Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Let me explain:
My version of Debian came with a bunch of extra packages. One of them was LinCity, apparently a port of SimCity. There was an X version and an SVGA version. I installed the SVGA version. When I tried to tun it, I get fast-moving blue and purple stripes.
I want to configure my monitor for graphics. I looked in /usr/doc/HOWTO but that was all very basic stuff (this is a hard drive...) or over my head. I want to circumvent X because 1) I want to see if my monitor works first and 2) I want to see if there's something else that suits my needs better.
I am using a GoldStar monitor from 1993 that I hope to replace soon. I believe the maximum resolution is 640x480. I can't for the life of me remember what video card I am using.
Wow, that's rough. As for your vid card, as long as your can get to a command line you can see what you've got:
/sbin/lspci -vv | less
Circumventing X is probably going to pose a problem if you want to really run anything graphically, but you can use things like framebuffer (which I don't completely understand) or svga (which I also don't understand). I toy with those 2 things with mplayer's output:
mplayer -vo fbdev filename.avi
And occasionally get a decent image, but really, it's no more than just playing with it, not something usable for me. If you just want to see if your monitor will work to support any gui, go ahead and install X, but use conservative settings in your XF86Config or xorg.conf file (depending on what you install). And if it works, then slowly increase the values to find the 'max' res you can get on the monitor.
I did find the SVGAlib config file at /etc/vga/libvga.config
Then I looked up my monitor (which is a GoldStar 1460) on Yahoo and put some of its specs in the file. It still doesn't work. (I get rapidly-moving purlpe, blue, and green stripes when I try to run Lincity for SVGA.)
I did notice the file is missing the "modeline" line for monior timing, as well as the chipset. I could not find timing on my monitor. My chipset is an ATI Rage 64k.
What can I do about it? Is something wrong with my setup, should I try X, or is it time for a new monitor?
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.