Re: wtf? (long and frustrated)
Hi,
I understand the feeling of the original poster. My condolences.
Debian is not *yet* known for its ease of install nor painless hardware
detection. It will be better once d-i is done for Sarge :-)
But Debian is the best once you start upgrading it after you set your
system right. It will respect your configuration and will not wipe it.
On Mon, Mar 10, 2003 at 02:02:21PM -0600, Kent West wrote:
> Glenn English wrote:
>
> >There ought to be a list for Debian wannabes. I've tried several times
> >to get woody going on a couple different boxen - most recently a Dell
> >Latitude laptop.
It is here or debian-laptop (something like this) .
Also read user references listed in
http://www.debian.org/doc
including my:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/
Oh, you should read every lines of installmanual:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual
> >Console is fine; X, of course, has been the problem (I haven't even
> >looked at the PCMCIA Ethernet and wireless cards yet).
> >
> >When the installer says, "Have fun," and reboots, the screen blinks a
> >couple times, and a curses dialog box comes up saying it can't run X,
> >telling me why, and offering to run the X configuration program - that's
> >cool. I say, "Yes," and a program starts - IN X!!!
I think some inexpensive IBM and DELL use shared memory video cards.
(Intel i810?)
Shared memory graphics card are bitch. (FB or not, ... etc.)
This is a kernel problem. You need newer X to address some issues to
assign decent memory size for the graphics. (Post Woody version needed).
Problem is Sarge should be in a very unstable state due to GCC
transition for a while from few days ago. Do not listen to the old post
on stability of testing system a month ago. That's history. See Debian
RM aj's recent posting.
> The X-based configuration is probably only running in VGA mode. When
> you're trying to configure X, you're probably telling the system you
> have greater than VGA capabilities.
>
> It sounds like you're running XFree86 3.x; I think upgrading to 4.x
> would be of benefit to you. Of course, the easiest way to do that is to
> leave Woody behind and go for Sid or Testing. I run Sid on my
> workstations (Stable/Woody on servers); every once in a while a problem
> comes up that takes a couple of weeks to get ironed out, but those
> instances are rare, and seldom catastrophic, so I find Sid perfectly
> suitable for workstation use.
Hey, slow down Kent :-)
Your statement is true for you and me but that does not make a good
generic suggestion to a person asking X configuration issues here. As
others said, best recommendation is stick with STABLE (Woody). In
Woody, I also know XFREE 3 is rock solid but XFREE 4 has some rough
edges. So running XFREE3 is fine. (For example some old ATI cards.)
> This way you get the newer stuff, like X 4.
If Intel i810 chip set is used, I heard it may be a good idea to choose
newer XFREE 4.2 packages. (This means you need package from
testing/unstable, despite what I said).
> >Is there some FM or FAQ I've missed? Is there a CI program on Debian to
> >configure X? Or is vi /etc/X11/XF86Config it?
> >
> >
> xf86config
> XF86Setup (I believe . . . it's been so-o-o long since I ran XFree86 3.x)
> manually tweak XF86Config
> maybe dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86, but I think this is a version 4
> thing
Anyway, for laptop shared memory graphics system, you need to google
information on how to install X with or without frame-buffer kernel
support. I forgot which way, but there are plenty info out there.
Sorry, but this is the state of Debian Hardware support.
One way to install Debian may be install other distribution first and
play chroot trick to migrate like Karsten's old post.
Read followings for more:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2002/debian-user-200204/msg01010.html
Also
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tips.en.html#s-chroot
--
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Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org> Cupertino CA USA, GPG-key: A8061F32
.''`. Debian Reference: post-installation user's guide for non-developers
: :' : http://qref.sf.net and http://people.debian.org/~osamu
`. `' "Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software" --- Social Contract
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