I'm trying to install 8.1 on my old P1 120 (it's the best distro i've found for such an old computer) and I can't get xwindows working.

I have tried Peanut linux too, but that crashed while going into XDM. Peanut has a Trio64+ drive so I assumed that Slackware would too, but it didn't.

I installed the latest version of XFree86, and tried every config utility i could, but the best i could do was half a screen at like 640x480 and it was all black and white (i used a generic driver)

So here is the question: Is there any way for me to install the driver i need?

You might to try out the following command

/usr/bin/X11/xf86cfg

It it completes then you will be asked to save the config, then use /etc/X11/XF86Config.

But if you can get X to come up in any video mode and see it correctly, then you can attempt to edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config manually. I would think that most all Trio64 cards would have enough memory for 800x600 at 8 bit color depth. In the screens section change the default color depth to 8, I think it would be 2 at present (black & white). Then modify the line for the 8 bit color depth for 800x600 to be first in the list, followed by 640x480.

Hope it helps.

Ok, I tried the GUI configure and it seemed to work fine. I tried XF86Setup, but it said the command wasn't found. I then tried XFree86 -configure and it generated a config file. I typed XFree86 xf86config /root/XFree86/config.new or something to that effect to test it and now it's just a blue screen with an "x" in the center (the mouse pointer) and nothing else is happening...

Is there any way to ad on the Trio64+ driver? I know that Peanut linux had it, but Slackware doesn't and i have no idea why, they both use XFree86 v4.2.0

Slackware is just a Linux distribution that includes Xfree86. The X system would have the same capabilities between any of the distros that I would know of. If they both use the same version X, then the config would transfer from the other installation if it is still available. The only time X version 4 uses specific drivers are for acellarated or special feature drivers. I would think the Trio64 would use the standard VGA driver on an older PCI video adapter.

The command you stated would appear to run X directly but without a window manager or perhaps a very simple default manager. Just use the command "startx" to startup the X server and it will use your default window manager, Gnome or KDE, etc. The X config file should be /etc/X11/XF86Config though for it to load it. That is the standard location for Slack. The are a number of places it can be located but I would suggest staying with the Slack default.

X version 3 had to use specific servers for each video adapter and I think I recall a server for the S3 video products. Because the XF86Setup program was originally written for version 3 it provided a list of the various adapters to choose from to setup the proper default X server. So it possible that you saw a config program for X version 3 and thought it was doing a setup for version 4. Some of the later versions actually created a setup for both. I think Slack 8.0 did both.

The only accelerated driver I am aware of for S3 is the S3 Virge driver in X version 4. It might provide some support for the Trio series. I do not know. But you could try changing the video driver to the following

Driver "s3virge"

In the device section for the adapter. For greater detail on the driver use "man s3virge" for the man page. If the card is VESA compliant you could also try the "vesa" driver. It would support more modes than the "vga" driver does.

Good luck.

Ok, thanks so much! I used the GUI based config (xf86cfg) and then saved it to /etc/X11/XF86Config, just like you said and it works! I'll have to dress up KDE a little (right now it's a horrid blue theme) but it's very nice!

Ok, this brings another question... the box pops up asking me what i want to use, i pick default, put in root as login and my pw and click Go, but then it pops up a box asking abotu a Widget Session or something so i clikc "fail safe/default" and then it just stays at a blue screen with the console in the lower right corner... what's going on?

Are you sure your desktop is KDE? Did you see a KDE logo box come up display the startup messages? What you describe sounds more like fvwm. The last time I saw that manager, I think it was a blue background with an area in the lower right corner that represents the different desktops. KDE has a task bar across the bottom of the screen.

When you installed Slack one of the menus presented offered a choice of default window managers. The top choice was KDE if I recall. Do you remember what you selected there? The selection is the manager that will run with the script "startx." If you wish to change the default selection then run "xwmconfig." Then be sure to use startx to run the X server and the chosen window manager. There is another way to run X by changing the runlevel to 4. But you do not want to change the runlevel until you have a solid X server configuration.

It also sounds like you are into the GUI login like you ran kdm or something. That type of GUI login is what is normally presented on boot at runlevel 4 set as default. If that is what you are into then select KDE from the selection menu.

Ok, I tried everything you said and i have successfully booted into KDE and GNOME! It's a bit slow, and it appears to only be 8-bit color, but i'll work it out. Heck, it's not THAT bad looking, I GOT LINUX! :P

Slow! What did you expect, your machine is only a Pentium 120. Slack 8.1 uses KDE3 and QT3. RAM is also very important in regard to performance. I would think 64 MByte would be needed to run everything comfortably. 128 MByte would be great. I have run Slack 8.1 in KDE with great pleasure on P-II 400 with 128 MByte RAM.

What video driver did you get to work? Did the s3virge work on your card?

Keep in mind that if you increase the color depth, your video card requires more memory and overall performance is going to suffer even more.

the S3 driver seemed to work, and i'm using the really stripped down window manager now (something like fat free window manager or something)