i just downloaded phatlinux off the internet and i'm trying to install it onto my laptop. i've been reading non-stop newbie help threads, faqs, etc, for the past 6 hours and i still can't get Linux to work. well it works, but the only place i can get to is the text-based thingy. i can't ever get into the graphical user interface thing. i ran xfree86config about a million times, but everytime i type startx there's always some kinda problem. then i entered the interactive setup but my laptop monitor and my graphics card (ati mobility radeon 9000) never show up and when i select generic for both of them and test it, my screen keeps on turning blank and never doing anything. HELP IM STUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yea and also when i change my graphic card to ATI something integrated on INTEL MAUI something, the screen doesn't freeze when i test it, but rather i get an error message saying no screens found no matter which generic monitor i choose
btw i have an acer travelmate 800 series

Welcome to Linux world and Please, just take a seat and have a cup of tea first

I stayed up with console mode for one month before I got X-Windows to work. So be patient, since you'll find even more questions after succesfully setting up the X.

Ok, I am wondering here if your video card and monitor are supported by "phatlinux"(why this distribution?). I use RH, and during installation there is a senario probing my video card and monitor. I don't know whether "phatlinux" has this. After installation, you could probably use ":Xconfigurator" when in root to modify your X-setttings but again, I don't know whether your linux has this tool.

Don't modify the X86Config file unless you've already backed it up and you've already have some reference file (very important!) Modifying without reference would mislead you easily.

Besides, from your words I think your laptop is a new one (or ?). You might want to check on the website of phatlinux and there should be a hardware compatitable list.

Please providing more information and I believe there are lots of experienced "oldbs" who can help you.

the reason i used phatlinux was because it's supposed to be able to run alongside windows without having to kill windows. a couple years back i *ahem "experimented" with windows and linux dual boot = BAD BAD. bad hardware made computer not work in either windows OR linux so because of that i stayed away from linux for a while. however, windows can get boring easily so i really really want to learn linux but now it seems i'm having the same type of problem with hardware compatibility.

"now it seems i'm having the same type of problem with hardware compatibility."

Do you mean your hardware (video card, monitor etc) are not supported by your distribution? Have you checked that? Be sure of it before we could step forward.

A forsee here: if the current phatlinux does not support your hardware AND you've got a new driver from the manufacturer website, you probably need to rebuild the Kernel and Xfree86.

As for the compatibility, I am using RH9, it is really good versus RH7.1. It support most of the recent hardwares I think you probably want to have a try.

if you go to the phatlinux webpage (www.phatlinux.com), nowhere on the site does it list hardware compatibility. however, i checked the versions of xfree86 and the version that came with their software is 3.3.6 or something and when i checked out the xfree website, the newest version was 4.3.0 which makes their version pretty damn old.

i read some member's post in here and he was talking about rebuilding kernels??? i can honestly say i have absolutely no idea how to do that

i am so lost....

so so very lost....

me neither have tried that.
But I have read some others' posts and that Kernel rebuilding does not seem to be very difficult.
But in order to make things easier, I suggest having a look at www.redhat.com If your laptop hardware is not very new (mainly video card), you could install RH9, if the only thing you care for is the compatibility and no other special requirement. You may be able to check the hardware compatible list on redhat.com

And probably you'll find RH9 has already solved most of your questions.

but the fact remains i already have a lotta stuff on windows and i don't want to delete windows to install linux. my computer, however does come with an already partitioned hard drive. i have one hard drive and it is partitioned into drive C and drive D. windows and all my stuff is on drive C and i installed phatlinux onto drive D. if i download redhat and install it onto drive D, will i still be able to continue running windows??

Yes, as well with any other distro. However, PhatLinux is most likely not your problem. Nor is the version of X that really isn't *that* old It's likely that your graphics card is so new, and the drivers are written poorly for it. Check out ATI's website on getting a driver for your graphics card, from there, once that's installed you will have a much greater chance of success on getting things up and running.

Something worth mentioning is that Mandrake, Redhat and SuSE all come (in their boxed sets) with graphics drivers for the newer hardwares. This is usually considered to work best since your distro will have then tested it out on various setups before putting it on their list of packages available.

For now, I'd suggest sticking with PhatLinux since that's your choice of distro. If you you get too frustrated you can always turn to one of the more mainstream, newbie distros like Mandrake or Redhat (of the 2 I prefer Mandrake personally for Hardware Compatibility especially with laptops).

Cool

Hi I want to say more or less, you would be at risk of destroying the original file system.

To be more sure about this, it is better to post here as in detail as you could what is your file system is now (version of windows, NTFS or FAT32, do you have partitionmagic, etc) and the harddisk information. (IDE, ...)

However, here is my experience: RH stays quite well with windows FAT32 systems. I reinstalled RH for several times and every time I reinstalled the bootloader (I tried both GRUB and LILO) without modifying or destroying anything to windows2000 on C:

From your last post, I believe your problem resides in the version of Xfree86, which is 3.3.6. It is too old and it is very possible this version does not support your video. (again, the hardware compatible list could be found on www.redhat.com RH9 utilizes 4.3.0)

So, from my personal point of view, the best way for you is to install RH9 (also I suggest giving 5~6 g, at least 3g to RH9, this should be considered first). A typical installation, without Development kit or severer, takes up to 1.7~2 g include the swap space.

The installation instruction could be found on www.redhat.com

Just post if you have other questions

i'm currently running windows xp professional on my first partition, C. i want to install redhat on partition D, but i don't want to mess anything up. the filesystem on my computer is FAT32, as opposed to NTFS.

i'm really thinking of installing either redhat or mandrake onto my second partition now. but as of this moment i have to make absolutely sure that i will be able to run windows perfectly (in dual-boot with linux) and that none of my files and stuff on my drive C will be harmed.

also, what should i select for my monitor since i'm running on a laptop as well as my pointing device? some kinda sliding mechanism? and not to forgot my keyboard, it's not really a standard 101 key keyboard since it's on a laptop