Video issue before startx

[joegumbo]

Hi,

I just installed Slackware 11 on an old Dell laptop. After booting into XFCE, everything is fine. But, prior to booting in, the text interface covers the whole screen with the active line being about an inch past the bottom of the screen. This makes it difficult to login, enter my password and other commands prior to starting x. Is there some way to correct this?

Thanks,
-Joe G.

[TrashOverride]

which is your kernel version?
try your lilo.conf
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
vga = 791
or some of the other modes

[aliov]

No it's not a booting problem it's related to X, could you please post your xorg.conf under /etc/X11 ,and also if you have full information about your VGA !
run lspci and post the output.

Regards.

[joegumbo]

Hi Aliov and TrashOverride!



root@COMCAST:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 430TX - 82439TX MTXC (rev 01)
00:01.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 01)
00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:01.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:01.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 01)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Neomagic Corporation NM2160 [MagicGraph 128XD] (rev 01)
00:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
00:03.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1131 (rev 01)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc DFE-690TXD CardBus PC Card (rev 10)

I'm including the sections of the xorg.conf file that seem to relate to the mon itor. If you need more, please let me know.

# Monitor section
# ************************************************** ********************

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

HorizSync 31.5 - 50.0

# HorizSync 30-64 # multisync
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

VertRefresh 40-90

EndSection


# ************************************************** ********************
# Graphics device section
# ************************************************** ********************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

Section "Device"
Identifier "VESA Framebuffer"
Driver "vesa"
#VideoRam 4096
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

# ************************************************** ********************
# Screen sections
# ************************************************** ********************

# Any number of screen sections may be present. Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen. A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "VESA Framebuffer"
Monitor "My Monitor"

# If your card can handle it, a higher default color depth (like 24 or 32)
# is highly recommended.

# DefaultDepth 8
# DefaultDepth 16
DefaultDepth 24
# DefaultDepth 32

# "1024x768" is also a conservative usable default resolution. If you
# have a better monitor, feel free to try resolutions such as
# "1152x864", "1280x1024", "1600x1200", and "1800x1400" (or whatever your
# card/monitor can produce)

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

EndSection

# ************************************************** ********************
# ServerLayout sections.
# ************************************************** ********************

# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present. Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised. A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option. In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.

Section "ServerLayout"

# The Identifier line must be present
Identifier "Simple Layout"

# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens. The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen. In this example, screen 2 is located to the
# right of screen 1.

Screen "Screen 1"

# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used. Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

This is a Dell CP-M233ST notebook
233-MHz Pentium
upgraded to 192 MB RAM
3.5 GB HD
12.1 inch screen
Display: NeoMagic MagicGraph

Thanks for you time and help!

-Joe

[joegumbo]

TrashOverride

Oops!

I'm running the 2.4 with acpi

-Joe

[joegumbo]

Hi,

I'm afraid I've found out something that's going to require my moving on to a different distro for this laptop.

I was takinjg my good laptop on the road with me, but I started noticing a lot of wear. So, I decided to try with my old, cheap laptop. I only needed a device for four things:

Printing
occasionally access the web
AbiWord
Gnumeric

I just found out that apparently AbiWord and Gnumeric are being discontinued for Slackware because of all the Gnome dependencies. All my files are in .abi and .gnumeric. I searched the Slackware repos for Abiword and Gnumeric for Slackware 11 and couldn't find them. I tried compiling AbiWord from source and had error messages. So, even if I do get this issue corrected, I still won't be able to use my laptop for the exact things I need it for.

I apologize for taking your time with this, but I did not know about AbiWord and Gnumeric.


Thank you for your kind help.

I'm off to look for another low resource distro.

Thanks,
-Joe

[aliov]

Okay good luck, there is a project called dropline gnome and freerock gnome that offer gnome for slackware, but require some configuration.

for you X the solution is :

replace the vesa in the devise section by neomagic
comment the two line about the refresh rate, and try.

[joegumbo]

Hi aliov

The thing is, Gnome is too bloated to use on this old laptop. My desktop could handle it, though. If I decide to install Slackware 12 on my desktop, I'll remember your advice.

Thank you,
-Joe

[aliov]

Hi joegumbo,

Yes Slackware 12.0 is a good distro, they make a lot of improvements in it, but also there is no gnome (only KDE,and XFCE) ,know the dropline gnome team start working to make a dropline gnome for the new Slackware release, i guess it'll be 2.18.

Best Regards.

[rudie_rage]

Hi joegumbo,

Yes Slackware 12.0 is a good distro, they make a lot of improvements in it, but also there is no gnome (only KDE,and XFCE) ,know the dropline gnome team start working to make a dropline gnome for the new Slackware release, i guess it'll be 2.18.

Best Regards.

dont forget fluxbox! lol

Fluxbox is a great way to speed up an older system since its so minimal. Yet at the same time it looks great and dosnt take a rocket scientist to configure.

I'd recommend it, anyway... It will make you learn a lot as far as linux goes. Possibly not for a person new linux or someone with little patience for getting started, but at this point I dont think I'd be able to switch away from it.