i'm new to linux and i'm trying to learn, but i cant even start using X!

well i'm using the ATI Radeon and it doesnt seem to work in X. can anyone give me some suggestions?

thks a lot!

we're going to need a little more info than that, like, what is the error message your getting, and what have you tried already, and what distro are you using? you may want to try xf86config, though the name varies from distro to distro, if that file isn't found, try configurator.

the distribution i was using was redhat 7.1. the radeon is DDR 64MB VIVO. i think i've tried that xf86config, tho i'm not sure i've done it correctly (my friend was helping me do it actually).

i think we have also tried downloading a newer kernel and compiling it. but nth works.

ah yes, except if we set the video card in the configuration to "generic", then it "worked" - but everything in X looks HUGE (low resolution).

i hope those details are enough. thks a lot for the help.

This doesn't really help, but I also have a radeon (LE 32MB DDR), and haven't yet installed my mandrake 8.1, but...

What I have read is that there is currently only 2D drivers for the radeon, no 3D.

But like I said that doesn't help because you can't get anything to work, 2D or 3D...

Good luck, I am eagerly awaiting the answers from others

ok its normal for your resolution to be huge, what you need to do is either run xf86config again and change your display when it asks, and put the largest size which your monitor can support first or, you can go into your XF86Config file, located in /etc/X11 for slackware (not sure on red hat) and near the bottom you should see options for display, here you should change the resolution to the highest first. Mine for example are,

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection

this will enable xwin to start with the highest display resolution as default. You can press ctrl+alt++ or ctrl+alt+- to change your resolution to the other modes you defined. (the + and - on the keypad, not next to backspace).

If you still have the general card configured you may just want to start xwin right now and try the ctrl+alt++.

also, i think that theres an option in the 2.4.x kernels for radeon cards, you may want to make sure that thats being loaded.

I have a ATI Rage 128 Pro and when i installed Mandrake Linux 9, it would not start X, because i installed the 3D Driver for xf86. When i reinstalled, i decided not to use the 3D acceleration. When i did this, it started X fine. So I guess the ATI cards wont work with the 3d acceleration.

Hope this helps

Tim