Re: [UUG/MLUG] *nix config problems

["Michael" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Ouch, that sounds like the worse case I've ever heard of fighting to make
your video card work properly. Have never used that card so can't offer any
tips but I suggest you keep track of the steps needed to get it working so
that once you get it working you can share them with the community. :) You
said you can get it to work at a safe-mode equiv setting? Did you try
stepping up the resolution/depth one step at a time manually and seeing when
it chokes? Usually when I have problems I do that and soon figure out where
it went wrong. Argh I hate the spammy XF86Config files left by the
auto-setup tools though. Better off rewriting your own. :)

On Fri, 29 Oct 1999 18:37:21 -0500 (CDT), EMAIL:PROTECTED
wrote:

> Hey folks,
> 
> I hadn't been able to afford any extended downtime on my PC until
> recently, so I put off installing linux at home for the longest time...
> The Expo psyched me up, so I grabbed some of the "door-prize" CDs, and
> decided to take the leap.  I tried Red Hat first because I read that the
> default install included Gnome on top of the Enlightenment manager, which
> was the X setup I wanted anyway, plus I was told it was a good
first-timer
> choice.
> 
> My first problem was Xconfigurator choking on my vid card and monitor
> combo (an ATI Mach64 WinBoost, 2meg, and a MAG DX17F, 30-64kHZ
> horizontal and 50-100Hz vertical). Both were listed
> explicitly as configuration choices, so I'm assuming the problem was in
> Xconfigurator's timing database listing for my monitor.  The mach64
server
> covered a huge range of cards, so I'm tempted to think that it wasn't
> the problem.  When it ran through the different vid modes, to test, the
> monitor hung
> with a black screen (I couldn't tell if it was out of synch or not) on
one
> of the higher res ones and I had to totally restart the install.  Five
> install
> restarts later, I choose the custom monitor definition, 640x480 mode, and
> finally get X up... funny thing was that it had a counter where if I
> didn't hit the button, it would revert to the ascii install, yet it never
> reverted on any previous install attempts where the screen went into a
bad
> mode.  Say, Gnome and Engligtenment are already installed and
> working...but how to get some decent vid modes?  Three hours of reading
> docs, howtos, FAQs, and man pages on the web(good thing I didn't delete
my
> win98 partition just yet), I have researched my exact frequencies for and
> calculated dot
> clocks for every mode and I am ready to attempt a manual xconfig file
> modification...total failure, still only the "safe mode" of startx works.
> Another hour of reading docs and etc on ppp, and my modem (USR 56k) won't
> dial.  Ok, time to try FreeBSD.
> 
> Partition delete, disk image copy to floppy, a somewhat more thorough Q&A
> session with the install manager, and I'm in X...with ctrl-alt-+ actually
> changing vid modes...and they work.  Hmm, this x setup is mighty ugly,
and
> how do I config it?  Let's try to change the look and feel real quick to
> see if I can make browsing docs less painful... how about aqua?  ok, now
> every menu option is blacked out and the xterm is scrolling through
> errors.  Good 'ole Gnome loaded up manually, apparently working ok, albit
> with more errors filling the xterm.  Enlightenment didn't
> seem to be loaded even through it was config'd to be, and how am I going
> to get rid of this _step windows manager, with it's unhandy pager and
> wharf docker?
> 
> That's enough rambling for one email.  I guess all of those
> questions are rhetorical, but I would like to ask:  Since the red hat
> distro is likely to give me the fewest problems (only on red hat was I
> able to get my cdrom and zip drive mounted), assuming I can get past
> that issue with vid modes, where do I go from here?  I believe I have read

> all the documentation on video cards and monitors that there is in the
> various documentation projects.  I can't attempt to config higher res
> modes in Xconfigurator without it hanging, and ctrl-alt-plus and minus
> didn't ever seem to do anything in red hat.
> 
> Maybe I should give SuSE a test drive, or borrow a Mandrake CD?
> 
> I'm beginning to wish I had packed up my TOTALLY unportable bucket of
> bolts and brought it to the installation table the other week.
> 
> If anyone could offer some direction, I'd be grateful.  6:40 Friday
> night...time to get ill.  Enjoy the weekend, folks.
> 
> --
> Steve Copeland
> 
> 





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