X Server won't start and I think it's something to do with the video drivers. I have win xp on a Pentium 3, Using an ATI All In Wonder board and a NEC MultiSync LCD 1850E monitor.

I've been installing all my Linux test distros in VMWare 3.2.

Mandrake 8.0 installed slick as a whistle first time. No difficulties and it runs great.

SuSE 8 same slick installation. In addition SuSE automatically mounts all the fat partitions on my boot drive and on my second hd. Mandrake doesn't do that.

Tried to install RedHat 8.0 3 times using different configurations. Same result. Maybe I'll chance an install on the hd. Always hate to do that because of the entry in the MBR for the boot menu.

The installation only needed CD-1 and 2. I had trouble with RedHat 7.3 on this machine and am disappointed version 8.0 seems not to have a full compliment of drivers.

This is just a preview report. Gonna try some other approaches soon.



Last edited by rikytik at Oct 1 2002, 08:14 AM

Could it be an option in the kernel? Or a fluffed /etc/X11/XF86config file? For the first one just recompile the problem - however this shouldn't really be the problem. For the latter run xf86config as root and just answer the questions. It should work.



Last edited by craftyc at Oct 3 2002, 09:04 PM

I'm freeing up a pc to use just for Linux. I'll give it another try on this dedicated machine in a few days. Thanks for the comment craftyc

just finished installing rh 8 over 7.3. loving it. faster than 7.3 on my PIII 450/256mb ram

That is best way to play with linux.

Thnx to gcc 3.2 and latest binutils linux is faster now :D

Using a sourced based distro (like Gentoo, hint hint :) ), would also generally give you a speed increase.

IDid 2 things. Replaced the ATI Radeon video board with a basic nVidia and installed on the hd instead of in a virtual pc. Works great. I still believe Red Hat diidn't like the ATI card.

Before doing this I installed Lindows 2.0. Cute jump ahead of the others in the sense that you need a paid for account to download programs. Why anyone would go this routte for a Linux o/s is beyond me. Maybe there are people who can't afford more than $200 for a computer, but who can afford $100 for downloads. Beyond my comprehension at this point.



Last edited by rikytik at Oct 4 2002, 01:00 PM

Another observation:

None of the screen fonts that install with the various Linux distros are very good. Hard to read compared to Windows. Maybe there are other font options I can install.

About the fonts thnx to Microsoft all good TTF fonts are patented and cant be bundled directly but you can download them :-)

Check http://fontconfig.org/webfonts/