That's with a 2.4 kernel. I had resigned myself to the fact that there was a
   flaw in the BIOS, while wondering why they had never bothered to fix such a
   problem in all of the BIOS revisions that Dell has issued for the machine.

   I've noticed that the error is absent when I boot from a recent 2.6 kernel,
   so figured that there was something relevant and long standing in Linux ACPI
   support that had been fixed in 2.6 kernels. But now it seems that the kernel
   developers may have just discovered how to deal with Dell's (intentionally
   quirky) implementation of the standard. Actually, the whole Groklaw post was
   interesting, so I'll include it here, but the last paragraph is what my post
   is about. Note: the general theme of the thread is about trying to buy a
   Dell with Linux pre-loaded. For more more info see:

     [33]http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040918105850387

   I was on a plane recently, sitting next to a guy who claimed to be a Dell
   senior sales VP. I mentioned I had bypassed Dell for a purchase a week or so
   before, because they don't support Linux. He acted surprised, and said I
   should visit their web site. I told him I had visited the site (and saw what
   PJ reported here); despite a claim to support Linux, it is almost impossible
   to buy a Dell machine with Linux.

   He continued to act surprised. I told him to visit his own website from a
   customer POV and he'd see what I meant.

   Don't trust Dell: they make nice machines, but they are on their knees for
   Gates. I put Dell in the same category as HP (broken ACPI (nonstandard),
   that they only tell Microsoft how to get around). 2+ years after Presario
   release, they have still not fixed it.

   -- John Karns
            ____________________________________________________

Gentoo

   Sun, 12 Sep 2004 14:46:07 -0600
   Kevin Williams ([34]kevin from bantamtech.com)

   Mike,

   I just read your article in Linux Gazette online on Installing Gentoo, and
   thought I could help with a few of the problems you have experienced.

   If OpenOffice did not compile, you could try openoffice-bin.

   I'm not sure if I can help with package documentation. There is good general
   documentation on how Gentoo-specific nuances work by following the "Docs"
   link from the top of the home page.

     We moved a handful of his - and other Gentoo using readers' tips - into
     our 2c Tips section, so they're easier to search for. Thanks to everybody
     who wrote in, especially those of you who don't see your name in lights;
     many Tips were repeats, and we tried to take the best explanations. --
     Heather

   I hope these suggestions help. I have found the Gentoo documentation and the
   Forums to be infinitely helpful. Now this former Windows advocate compiles
   his own kernel on a regular basis including software RAID and bootsplash
   tweaks. It's addicting!

   Enjoy,

   Kevin
            ____________________________________________________

Installing Gentoo - 106 - notes :)

   Sun, 12 Sep 2004 13:32:19 +0200 (CEST)
   Klavs Klavsen ([35]klavs from EnableIT.dk)

   Hi Mike,

   Nice to hear you tried out Gentoo :)

   I wanted to ad a few comments to your article:

     Some tips, too, but go see the 2c tips section for that. -- Heather

   Whenever there's a problem, I've almost always found the answer by searching
   forums.gentoo.org - even though the search feature in phpBB does not work
   very well, when there's so many posts as in this case. I've written a small
   and  easy howto, about how they could make it indexable by google (see
   [36]http://klavsen.info/simpleurls ) but they haven't picked it up, even
   though I've written it to gentoo-dev. This unfortunatley means the forums,
   which are a true treasure of knowledge, goes unknown to many :(

   If  the problem isn't solved by searching/posting to forums, a post to
   bugs.gentoo.org usually quickly resolves it (if it's a bug ofcourse, but it
   you don't get an answer in the forums, it most usually is :)

   All in all, a very important part of Gentoo, is the fact that besides, the
   great documentation, there's so many competent users in the forums and on
   the mailinglists, so getting help finding a solution (and learning a lot in
   the process) seems almost inevitable (if ones open for learning - Gentoo is
   IMHO not minded for people who does not want to learn how things really work
   - but just want something that "just works").

   By using Gentoo I've learned a lot, that I can make good use of, with other
   distributions as well, so it is a good learning experience, not only in
   Gentoo - but also with Linux. This same thing is why the forums.gentoo.org