First, knowing nothing about Linux, this may be a dumb question but here goes; I have an old Toshiba PII 366 mhz 128 mb RAM that I want to try Linux on but NOTHING boots except Mepis 6.5. Not DS,Knoppix,Feather or you name it. There seems to be an issue with the video chip: NeoMagic 256AV (NM200). The bus is 32bit,33Mhz, and it supports 1024X728 16m color. The issue is a message that says something about "915 not supported" and it forces boot. Is this something that I need to worry about, or can I just "lock & Load"?

Thnks,

SGM R

The issue is that with some audio & video drivers under Linux, the Intel 915-based chipset is not supported properly.

Check this link (it's just a Google search)
http://www.google.com/search?q=915+n...ient=firefox-a
and read through some of the results (some are here on LQ) for a general idea what the problems are, and what people may have done to get around it.

If you can identify exactly which driver(s) or kernel components is/are returning that message to you, there may be an alternate driver you can use. Alternatively, for example if the problem is the sound driver, and you can live without sound, then just ignore the error

If it were me, if everything appeared to boot/install/function properly, and the system is stable, I would ignore the error until such time as something was obviously malfunctioning because of it (like no video or something)..

Lock & Load

Sasha

Thanks Sasha. There is an issue with audio drivers on this system, but being new to Linux I have no idea if that error relates to the sound or the carrying case!! I'll give it a try and see what happens.

I am using MEPIS 6.5 on Shuttle w/ an nVidia GeForce 7600 card. So far 6.5.02 (not 6.0, not 7) is the only MEPIS that will easily get this card to work. There is a hint in Item 5 here that 6.5 is unique in having the nvidia driver on the CD, certainly it has one of the most complicated GRUB menus Warren has ever put together.

I was originally leery of 6.5 because I had read other descriptions & because it needed almost immediate patching. I hope when you say "6.5" you really mean "6.5.02". Make sure you install the patched ver. In any case, it works fine for me & I now recommend it -- especially if it's the only distro that you've found that gives you video.

I 2nd the motion: Lock & Load