XF86ConfigDrivers 3914

On 21 Jun 2005 06:35:45 -0700, synex staggered into the Black Sun and said:

easy, but it's considered good manners to include some context from previous articles when you post to Usenet.

synex had problems getting X running on a Riva TNT card

That's a really, really old Redhat. You probably want something newer; they've fixed a few bugs and improved a lot of programs. Fedora Core 4 is the latest Redhat-like distro if you like the way Redhat does things.

"X -version" (always) or "xdpyinfo grep version" (if X is running) will tell you this.

Weird. Redhat 8 is ancient, but they were using one of the early 4.n XFree86 releases. All those should've worked with a Riva TNT and the nv X module. Unless... ISTR something about problems with 4.0.n and some TNT cards, but that was so long ago I may be misremembering.

? You typically generate the X config file (now called xorg.conf, since everybody switched to Xorg for various reasons about 1.5 years ago) with X -config or a pointy-clicky GUI. You then make a backup copy of that config file and edit that config file with your favorite text editor. (Note: there are 2 text editors, vim and emacs. Learn one, learn it well, and you'll be able to edit text anywhere.) Most X modules have man pages; "man i810" will tell you all the options you can put in the Device section of the X config file, for example. There's also a general man page in "man xorg.conf" ("man XF86Config" for people still using XFree86) but it's kind of abstract and may confuse you.

It's almost certainly using the VESA module at that point. VESA always works, but it's A) slow B) lacking useful extensions like XV C) locked to 60Hz vertical refresh. Point C tends to make people's eyeballs hurt if they're using a CRT, and points A and B frustrate people who want to do anything more with the GUI than running a few xterms.

-- Matt GThere is no Darkness in Eternity-But only Light too dim for us to see Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong