Hello Folks,
(first post so I have to be creative with the urls so I'm not blocked)

I got Mepis from here:
ftp dot wustl.edu/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/

Specifically:
SimplyMEPIS-3.3.1-1.iso

Burned to a CD and booted from it.

It went through its boot process to a login prompt where I logged in as demo/demo.

This left me at the demo user prompt >

What I'm confused about is the installation instructions here show that it should boot to the desktop GUI where you can run the INSTALL app as shown in this pic:
http colon //mepis.com/docs/installing-mepis/

Is there a command I need to invoke to get from the demouser command promot to that point? I didn't see anything in the install docs about it.

Doing a ls at the demo prompt shows me dirs such as Desktop, Documents, News, etc

ps. I also tried logging in as root/root with a similar result.

Thanks in advance from a wannabe XP convert.

It should have taken you to the kdm login screen. Sounds like X wouldn't start.Do the same thing again and try startx after you log in. What kind of graphics card. Is it a laptop etc.?

Regular system box.
ATI x800 LE card.

I see it now during the boot... The error lines are:

(WW) Radeon: No matching device section for instance (BusID PCI:1:0:1) found.
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please report server errors and include /var/log/XFree86.0.log to ..... blah

XIO: fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0"
after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

demo@tty1[~]$

The problem is a bad /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. See if you can change Radeon to ;
Driver "vesa"
Here just to give you an idea;
http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~gvcormac/averatec.html
click on working version to see what I mean.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to modify that file. I've never used an OS from the command prompt. I'm using a live-cd version as well so files can't be changed if they need to reside on that disk. As a test, I downloaded and booted from a live-cd of Knoppix and all was fine there. I could read/write from a usb key drive I have, if the file change or driver can be placed there.

If anyone has the time to tell me how to make the change I need to do, I'd appreciate it.

The easiest way to fix this is in grub when your booting up the cd. Then your at the blue and white screen with the kernel options type: xdrvr=vesa this will show up in the little bar at the bottom. once thats finished press enter and boot up into mepis.

I'll try it thanks.

Okay, doing xdrvr=vesa got me past the command prompt to the desktop. But, my max resolution was 1024.

Is that a limitation of vesa? I normally run at 1600x1200 on my 22" monitor. If it is a vesa limitation, is there a way for Mepis to recognize my ATI Radeon x800 so I can get the higher rez?

Thanks.

Yes thats a limitation of vesa, and once you install you can install the official ATI driver and get your card working better

Great! Thanks all.