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Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

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Old 03-25-2003, 04:18 PM   #1
Thrax
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Registered: Mar 2003
Distribution: Slackware 9
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Slackware 9 and Radeon 9700 Pro


I've been trying to figure this out for close to a week now.

I'm very very new to Linux, even after using a computer for 10 years. I'm 17 now, and am training to enter into a cisco certified position within the next 6-12 months.

So now is a very good time to learn Linux.

I installed Slackware 9 on my own accord. I figured out the easy install, got dual-boot to work spiffy, and I got X configured to the best of its ability.

As some of you may know, Slack9 comes with Xfree 4.3.0...ATI's old (grrr, november), Radeon 9700 Pro drivers need Xfree 4.2.0.

The dependencies scarcely match.

Just to see what would happen, I installed the RPM package with the following command: rpm -uhv --force --nodepend <package name here>.

Then I launched frglxconfig (or close to that name), to configure the video.

As I suspected it would do, it bombed my xfree install, and startx wouldn't work...So I had to reformat the drive and reinstall slack because I have no clue how to uninstall stuff from the CLUI yet.

So, I suppose my actual question is: Are there any drivers out there for my card that support xfree 4.3?

Also.

I have a Hitachi CM823F monitor. My ideal resolution is 1600x1200 at 90Hz. However because I'm using the generic unaccelerated Radeon drivers that come with Slack, I can't get higher than 1600x1200 at 85Hz (which absolutely kills my eyes and gives me a headache), and KDE is slow and the fonts are blocky because the desktop that should be accelerated, isn't.

Can I configure the xf86config to force 90Hz vertical refresh and 112kHz horizontal?

This is what my win2k install uses, and my eyes love me for it.

Did I make any sense?

Best regards, and my preemptive thanks,

-Robert "Thrax" Hallock

Last edited by Thrax; 03-25-2003 at 04:19 PM.
 
Old 03-26-2003, 10:53 AM   #2
jpbarto
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Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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under slackware try typing at a command prompt: (as root)
<prompt># pkgtool

this will bring up a list of the installed packages... uninstall the XFree86 server. Then go to xfree86.org and download the source for 4.2. Follow the install instructions... its easier than it looks. Trust me. Then just do the ATI driver install like normal.

hth,
barto
 
Old 03-26-2003, 03:38 PM   #3
Thrax
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Registered: Mar 2003
Distribution: Slackware 9
Posts: 3

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Are there any features you would consider important that I would lose with Xfree 4.2?

And I suppose I would have to download xfree 4.2 before I uninstalled 4.3?

heh.

Thank you very much for responding.

Whilst I'm here, I have two other questions:

How do I mount my DVD and my CD-RW?

And moreover, I know there's something special in getting CD-RWs to work (SCSI emulation?).

Last edited by Thrax; 03-26-2003 at 03:41 PM.
 
Old 03-26-2003, 08:09 PM   #4
jpbarto
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Yeah you will want to download XFree b4 you uninstall 4.3. And no I'm not sure what functionality you'll lose... I don't think it'll be too extreme. At XFree86.org you can check the release notes for 4.3 and it will tell you what was changed in 4.3 that make it different from 4.2 so you can check and see what you'll be losing.

To mount the dvd or cdrw... I'm not sure how familiar you are with mounting drives under linux... but here goes

Your drives (just like your floppy drive) are represented in the /dev filesystem. The dvd and cdrw on my system are /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd respectively. To mount them type <prompt># mount /dev/hdc /mnt/dvd
look up information on the /etc/fstab file to learn how to make this easier and more automatic.

as for burning CDs, I'm not too sure. The cdrw I have now I've only had for about a week and I haven't even tried playing with it.

here's a link to a cd burning howto though... I hope its helpful.
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO.html
 
Old 03-26-2003, 08:43 PM   #5
Thrax
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Registered: Mar 2003
Distribution: Slackware 9
Posts: 3

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You've been very helpful!

Again, thank you
 
  


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