My "test machine" and newest project...
I'm taking away your 'computer user' status and giving you a shiny new 'computer abuser' tag. Thrash the bits out of that machine!
And did you notice my link about there being more distros than linux users?
Yeah, at least on this one I can wipe the hard drive repeatedly and not even try to get a successful multi-boot. Doesn't matter if I break it over and over, because it doesn't have to work.
Yeah, I've seen that one before. In my household, it's actually true. I've taken looks at OpenSUSE, Sabayon, VectorLinux, Debian, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu, plus regular use of Ubuntu for a while. Plus Solaris and a failed attempt at FreeBSD. 7 Linux distros (or just 5 if we lump all the *buntus together) and one Linux user.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
I.e when you have one X session that is being silly, it is on Ctrl/Alt/F7 and you have all the other six (F1-F6) as terminal logins.
Also, Ctrl/Alt/F8 is where the error messages live.
(That is, unless, like me, you start a second X on that)
(Actually, from a terminal screen, you only need Alt/F1-F8 to switch, but it doesn't mind you using Alt wth it.)
(Also, to kill an X, just hit Ctrl/Alt/backspace)
(Also, with some tinkering, you can stop it going direct to the GUI)
Thanks for the tips. I suspect the Function keys behave incorrectly on Apple hardware (they have their own uses) but Ctrl-Alt-Backspace ends the errant X session.
I think I've figured out my next move from some other forum postings. As root, I entered the command "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" to set up a xorg.conf file. The first thing it asks me is my video car's bus identifier, which I don't know. It recommends using "lspci" to find it if I'm not sure. However, after running lspci I don't understand which chunk of gobbledygook is the video card bus id.
The output of lspci is:
0000:00:10.0 Display Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 RL/VR AGP
0001:10:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth PCI
0001:10:12.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB12LV23 IEEE-1394 Controller
0001:10:17.0 Class ff00: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo Mac I/O (rev 02)
0001:10:18.0 USB Controller: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo USB
0001:10:19.0 USB Controller: Apple Computer Inc. KeyLargo USB
0002:20:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth Internal PCI
0002:20:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Apple Computer Inc. UniNorth GMAC (Sun GEM)
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Its an AGP ATI rage with 128 megs of ram. nice for a desktop of the time. you sure regular buntu wont work well?
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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.
Its an AGP ATI rage with 128 megs of ram. nice for a desktop of the time. you sure regular buntu wont work well?
So for video bus id I would enter... 0000:00:10.0 Display Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 RL/VR AGP? That gives me the error message "Incorrect format for the bus identifier."
I'm fairly certain I could at least get Xubuntu running on this reasonably well, but that's very much a last resort. I wanted to get my decade-old iMac running like a champ and putting the new Mactels with bloated Leopard to shame. Also, I do kind of like IceWM.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Look at this file http://mac.linux.be/Xfree4_2_1/iMac400DV and try adjusting your xorg.conf accordingly (look at the "Device" and "Monitor" sections). It worked for me a few years ago. It says the bus id of the video card is 0:16:0
[quote="Orwell"][/quote]
ATI Technologies Rage 128 should be what it wants.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI should help from there.
and try this one if that fails.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver
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davidred wrote...
I installed Ubuntu once and it completely destroyed my paying relationship with Microsoft.
ATI Technologies Rage 128 should be what it wants.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI should help from there.
and try this one if that fails.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver
The second link helped, particularly in a hexadecimal vs decimal hint (f**k hexadecimal). Now I get a different error message! Well, at least it feels like progress.
Anyways:
Fatal server error:
no screens found
waiting for X server to begin accepting connections
giving up.
EDITED because I changed a config file and got a different error message.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
This is becoming a bit of a marathon...
One thing that occurs to me is... was there a choice of an "alternate" install CD? The alternate CDs, I believe, include a larger range of drivers.
In your case, it really does sound as if you just don't have the ATI driver at all!
The clue in there is that the configuration asked you where your graphics were, in the first place. If it had recognised the device, it wouldn't have needed to ask which PCI ID it was (and dropping the leading "000:" is typical, as most people only have a single PCI bus).
