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lemme tell you something....
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:44 am
by Charles256
So here I sit at work when I notice my IT guy has an unopened copy of SuSe Linux 9.3 Professional. So..being the nerd I am I decide it's a good idea to install this puppy on my computer..which I manage to do in about an hour..resized my windows partition and all..all seems to be going well till I get it in my mind I can increase the resolution size..guess what? now I'm getting my desktop under linux in like 16 colors and can't figure out how to go back to save my life...think this calls for a re-install of linux? i do

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:04 am
by Deemo
if you had debian i would know exactly what to do
try editing the /etc/xorg.conf if it exists on your system. There is a section that defines your graphics settings that may have been fubared
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:27 am
by Chris Corbyn
Don't use SuSE... I used to swear by it but SuSE allows you to depend far too much on Graphical Interfaces to do things... and when it goes wrong it's a nightmare to correct since:
a) You've always used the GUI and you don't understand config files
b) It places files in non-standard places (and splits config files into multiple files just to add confusion)
Since you're in this situation you can try one of two things -- in this order, from inside a terminal window (reboot after you try each one just to be sure).
Code: Select all
echo `which startkde` > ~/.xinitrc #Yes those are backticks
and if that fails
Code: Select all
pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf
#Then look for the Graphics section towards the bottom
# which looks like this....
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "MyVideo"
Monitor "MyCard"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
# and make sure you have the appropriate depths... don't set anything
# higher than 24 bit and 1024x768 until you get it working again.
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:29 am
by Charles256
um.for the record..I like GUI's.... what's wrong with a GUI? makes my life easier,hence better

granted Linux lemme put myself in a whole here.. hehe...I'll give that a shot...we shall see how it goes..this terminal window...eh..nevermind..i'lll search around for it
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:35 am
by Chris Corbyn
Charles256 wrote:um.for the record..I like GUI's.... what's wrong with a GUI? makes my life easier,hence better

granted Linux lemme put myself in a whole here.. hehe...I'll give that a shot...we shall see how it goes..this terminal window...eh..nevermind..i'lll search around for it
Yeah GUI's are great and all... when they work. SuSE, for me at least used to forever create problems so I stopped using the GUI only to discover how non-standard it makes the config files. So I switched to a distro that just does what you tell it

It is nice if you're new to Linux though.... just be wary of relying too much on the GUI. Just my $0.02.
RE the terminal window.... It's just called a shell in the system menu. Or if you wanted you could run the command `xterm' from the "Run Command" part of the K menu.
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:50 am
by Charles256
yeah.that didn't work..hmm.i smell the sweet smell of a freshly formatted computer..LOL.
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:01 pm
by Deemo
i agree with d11wtq, dont run Suse.
I highly suggest
Ubuntu for several reasons.
1) Easy installation
2) Based off the debian core (debian is one of the top distros of linux for its thousands of packages as well as security)
3) You can use both GNOME (with normal ubuntu) or KDE (with Kubuntu)
4) Predictable 6 month update program. The last update (Breezy Badger) was in october, and the next one will be in April. Unlike Debians "when its done" attitude, ubuntu prides itself on getting things out the window on time
5) easy updates and easy installation of practically any program with the apt-get tool
Ubuntu is also listed as the top distro on
Distrowatch. I would definetrely try it out. You can also have them ship the pressed Ubuntu CDs with
Shipit
and to appease d11wtq, Gentoo is good too, but a pain in the ass to install and a pain in the ass to maintain. But its pretty damn powerful
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:29 pm
by Charles256
i'll try em out,mainly cause they ship free CD's

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:01 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Deemo wrote:and to appease d11wtq, Gentoo is good too,
Gentoo Rocks
Deemo wrote:but a pain in the ass to install
Can't argue with that... I quite enjoy the installation now I'm familiar with it though... it's extremely flexible.
Deemo wrote:and a pain in the ass to maintain.
Ouch

Portage makes maintenance a piece of cake. You do full system updates, package updates, and fresh package installs all with simple commands (which are equally very flexible). Packages are installed pretty much as if you'd downloaded the source and done it yourself so it's pretty generic and therefore easy to seek help.
I've never used debian/ubuntu so I wont comment on it but yes.... it is considered one of the best available

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:54 pm
by Deemo
acutally your right, i take it back. Portage and Apt are like the same thing. my bad
however i do beleive that debian packages are more common than portage (i could be mistaken)
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:16 pm
by neophyte
I started out a couple years ago with Mandrake two months later - Linspire, tested Fedora, and now Mepis. I download Ubuntu and tried it on a live disc. I liked the nice graphical installer for Mepis. If I switch again I'd probably go Ubuntu. I like Debian -apt. Wasn't impressed with Yum.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:09 am
by Chris Corbyn
Woot! I just managed to install portage on a non-portage distro (Archlinux). Seems to work but I need to iron out a few bugs. Interesting... very interesting

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:30 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Simplest solution of them all possibly...
SuSE does not distribute all graphics drivers - so if you have an Nvidia card you may be required to download the Linux driver from the website. Just thought the obvious should be stated in case its relevant and the above does not work.
SuSE is at 10.0 at this stage anyway??? You should try Ubuntu for one the friendliest Linux experiences I've ever seen. Well, except for compiling PHP anyway (weird package naming and paths in Hoary Hedgehog at least)
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:37 am
by Charles256
eh the SuSe originally worked when i first installed it, it's one of them integrated video cards

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:47 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Well, that me retiring from posting
j/k
Thought it was worth a shot since SuSE won't bundle the driver for nVidia at least. It would still work however, all cards should accept the normal VGA resolutions without a manufacturer specific driver.
Maybe check if SuSE has detected everything correctly - its a pain that way when I last tried it (9.2).