As the title states, I'm attempting to configure X11 so I can boot into blackbox, yet xorgsetup doesn't allow me to customize my vertical sync and horizontal refresh. I'm very new to Slackware (using 12.1) and any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you know what values you want to use, you should be able to edit xorg.conf yourself.

See, that's the thing. So far I haven't found the proper values for the laptop. Also, I'm not entirely sure on how to edit the file. I've read to go to /etc/X11/xorg.config but how do I access the file exactly?

Ahh...editing it is easy. Just use your text editor of choice, I like vim, and open the file as root, then type this in a terminal.

vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(nano is easy to use to...)

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

And edit away, remember to save the file.

Before you edit that file, you might want to back it up, though that doesn't really matter too much, if it doesn't work anyway.

One way to get the right values for xorg.conf is to boot from a live cd, and cp it's xorg.conf to a thumb drive, or save it to web mail as a text file, or something like that, just so you can get at it later. Might want to use a slack based live cd, if you want to use slack in there, it probably won't matter, but it might make a difference.

How did you install slackware ? I'm shocked the installer didn't set it up right for you in the first place. Most modern distro's won't screw this up anymore, it's almost bullet proof.

P.S. Last time I suggested a non slack based distro to a newer slack user, the other slack guys toasted my undies off of me, but here I go again....

Vector Linux is slack based, and it does set up X for you, so you don't have to mess around with stuff like this. It helps if you have already set up the partitions though, because if I remember correctly, it's installer doesn't handle partitioning very well. It also has a lightweight version, for older hardware, that ran blazing fast on an older computer I set up for my 4 year old.

Good luck....

David

P.S. i just looked up the standard specs for that laptop, and it looks like it'll support any modern distro just fine. Might be a great candidate for Ubuntu's netbook remix too, if you want something up to date, and lighter weight too. Anyway, that laptop should be fine with just about any distro on it, you don't need to make any compromises for your hardware.

New users shouldn't have to put up with this, and with Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mandriva, or even straight up Debian, you don't have to.

Ok, slack guys, do your worst. I know it's coming.

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow morning.

Yeah, I read that installer should have taken care of this kind of issue but maybe it's just a bit of bad luck on my part. But the main issue is when using startx to begin blackbox. all I get is a black background with an X cursor that does work with my trackpad oddly enough. Thanks for the help though David. Like I said, I'll try it tomorrow when there is a spare moment and I'll post the results.

Have you used blackbox before ? Because if memory serves, that's all you do get. You access the menu with a right click, anywhere on the screen but the slit.

David

P.S. I hope you read this before you do anything, because it sounds like X is working just fine. You might have to generate a menu for blackbox, I'm not sure.

*facepalm* That could be the problem, not sure. I'll check in the morning though. I thought that after running xorgsetup it would get it on the first try seeing as so many other people have had great results from it. It just never occurred to me to right click. (long day, don't ask why one couldn't have reasoned it out)

Thanks so much for the help David. Like I said I'll post results when there is time tomorrow.

Hi,
Slackware doesn't setup the hardware configuration for the xorg.conf file. There will be a generic 'xorg.conf', 'xorg.conf-fbdev' and 'xorg.conf-vesa' files for you to use. The user must setup the configuration themselves or use one of the provided files.

Please consider your undies flamed! You can use your own matches.

Ok, the right clicking didn't work, probably because the values were never set in xorgsetup. So if I read this correctly I'd need to open Vi or emacs or the like and edit the xorg.conf file? Like the first few posts obviously show, I'm new to Slackware, migrated to it after using Ubuntu 8.04 for 3 months but it looked too plain and I want to learn more about Linux in it's entirety.

Hi,

You could use the 'xorgconfig' to get a configuration for your machine then edit to suit your needs.

I found out the problem. I apparently was typing only "X" as the command, not "startx", string signifier not included. So now blackbox is up and running and everything is in its place for now. Thanks so much to David and Gary for both of their help.