Via a search on the Ubuntu forums, I got to:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=754620
&highlight=driver+ATI+Rage+128+RL%2FVR+AGP
At the end of the day, posting a question there may be your best bet. It certainly seems that others have installed Ubuntu on the kit you are using (but maybe not the whittled down version you have gone for, which maybe has had some bits whittled away that shouldn't have been whittled away!)
You may need to check out this.
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer
One thing that occurs to me is... was there a choice of an "alternate" install CD? The alternate CDs, I believe, include a larger range of drivers.
Debian has a ton of .iso's, but I'm not sure if any of them is an "alternate" CD like the kind Ubuntu uses. The netinst cd, if I am not mistaken, just downloads any packages as needed, so it should be able to do anything a regular install cd does. It even gave me the option of installing a desktop environment (defaulting to GNOME) but I didn't want to do that.
You may need to check out this.
Yeah, I have a thread over on the Ubuntu forums asking for help on this as well. Since I'm not really at home in editing config files and setting up X manually, it might be better for me just to give in and install a light DE like XFCE. Then at least I'll have a graphical interface to work with.
OK, now I'm confused as hell. I just tried to install from a normal Debian install disk, with XFCE/LXDE on it. I told it to go ahead and put on a desktop environment. Then, when the install completes and the computer reboots, I get... a console login. "startx" fails as it has before.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
... but you've switched to Debian now?
So... when do you start asking about building your own kernel?
(It's easy(-ish), and I had to keep doing it, to get my sound to work, and have a kernel that would fit in memory! I can't recall the last time I did a "make bzImage".)
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer
... but you've switched to Debian now?
So... when do you start asking about building your own kernel?
Definitely not before I manage to get a functional Debian. I've tried a couple different installations (netinst and the full install cd that includes xfce and lxde) and the result is the same- a command prompt, no way of starting X that I can tell. Ironic that I'm using a computer whose original OS (MacOS8) didn't even have a command-line, and I'm not able to get anything other than a command-line now.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Default settings for xorg.conf (and as restored by "dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg") give the following output on the failure of "startx"
(EE) No Devices detected.
Fatal server error:
no screens found
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
From a rather ancient source:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/ ... 00475.html
Identifier "ATI Rage 128 PR"
Driver "r128"
BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
ChipID 0x5046
EndSection
The trick this guy seems to be using, is to be aware that the driver DOES support his card, or rather, a card of almost the exact same model, but the driver doesn't have it in its list.
So, with an appropriate "Identifier" change, you could give that a wrirl.
Use:
My Nvidea comes back with:
01:00.0 0300: 10de:0250 (rev a3)
You could see if giving the driver as either "ati" or "radeon" is of any help.
A long shot, I guess.
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer
gamefreak
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In other news, it still has 10.3.9 running on it, is painfully slow with that, and is not able, in OSX, to connect to the house wifi. This is a problem. I may have to bite the bullet and set up Ethernet to avoid those issues- because without wifi problems, Linux is simply a dream to install and run.
Well thats going to a problem. This is why I still advocate OSX for Macs and Windows for PC's. Oh and about your sister, Good like when she buys a piece of software at Circuit City that won't run on linux. Or a piece of hardware. Linux is not very friendly if your not a geek.
This old iMac G3 runs like crap on OS X. Complete and utter crap. It needs something lighter, which means either Linux or BSD. Macs are PC's just like Dell, HP, and all the rest. The difference is that Macs default to a better OS which can't be (legally) installed on other brands of PC.
Who buys software at Circuit City? Literally every piece of software that I have for daily use is freely downloadable off the Internet. There's also some Apple software that came pre-bundled with my computer, but I don't normally boot into OS X so that stuff doesn't get much use. None of it was purchased at a retail store. And hardware, meh, she's on an ageing PPC laptop, and even Apple is soon droping all PPC support. The best bet for such machines is now Linux or BSD, since new version of OS X are too bloated to run on the older PPC computers.
_________________
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH