Hello Margaret!

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 12:40:54AM -0600, Margaret Nielsen wrote:
> I`m very new to Linux.  I can load an older version (SL 4.4) and it works but I can`t change the resolution from 800x600.
> When I try to load SL 5.3, the x-server will not start at all.  What am I doing wrong

Supposing both options are installed to disk, you must change stuff in your bootloader. The bootloader is the program that runs after your hardware has checked if it has any physical problems.

On the first few seconds you turn on your system, you can give some additional parameters to the boot. 

Usually you'll see a message like "Booting XXX in 5,4,3,2,1 seconds" and then the linux boot process begins.

If you press an arrow key after this message appears, but before it times out, you'll get a screen with boot options. What you want to do is to *edit* the highlited option, adding to the end of the line the following text:

vga=ask

So if your editable line was:

vmlinuz ro root=/dev/sda1

It should now be:

vmlinuz ro root=/dev/sda1 vga=ask

Then you should *boot* from this modified option. It will at some point stop and say you should press enter to see "video modes available" or space to continue. Try pressing enter, and you'll get a list of video modes that may work for you. Choose one (try the 80x25 first) and check if X loads correctly. If not, do the whole thing again.

If this routine works, write down the option that works. You can modify your bootloader so that it chooses the right resolution permanently - but let's leave that to later.

If you are running a live CD or DVD, the instructions are similar, but you probably have other ways of specifying your screen resolution - read carefully the text when you start your computer, and definitely press F1, F2, F3, ... F12 to see all screens of information (not all of them may actually do stuff - I don't have a live 5.3 DVD at hand to check this out, sorry).

About changing resolution in SL4.4, I *suppose* you're inside gnome, then you should get to the "System" Menu, then "Preferences", then "Screen resolutions". 

-- 
[]'s, RCB.