Open Suse drivers

[Maclinux]

I have just upgraded my machine which now has amd athlon 64 with asus a8v-vm se motherboard, onboard graphics, pci sound card running xp pro dual-boot with open suse 10.2, using the 5 disc install set. I had no problems with the install except that it didnt take the full 5 disc install it took 3. I need to change the screen resolution of which i cant get higher than 800 x 600 using a 19" phillips 190Xs monitor.
I cant get the vendor driver disc to install the drivers for the boards graphics or sound. I tried copying the install. Any help in getting drivers installed would be great and especially getting a better screen res. I'm basically familiar with the terminal as i used ubuntu in virtual machines but have suse installed on my host and wish to get to know suse better but i am unsure of commands to run installation files.
I tried copying the files from the discs to a directory and configuring the software sources to get the software from disc 4 and 5 but im still unsure how to run the install and retrieve the software from these 2 discs.
Thanks in advance

[Dooghy]

This is strange. I think it should use all of them, unless you customized what software to install and so on. But if you didn't, then I think it should have used all the CDs.

I can't say that for sure, as I've downloaded and installed from the DVD.
It would be a good idea also to donwload and install the Add-On CD.

First of all, have you installed the x86_64 version of Suse?
What graphics do you have?

[bigtomrodney]

It's usual to only use 3 CDs. IF you choose to go command line it only takes 1 CD, and if you install some server or non default software you will use the last two. Always best to have them though.

What graphics chip do you have? All the dirvers are generally built into the kernel, so short of building a module for it you wouldn't normally go looking for additional drivers the way you would in Windows.

[Maclinux]

The Graphics are onboard via Gfx in North Bridge K8M890. The 3 disc installation is fine its the resolution im concerned with.

[Maclinux]

I just read another post about Nvidia problems and did a lspci, which gave me this:
"VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. Unknown device 3230 (rev 11)"
Is this a problem as im a newbie to Suse i am not sure but all the others are ok.

This the only other line which says Unknown Device:
"Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. Unknown device 6290".

I think this is a problem but can anyone clarify this for me or tell me how to repair it. The other post about Nvidia problems mentioned that he had a resolution problem too.

Thanks again...

[gogalthorp]

The vendor disk most likely has Windows drivers these will not work with Linux!

I don't know if via has Linux drivers or not for that chip set. You might check on the Via site.

Seems like there are a lot of problems with some on board chip sets. (one of the many reason I never would buy a MB with on board video, It is not really worth the few dollars saved.)

Have you tried a direct edit of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file?? Note must be root. Also make a backup before editing.

In the section marked "screen"

Add the resolutions you want. note from highest to lowest on the line(s).
Do it for each depth

You will need to restart the xserver so log out then back in or reboot.

[Maclinux]

I tried that but the xorg.conf file does not have a screen section, only some lines for fonts.

[Maclinux]

I also found on VIA website under FAQ's, edit the etc/X11/XF86Config file or etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file of which there only is the first file. When i did this i got a strange reply, just one line with "3954" and the Terminal froze. VIA dont seem to have a Linux driver version for my version of Open Suse, which is very disappointing.
If i cannot get this resolved i may have to acquire a pci card which i thought i could have avoided (im not a miser i just didnt expect any problems like this). Im kind of annoyed that i dont have this problem in Windows as i was looking forward to learning Open Suse and it becoming a permanent alternative to Windows.
But this is just a setback for now, hopefully i will get the problem fixed sooner rather than later.
Thanks again for the help...

[gogalthorp]

Note: Suse uses the xorg.conf file not the XF86Config

XF86Config is just a symbolic link that points to xorg.con

It is sad that manufactures don't support Linux. In the future you should only buy from companies that do support Linux.

[gogalthorp]

I tried that but the xorg.conf file does not have a screen section, only some lines for fonts.

This is probably because the chip set is not recognized.

try running
sax2 -r -m 0=vesa (0 is a digit, not a letter!)

This should repopulate the xorg.conf file to use the default vesa driver. note this has no hardware 3D support but runs 2d ok on almost any card.