So would the Linux priests please listen, perhaps even Bob George who
wrote like this:
> ... If you use an obscure card and monitor (not selectable by name
> from the list), then it's going to be a challenge.
> It's simple. If you want to run Linux painlessly, use SUPPORTED hardware. If
> you've got some moth-eaten, Brand X hardware, expect a challenge. Don't go
> calling your own limitations those of Linux!
In the very real case I'm referring to, the configuration utilities -
*** - DO list and recognize the monitor (a Compaq);
*** - DO list and recognize the video card (an ATI), especially its
RAMDAC and video memory (2M);
*** - and in the doc.s, precisely this card, with this amount of mem,
IS named as running with the highest spec.s of the monitor.
*AND* *IT* *DOES* *NOT* *WORK*.
> But it's really no worse than the alternative. NO WAY are you going to get
> anything more than VGA working under WinX with an unsupported card.
The combo works faultlessly with Win$98.
Just an observation, to Bob again, re the default values used by the
XF86Setup GUI:
> It uses a safe default, which should work with any VGA adapter. Just use a
> VGA16 driver and you can probably get just about anything to show
> something on screen. If you use an obscure card and monitor ...
(a) It does not. It does use high resolution (1024x768) which is not
standard VGA, and it does use high refresh cycles (it easy to see at
least slow vertical refresh by simple vision). So where please can I
"transparently" see the values which this utility uses ? It would be of
good service precisely as these indeed show a correct result;
(b) "a" - or "the" - default VGA16 driver is put up in the config file,
exactly by default. This *should* result in at least one mode of using
the 800x600 resolution. I doesn't (640x480 is all there is to get from
it). So why isn't it used ?
The answer why there is no answer in those tens of kilograms of books
and running kilometers of Howtos, may quite well have to do with the
Linux "culture" (of often highly compartmentalised approaches for
instance), rather than "calling own limitations those of Linux!";
analogous to the answer you get from some Win$-"technician" who tells
you to "click on 'My Computer' and then click..." instead of a
functional explanation which would give a clue which could lead onto
ways of solving a problem.
(Standard disclaimer: Some Howtos *are* excellent and *do* help. Not
so much those, though, for the X-setup.)
Example from harsh reality: In a number of failures with X-setups
we found out that gpm (the general purpose mousedriver for textmode)
was the real culprit, and throwing that one out freed the way (it's
not needed with X anyway). That was pure luck from trial and error,
and nowhere is there any hint in the docs. (One guy here has promised
to go through some of the source code to find out about the deeper
reason - you wouldn't suppose to have even an "initiated" Linux user
to do that all the time ?!).
// Heimo Claasen // < hammer @ inti . be > // Brussels 2000-10-17
The WebPlace of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.inti.be/hammer
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