in need of a distro

[GrandVizier]

hej
I've spent my weekend trying to obtain some seperation from Windows but have only found great frustration.

I've gone through Ubuntu (Breezy Badger 5.10) and Fedora (Core 5), both to no avail. The installation process runs smoothly and the terminals run fine, but I can't get gnome or kde working. Based on forum knowledge I'm holding the video card responsible. I'm pretty new to linux but as I said after reading through forums all weekend and trying countless things to get the drivers working properly, I'm close to giving up.

So I'm hoping to get recommendation on a distro that will work for me on (a relatively easy) install and includes all the fixins.
Here are a few hardware specs:
video card = ATI Radeon 9200 Pro 128Mb
cpu = Intel Pent 4 3.06Ghz
network = Linksys Wireless-G PCI

tack

[bryansmith]

Please read this: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...e-posting.html

Looking at your hardware, it doesn't look like anything odd. Have you tried installing the ATI video card drivers?

Bryan

[GrandVizier]

ok, i'll admit, it was pretty stupid of me not to have seen the post "Look here before posting!". But in any event that didn't fix my problem. In fact I went through such processes when deciding on unbuntu & fedora.

Have you tried installing the ATI video card drivers?

Well yeah, thats what I've been spending my time trying to do, but it hasn't worked.

Basically I posted here in a last attempt at finding someones opinion of a distro that I don't have to spend days that result in an incomplete install of Linux. But its looking like my lazy american arse will be sticking with Windows.

K

[tom-tjtech]

ok, i'll admit, it was pretty stupid of me not to have seen the post "Look here before posting!". But in any event that didn't fix my problem. In fact I went through such processes when deciding on unbuntu & fedora.


Well yeah, thats what I've been spending my time trying to do, but it hasn't worked.

Basically I posted here in a last attempt at finding someones opinion of a distro that I don't have to spend days that result in an incomplete install of Linux. But its looking like my lazy american arse will be sticking with Windows.

K

Basically any modern Distro (Kernel 2.6.+) should work with this card
however later ATi cards require propriety drivers.
Try Configue your dektop

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/ati-faq.xml
and
http://www.linuxcompatible.org/ATI_R...00_c11307.html
for supporting info

to install gnome sinply,
[root]$ urpmi gnome
or
[root]$ yum gnome

ans similarly for KDE if you need to.
Don't give up to easy, as Linux is a wonderful op-sys and you never get the
Windows update hassle (Microsoft WGA etc) or invasion by trojans, worms etc.
In short stable, secure and free.
I use RHF4 and Mandriva 2006 free.

tom-tjtech

[GrandVizier]

appreciate the suggestions tom-tjtech, and yes i agree, the security is my main reason for the switch

but yum doesn't work because internet isn't working, and unfortunately i'm too much of a newb to work on that issue without the gui - i've also found that the xorg.conf file doesn't even exsist in the Fedora install (whatever that means) - well tomorrow's a hoilday here in Sweden so maybe i'll put a bit more time into forum querying, but it looks like hardware issues will once again prevent my transformation to linux

[Dapper Dan]

This is not intended as an insult, but rather an observation from what you've posted here...

If you had installed a new video card in your Windows machine, and was having similar problems getting the drivers installed correctly, (and I've had this experience with Windows more than once) would you then give up on Windows?

To be successful with Linux it will be necessary for you to have at least the same amount of patience learning it as when you first learned Windows. If you don't then I think you will indeed be happier going back.

If you decide to give Linux a little patience, then I and others here are more than willing to help you.

[vixenk]

I had problems getting xserver to work on Mepis after installing ATI's drivers as well... I spent a good couple of weeks running fglrxconfig into the ground and constantly going over my xorg.conf file, and even the forum I went to for help couldn't figure out why the driver wasn't working, so I feel your pain. I was at least fortunate in the fact that I was already accustomed to Linux before I ran into that issue.

There should be an xorg.conf file in Fedora *as far as I know*... have you tried listing the contents of the /etc/X11 directory to see if it's listed?

dir /etc/X11

[psic]

Just a thought, I have the exact same card (Radeon 9200, 128Mb) and Kanotix, Knoppix and Vector all worked out-of-the-box (others did as well, but I don't feel like writing all of them). I never configured 3D drivers, as I don't need them, but X windows worked fine. Kanotix and Knoppix are live CD's (Vector also has a live version) so you can try them out first.