Okay- I decided to have have someone help me build my computer and installed Slackware Linux 8.1 on it. I probably should have chosen an easier distro than Slack, but I was going to try sometime anyway. I have a couple of questions with xf86config. First- my video card isn't in the database. I have an ATI Radeon 8500LE with 64MB or ram. Which one (probably generic) should I choose? Second, after I attempted to set up X, when I entered startx at the command line, it goes blank and comes back with an error about my mouse. I wish I could tell you the exact error, but it was talking about not finding /dev/mouse or couldn't open pointing device or something like that. My mouse is a Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical (and it is plugged in right ). In xf86config, I chose the MS Intellimouse because I thought it would be closest. So, can someone please tell me how I can configure X correctly? Thanks in advance.

I have the same mouse plugged in into USB port
you can try /dev/input/mice and Protocol "IMPS/2"
I don't know about Radeon card, I have an NVIDIA one.
Hint: hack your /etc/X11/XF86Config file. And I've seen a couple of post here that in order for some ppl to get their mice recognized they should turn gpm on.

Yeah, I have to use gpm for mine, so my mouse is /dev/gpmdata

Here's some other people discussing the ATI Radeon.
Maybe what this guy suggests will work.

http://www.8dimensional.com/forum/vi...&view=previous

Hey, I have the same radeon...I use a radeon driver...it is included with XF86 4.2.0, which you should have...don't have access to my linux box at the moment so I can't tell it to you, but when I get the driver name i'll post it

Thanks for your help everyone. I managed to get the mouse working! However, my video card problem remains. If I have the driver for it, how can I select it in the config? If you can help me with that Rootman, that'd be cool. I've tried everything and the best I get when starting X is garbled images or my monitor tells me I'm out of sync because I tried sync settings that are too low. At least I'm on the internet using Lynx . Thanks again.

Hey Zander I'm back, I use the ATI Radeon driver with XFree86 4.2.0, the device part of my config is below

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "ati"
VendorName "ATI"
BoardName "Radeon QD"
BusID "PCI:0:10:0"
EndSection

Everything but the BusID should be copied to your XF86Config file....enjoy and let me know how it goes.

Thanks a ton, it works great now. Linux is awesome. One more thing- I prefer to have a 1024 by 768 resolution, but the only way I can get everything to fit is by going up one more- so everything is too small and the refresh rate is harsh on the eyes. Can I have it as 1024 without having to do all that scrolling- so it all fits?

Glad it helped, not sure about the res, how big is your monitor?

It's a 17 inch Sony Trinitron E240. It (supposed to) works best with 1024 by 768, but everything gets too big to fit on the screen. It's okay as the larger one now, but I can notice the flickering and I tend to generate a headache from it.

Put Modes entry in your /etc/X11/XF86Config:
here is mine for example:

yeah but that won't help his things being too large, um let's see, that flickering might bee to high arefresh rate, anyone know how to knock it down? Maybe chaning the monitor's maximum sync rates...not sure.

I thought I had already posted this, but it hasn't shown up (6 hours), so I'll
try again. . .

Look in your /etc/X11/XF86Config for any mention of "Virtual". If it says
something like:
Virtual 0 0
or
Virtual 1280 1024
Then comment out that line.

If there is nothing like that in the XF86Config file, then please post the file
with the comments removed. . .

The times I've seen flickering have almost always been because of a low
refresh rate, not a high one.

What you need to do is find out what your monitor can handle (usually in
the manual that came with it, maybe on a website if you don't have the
manual), and change the lines:

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"
HorizSync 31-96
VertRefresh 55-160

EndSection

So that they match what your monitor can handle. BE VERY CAREFUL,
YOU CAN CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE TO YOUR MONITOR by
trying to go outside of its physical capabilities, if in doubt, be conservative
(means lower numbers, usually).

Yes- I used the manual and put in the default refresh rates when I set up X. I think the problem is, is that it's recommended res. is 1024x768- and so when I have to go up to 1280x1024, it just isn't as effective. The refresh rates specified in the manual obviously work best for the recommended resolution. I checked my XF86Config file and found nothing about Virtual. This is the monitor section of my file:

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

HorizSync 30-70

# HorizSync 30-64 # multisync
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

VertRefresh 48-120

EndSection