Suse 9.1 AMD64 X800 + Network Problem
 

Hi guys,

I am a completely new to linux - in fact, i began reading about it yesterday and decided to install it late evening.

I have an AMD64 so i downloaded Suse 9.1 x86_64. The install went ok without too many problems (i used the network install method where it downloaded the files from an ftp). I've got it dual booting with Windows XP and it works great (using GRUB).

The graphics in the YaST installer were fine. However, in linux the colours are all messed up and some fonts are unreadable. On startup it said it failed to get the X and Y size of my monitor (or something along those lines) and would i like to change them manually. I selected yes and was brought into Sax2. The monitor was set to unknown so i changed it to my monitor (IIYAMA MF8617E). Under 'graphics card' it has autodected my X800 as 'VESA framebuffer graphics'. I've tried changing it but there doesnt appear to be a driver there for the x800. Last night i went to the ati site and download 'fglrx-4.3.0-3.14.1.i386.rpm'. I installed it and also changed some monitor settings. On the reboot i was greeted with an error about no display found or something along those lines. After some fiddling about in sax2 (typing init 3 then sax2 at the black command prompt) i decided to just reinstall linux again.

Anyway, i'm back to where i was just before installing the ati drivers (although i'm not sure if the drivers were the culprit). I've got a network problem which was also present in the previous linux installation.

In the web browser, if i type a web address such as www.ati.com it comes up with an error 'unknown host www.ati.com'. If i type the IP of the site then it sometimes works. I'm guessing i need to do something with the DNS settings but im not sure where or what to do. I have set up my onboard NIC exactly as i did during the linux installation where it worked (although that too would only accept IP's for ftp servers).

Thanks.

Not a GUI guy, so I won't talk about video drivers and settings. But as for your DNS resolution problems, you'll need to look at your /etc/resolv.conf file. That is where your resolving DNS servers should be listed, one on each line (one will do, but having a secondary/backup is also a good idea) So whatever it is you have on your Windows box (sometimes, having it set to your router address works, sometimes your actual ISP's address if you're directly into your router/cable-DSL modem), you would want to put that into your /etc/resolv.conf file.

Thanks neilman - your suggestion worked! :)

I still haven't been able to fix the display problem. I will try and post some screenshots soon.