snowdrift Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 I am currently running an Inspiron 8500 with a Geforce 4200 vid card, I have tried to search for clues even finding a web page http://ltswww.epfl.ch/~dsanta/resources/de...ell-i8500-linux which does address the problem but does not show how I can confiigure the display to utilize the full resolution of 1920x1200 plus I was also unable to get the fix posted to work properly for the lower resolution. I am a big time newbie to linux and any help would be greatly appreciated. I am including a copy of my XF86config-4 file, I know its not correct but it has allowed me to get into the gui and browse forums like this one for now. Thanks again in advance XF86Config_4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylizard Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 Some links with more information http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/G.Wilf...d/Inspiron8500/ http://ltswww.epfl.ch/~dsanta/resources/de...ell-i8500-linux http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/i8500/ Hope one of them helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowdrift Posted December 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 One of the links, I had included in my original post. To clarify my linux experience, I should just say I really have none. Can I just copy the entire config file from a red hat machine as posted in those links and have it work on an mdk9.2 box? I have gone into the FAQ section where it talks of installing the nvidia driver but I cannot get the driver to install due to a lack of kernel source files. Happen to know where I could aquire these as well, Im sure they are on the CD, as I said before Im just not up on where these resources are located. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylizard Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 Sorry about that. If you know that the machine is identical in terms of hardware, then yes, you can just copy the config file from a red hat machine over to your mandrake machine. Installing the NVidia drivers may help a lot. They seem to fix other problems. You are going to have to download the kernel sources from a mirror somewhere. Or, you can try this from a shell prompt. (That would be that little window where you can type in commands, a la the dos prompt or command prompt) try this series of commands $ su password: # urpmi kernel-source (the $ and the # are simply the corresponding prompts, not part of the commands) The first command is for 'switch user' and allows you to become root. The second command is the way that you can install programs onto Mandrake. All you are asking it to do is to install the kernel source. However, you may need to add some sources to urpmi before it can do this. (do a search through the forums for adding sources to urpmi or do a google search for easy urpmi) Once you have added the appropriate sources, the above command should install the kernel-source. Once that is done, you can then install the nvidia drivers. Another solution for finding out config settings is to download Knoppix http://www.knoppix.org and see how it configures your monitor. If it gets it right, then just use the config file that it creates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowdrift Posted December 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 OK the urpmi was a key component in what I was not aware of. After doing a google search on urpmi it brought me to a web post that actually explained its purpose. I since learned about the source management features. Man its great to see how you can just do a quick one line command and it searches multiple sources across the net for you and installs them! It definately has lifted my spirits about linux. As for the vid card, like I said before, you rock! I was able to do a urpmi kernel-source which totally hooked me up. Then I was able to run the nvidia installer without a hitch. A slight mod to the XF86config-4, changing nv to nvidia and a vid test got the splash screen up and running. Even under kde glxgears tests ran great. Only thing I have to fix now is there is no option for my current laptop display on this Dell Inspiron 8500. Optimal resolution is 1920x1200. I am able to set the resolution to that but the best screen as posted before is a laptop display of 1600x1200. I know the concept was stated in the RH links posted earlier and I'll give them a try. Thanks again for your help. SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylizard Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 Another satisfied Linux customer, cool. Glad to hear you got it working. Yeah, urpmi is one of the best things about using Mandrake. (keep in mind that urpmi is a mandrake only thing so far) No more having to resolve dependencies, it just goes and gets the software and installs it all for you. And if you have the right sources there is not much that you can not install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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