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Grex > Micros > #199: FreeBSD, Linux, or other PC Unixes? |  |
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| 25 new of 257 responses total. |
eprom
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response 88 of 257:
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Mar 3 17:00 UTC 1999 |
isn't there a trick where you press control-alt-plus key and it adjusts
the resolution?
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pfv
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response 89 of 257:
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Mar 3 18:05 UTC 1999 |
Keypad plus & minus - yeah, if you told X to use it.. And, if yer
setup has multiple modes.
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gregb
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response 90 of 257:
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Mar 4 00:15 UTC 1999 |
Re. 87: It's a Fujitsu Lifebook 200
Re. 88, 89: Been there, done that, no help. And don't even _think_ of
sugesting I contact Fujitsu. while the laptop itself runs fine,
dealing with F'edupsu is a nightmare on anybody's street.
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mwg
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response 91 of 257:
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Mar 10 20:20 UTC 1999 |
Super-magnified sounds like VGA resolution. You probably need to find
out the chipset of your video hardware and get the specific X server for
that set, which may be tough on newer models. I've only gotten suppord
for my 2-year old Diamond video card for full functionality in the last 3
months or so. If your X software is less than 3.3.3 you might want to go
to www.xfree86.org and download the latest version.
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gregb
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response 92 of 257:
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Mar 11 17:28 UTC 1999 |
>Super-magnified sounds like VGA resolution.
That's what it was alright. However, during setup, I specified I had
SVGA, but nomater what res I set or monitor I specified, It kept
droping back to VGA. However, since my post, I've had /some/ success:
I switched from using Xconfigurator, a Red Hat-specific program I
believe, to the std. XF86config. I was able to specify the exact
chipset (Trident) I had. I now have a regular 800x600 display. Now,
the only prob is the desktop and menus are all black; Icons, however,
are visable. <Sigh!>...back to the drawing board, I guess.
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gregb
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response 93 of 257:
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Mar 11 17:31 UTC 1999 |
Speaking of X, I'm having some trouble distinguishing between the terms
"X server" and "Windows Mngr." Can someone clarify these, perhaps
using the DOS world as an analogy? It's not vital, but I would like to
be clear on what's what.
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pfv
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response 94 of 257:
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Mar 11 17:47 UTC 1999 |
The "X Server" or "X" or "X11" is a server-program that provides
all the usual (and obnoxious) gobbledegook requisite of a Graphic
User Unterface (GUI) in a "windowing environment".
The "Window Manager" is a "client" program that adds another layer
between the user, the GUI - which is what this provides - and the
server.
_Theoretically_, you program to "X ne. X11" and the program is
supposed to run under ANY OTHER "window manager". This is prolly
a reasonable assumption, until you get to stuff like KDE and GNOME
and ENLIGHTENMENT - all of which require additional libraries for
support, and so do the better of the programs for them. This is
even a problem with Motif/Lesstiff programs, and I'm sure someone
can mention some more of these idiot-syncracies.
The client/server approach even applies to X and its own "font
server": with this "font server", you have the ability to teach
X and linux to use TrueType (and FreeType ;-) fonts in addition to
the typical unix font-crap. Unices are truly rich in client/server
examples and implementations.
This help any?
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mwg
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response 95 of 257:
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Mar 17 18:20 UTC 1999 |
Re:#92 How much memory does your video card have?
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pfv
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response 96 of 257:
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Mar 17 18:35 UTC 1999 |
*sigh* Even 4m is moer than enough for the basics.
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gregb
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response 97 of 257:
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Mar 25 00:43 UTC 1999 |
Re. 92: Two megs., more than enough at 800x600x16-bit. But, hey, I'd
be willing to settle for 256-color it it'll give me 800x600, or at
least a true 640x480.
At this point, after playing with every setting I can think of, I get
three possible results: 1) A blank screen, which means having to re-
boot to get back to normal. 2) A 640x480 display that shows all the
proper backgroun/menu/text colors but blows everything up to 320x200
proportions, without a virtual desktop. 3) An 800x600 display that
shows no background/menu/text colors (all black), but /does/ display
all icons properly, and has the virtual desktop.
As it stands, after a week of fiddling, I've given up on X and decided
to concentrate on the other aspects of Linux, which there are plenty.
I'll just have to chalk it up to one more reason never to get Fujitsu
products again.
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kentn
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response 98 of 257:
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Mar 25 01:50 UTC 1999 |
A week of fiddling isn't too far off if your set up doesn't click right
out of the box. The best luck I've had in getting X set up for my video
card was going through the recommended calculations by hand (well pocket
calculator) and fiddling until I had it the way I liked it. Using all
the configurators and auto-set up programs I've only been able to get
close. Take a deep breath, relax, leave off of it for a while, then go
back and read the docs (on my FreeBSD system the one about calculations
is called VideoModes.doc and is in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/ but may be
in a different place on your system) and see if you can't squeeze a
compromise out of your video card/monitor combination (I had a 1-meg
card doing 800x600 at 256-color and a bit of virtual desktop, but it
took a lot of fiddling). Good luck.
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shf
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response 99 of 257:
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Mar 25 11:44 UTC 1999 |
2 meg was not enough video memory for me, and sometimes, at higher
resolutions, even 8meg will give me the dreaded black windows.
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gregb
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response 100 of 257:
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Mar 27 20:40 UTC 1999 |
Re. 98: Well, like I said earlier, this is happening only on my
laptop, which considering it came from Fujitsu, shouldn't be too
surprising. I'll never touch their stuff again. My tower box is
running just fine, thank you.
