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S3 Virge DX and XFree V. 4


Guest KShots
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Guest KShots

Which drivers should I use for this card, and how do I tell X to use them from a console? I'm currently trying the Vesa drivers... but they don't start KDE :(. I just get a blue screen with background and a white thing flashes on and off every minute and a half... but I can log out using CTRL-ALT-Backspace. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

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The Mandrake tool configure X out is XFdrake. So in the console as root type the following:

XFdrake

If should ask you questions and one of them will be which driver to use for you card and which server to use for that card (3.x or 4.x). It will list a bunch of driver for each server.

 

I have an S3 Virge on my server and I've never been able to make it work correctly with XFree 4.x. Right now (I don't use X really often on that machine) I use XFree 3 and the 's3v' driver at 800x600@60hz.

 

Good luck

 

MottS

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Guest dmiller.org

I had the same problem but overcame it with XFree 4.3 VESA driver.

 

Please see my dialogue below with an expert. Hope this helps.

 

best regards

David

 

Incident title : Problem with loading KDE

==============================================================================

dmiller.org : 20:04 03:33 : Incident closed

When installing Mandrake Linux 9.1 with a Graphics card: S3 ViRGE/DX/GX Rev B 2Mb memory, you need to use XFree 4.3 VESA driver.

 

I am new to Linux and I was about to walk away from Mandrake Linux because it was too difficult to configure the graphics driver and install successfully. All such personal anguish over 1 piece of info.

==============================================================================

pirnaver : 19:04 06:36 : Reply received

I don't think there is a protocol. There is errata

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/errata.php3

 

I would post it here

http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...hlight=s3+virge

==============================================================================

dmiller.org : 19:04 12:56 : More info provided

Pirnaver,

Your suggestion to check out the bug helped solve the problem. In the additional Comment #47, Thomas Spuhler used XFree 4.3 VESA driver. I used this and it worked! So my problem was a graphics interface problem.

 

To help others installing Mandrake Linux 9.1 with a Graphics card: S3 ViRGE/DX/GX Rev B 2Mb memory, what is the best way to post this information to use XFree 4.3 VESA driver, so that this information can be prominently visible? What's the protocol here?

 

My 1st experience of Linux support from the community is great. thank you.

David

==============================================================================

pirnaver : 19:04 07:51 : Reply received

Check this bug:

https://qa.mandrakesoft.com/show_bug.cgi?id=3081

 

You may need to install qt from texstar.

==============================================================================

dmiller.org : 19:04 03:25 : Incident created

Problem with loading KDE after an install of Mandrake Linux 9.1.

 

2 lots of symptoms:

 

1) With XFREE 3.3.6 when KDE loads I get a nice blue screen with a large wave on it (standard background of KDE?) and I see white windows flash up and disappear; also I see a configured bar at the bottom that disappears. Eventually Mandrake Control Centre (MCC) successfully loads and although I have a perfect image and can use MCC, I can?t get to KDE desktop. (I think that MCC loads because of all my messing about, otherwise I just get the blue background screen and can?t go anywhere.)

 

2) With XFREE 4.3, KDE loads but the screen image is unstable and flickers with fuzzy definition and a mouse pointer that has attached to it a large ?bar code? image. All of this makes it largely unusable.

 

Other info:

Graphics card: S3 ViRGE/DX/GX Rev B, 2Mb memory

X Server selected: S3 ViRGE (old S3V server)

 

Monitor: Smile CA-1716DL; H freq 30-65 Khz; V freq 50-100Hz;

Config that provides stable image with XFREE 3.3.6:

-Monitor: 1280x1024 @ 60Hz

-Resolution: 1024x768 16bpp

Have tried lower resolutions but doesn?t change symptoms.

 

Used XF86config to specify hardware precisely but no joy.

 

I have exhausted my self-generated options and as I am new to Linux I need help. Do I have a graphics interface problem, or do I have a KDE problem?

Thanks

David Miller

==============================================================================

 

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Guest KShots

MottS: Just gave that a try, no go :( (Same result). I also tried ViRGE (generic), ViRGE (old S3V server), and ViRGE/DX (generic) with the same result :(.

 

dmiller.org: That's the config I started with originally (I did a little bit of reading before installing and saw some of this). I'll try it again in case the results are different with XFdrake and let you know, though.

 

Thanks for the responses!

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Well, I have that card running with what I specified upthere. You could still start XFdrake with those options.. that may help things a bit.

XFdrake --noauto --expert

Other than that .. I don't know. Did you try to start another desktop manager instead of KDE? Something like IceWM (I use it on my server). This DE is really light and is installed by default on mandrake. Start it by typing

startx /usr/X11R6/bin/icewm

Oh yeah.. I you can see which driver is loaded with that simlink:

[gd@localhost X11]$ ls -l /etc/X11/X

lrwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           28 jan 12 09:30 /etc/X11/X -> ../../usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_S3V*

 

Even if that does not work .. who need X on a server anyway !

 

MOttS

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