgrade, using portage is built from source w/ the settings you specify
in /etc/make.conf and /etc/portage/* but w/ an initial CHOST of I386 (unless
that's been changed recently), it's going to be using a suboptimal
instruction set.  You still have the ability to choose what's built w/ what
support (much like compiling from source and passing the desired ./configure
options, but easier), and deciding what optimization level and compiler
flags to use, but changing the CHOST on a running system is really messy on
a source based distro, which negates some of the extra speed potential.

As for the 6800GT, no idea why it would decide that it's limited to those
resolutions.  You'd have to look at /etc/X11/xorg.conf and see what
modelines are available, and what modes are set to be available in the
<Screen> section.  It may be there's a valid modeline in there, but the
desired resolution isn't in the "Modes" line of the "Display" subsection, in
which case it won't even try and set it.  If it is in there, you'd have to
check /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see why it didn't select the desired mode.  It
could be as simple as adding the desired resolution to the "Modes" line and
restarting X.  If you have the specs of your monitor handy, you can create
your own modeline, specifying resolution, horiz and vert refresh rates, etc,
and probably get it to run at whatever resolution you like.

Also, are you using the proprietary Nvidia drivers?  I didn't have an nvidia
card in the system I tried Sabayon on, so I don't remember if it installs
the nvidia-drivers package by default, or tries to use the X.orgs built in
"nv" drivers.  The nvidia drivers tend to give better performance and a
larger feature set.



On 3/26/07, Steve Browne <sbrowne at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:00:56 -0600, you wrote:
>
> >I didn't have any serious problems w/ it, but last one I tried was an
> older
> >version.  Of course it wasn't on a 37" monitor, it was on a laptop.  And
> >resolutions might not have been right, but I'm pretty use to having to
> set
> >custom modelines, so I probably wouldn't have noticed.  Plus, I'm pretty
> >familiar w/ Gentoo, so it wasn't too much of a change.
> >
> >The major complaint I had w/ it is that it installs too much stuff.  I
> >really don't need 5 different text editors, or 4 different mp3
> players.  The
> >other complaint is that is uses a 386 chost, and changing the CHOST after
> a
> >system build is a pretty good way of trashing your toolchain and
> system.  I
> >think I'll stick w/ stock Gentoo for a while yet.
> >
> >On 3/26/07, Steve Browne <sbrowne at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Now that my systems are running smoothly I tried an install of Sabayon
> >> 3.3 (current). Firstly, the all-in-one DVD didn't want to partition
> >> the HDD according to my customs, but would only proceed if I chose the
> >> default partitioning calculated by Sabayon.
> >>
> >> Secondly, once installed, the distro didn't list a higher screen
> >> resolution than 1280 (x 768?) even though I run my 37" 1080p monitor
> >> at 1920x1280 all the time with Mandriva. It would only set the refresh
> >> rate at 50Hz. or 53Hz., which must be what they use in Italy but not
> >> here. Fortunately it didn't burn out my monitor.
> >>
> >> If anyone has had a better experience, speak up.
> >>
> >> Steve
>
> I thought the advantage of Sabayon is that it analyzes the particular
> system it is to be installed on and compiles the kernel, all the
> binaries and settings accordingly. So why should it see a Geforce
> 6800GT video card as limited resoluition?
>
> Steve
> Stephen B. Browne
> sbrowne at ix.netcom.com
> "Ubi bene, ibi patria."
>
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-- 
Matthew Bowie
Programmer/IT Consultant
niosop at gmail.com
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