Your right about the docs. I've been looking through my RH CD's and
there's a ton of info in there. Hopefully, there'll be something
regarding laptops or LCD displays I can use. If not, there's a ton
more of online docs, mailing lists, HOWTO's, etc.
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remmers
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response 101 of 257:
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Mar 28 17:28 UTC 1999 |
I actually find fiddling with the video parameters in XF86Config
to be kind of fun. It's useful not to have to settle for one of
the standard screen resolutions (640x40, 800x600, 1024x768, etc)
but instead can specify whatever best suits your needs. I currently
run at a screen resolution of 1184x888. Why? Well, because it's the
smallest resolution at which I can fit two 80-column text windows
(xterm or emacs) side-by-side using a decent font and with a decent
refresh rate (85 Hz).
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gregb
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response 102 of 257:
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Mar 30 22:25 UTC 1999 |
Well, it's only fun if it works. Otherwise, it's just frustrating.
Fortunately, there's a lot of non-graphic stuff to learn about. Today,
I've discovered the benefits of VC's, which makes applying things I'm
learing easier.
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mwg
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response 103 of 257:
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Apr 1 04:12 UTC 1999 |
If by VCs you mean Virtual Consoles, yes, they are handy things, I need to
set up more.
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gregb
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response 104 of 257:
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Apr 1 16:24 UTC 1999 |
Update on X problem (see previous msgs. for details):
I completely reinstalled RH 5.2, thinking that perhaps I was missing a
vital X file (no pun intended). Still got the same results. However,
when I started Netscape, what was black (except text) turned green. At
least I could any text that showed up. Fortunately, when I closed the
browser, the screen stayed green, enabling my to check out other apps,
like Gimp.
Running Gimp revealed some interesting info: 1) buttons don't always
show up, but the text does. 2) I can view images, with all colors
intact. So the question becomes, if I still have access to all my
colors (16-bit), why won't the everything else, like normal background,
window frames, etc. show up?
Back to the drawing board.
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shf
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response 105 of 257:
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Apr 1 23:41 UTC 1999 |
( like I said erlier, you need more video memory )
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mdw
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response 106 of 257:
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Apr 2 04:42 UTC 1999 |
You probably got scrambled color maps. You should run "startx" and save
the results of stderr in a file - it's possible (for instance) that you
are really using 8-bit color.
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larsn
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response 107 of 257:
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Apr 2 17:00 UTC 1999 |
Quick test to set a different color depth can be accomplished with
using the --bpp 16 (or whatever) option for startx. If that makes a
difference then you've found the problem.
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gregb
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response 108 of 257:
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Apr 5 20:36 UTC 1999 |
Re. 105: I don't think so. According to both Xconfigurator and
xf86config, I should be able to use 24-bit color; I'm only using 16.
No, I'm convinced it has something to do with either the screen itself,
or the driver being used. Since Fujitsu won't give out such info, I'll
have to focus on the driver.
Re. 106: Since I'm still new at this, could you tell me how to do
this? As for using 8-bit color, I'm pretty sure that's what I end up
with. When I exit X, I see various msgs. mentioning 8-bit color and
others saying such-and-such res. not loaded.
Re. 107: Thanks. I'll give that a try.
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kentn
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response 109 of 257:
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Apr 6 02:23 UTC 1999 |
Ran across this web site the other day and it has some tips for
setting up XFree86 on laptops. Dunno if it'll help or if you've
already seen it, but:
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/
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gregb
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response 110 of 257:
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Apr 7 03:59 UTC 1999 |
Re. 109: I'd seen this before, but discounted it 'cause the author was
using Debian instead of Red Hat. Now that I know a bit more, I'll take
another look at it. Thanks for the reminder.
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rtg
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response 111 of 257:
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Apr 10 05:08 UTC 1999 |
Here's a few other URL's to go for help:
http://www.linux.org/hardware/laptop.html
This is an index site, with links to specific case-histories people have
published as they work the kinks out of a specific installation. There are
specific links for the following Fujitsu models:
Fujitsu 635T
Fujitsu FM-V
Fujitsu Lifebook 280dx
Fujitsu Lifebook 420D
Fujitsu Lifebook 500
Fujitsu Lifebook 655TX
Fujitsu Lifebook 735Dx
Fujitsu Lifebook 790Tx
Fujitsu Milan
http://galt.cs.nyu.edu/students/fox/notebooks.html
This is a tech-reference which lists the specific PCMCIA and video
chipsets used in various laptops. A great help to me as I was shopping,
to make sure I didn't succumb to some 'great deal' that had an unsupported
video chipset.
There's also a linux-laptops mailing list where you can ask questions, and
share what you learn!
subscribe at majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu. If you don't know how to use
majordomo, e-mail me and I'll send you a help document.
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gregb
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response 112 of 257:
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Apr 15 00:33 UTC 1999 |
Re. 111: 'Tanks for the info, Rick. The first link I've been to, as
described in 110. I'll check into the second.
Right now, I'm diving into the numerous FAQ's and HOWTO's on the RH
CD's. That should keep me busy for awhile.
Although my laptop wasn't exactly a "great deal," It does apparently
have a supported chipset, according to XF86config.
Anybody know, off-hand, what the vertical/horizontal freqs. are for an
LCD screen at 800x600? I've been playing hit'n'miss with the settings
as the manual doesn't list them.
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