You know the capabilities of your monitor, right? If so, there are a
bunch of "generic" monitors that you can select -- for instance, I often
pick "Generic CRT Display" and then the resolution you want. If you
want to run a higher refresh rate then the default, then you might need
to tweak it a bit -- I'll often pick "monitor 1600x1200" and then run it
at "1280x1024" so that it runs at a higher refresh rate.
Also, most LCDs run best at a 60hz refresh rate, so they have a
seperate (but similar) section for LCDs.
I hope this helps!
-Luke
Dushan Mitrovich wrote:
>First off, Luke and Troy, I'd like to thank you for your responses. Having
>to re-install SL delayed my reply a bit. I'll make a couple of comments on
>that, then describe the output I got for the suggested commands.
>
>At the beginning of the install was text saying the hardware found was:
> video card: 3D Permedia (generic)
> monitor: Unknown
> mouse: 2-button (generic)
>
>Actually, my 'mouse' is a 3-button Alps Glidepoint touchpad, and was un-
>usable during the install. After the installation, it worked fine.
>
>[ As an aside, during the installation, on the INSTALLATION TYPE screen,
>the NEXT button is mostly hidden on a 'sheet' behind the visible screen. ]
>
>On the first SL boot after the install, date, time, and display needed to
>be specified. For 'Display', both the monitor and the video card could be
>'configured'. For the latter I successfully entered 'ELSA Gloria Synergy'.
>When I pressed 'configure' for the monitor, I was presented with a list of
>brands, and I could highlight a brand, Hitachi in my case. But the 'OK'
>button stayed grayed out, and double-clicking did nothing. The 'Cancel'
>button worked fine, but that's it. In fact, _none_ of the brands could
>actually be selected: for every one the 'OK' button was grayed out.
>
>After a second re-boot I invoked 'system-config-display' from the command
>line, and found the video card selected as above, but again could select no
>monitor brand, just as above. The monitor stayed an 'Unknown', which is
>probably why the rsolution choices stayed at 640x480 or 800x600, and the
>color at 256 colors.
> __________________________________
>
>In response to specific questions:
>
>Luke Scharf <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>>Dushan Mitrovich wrote:
>>
>>
>>>The card is an Elsa Gloria Synergy, with 4 MB of RAM.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>That's an unusual card. I remember having a few with a similar name a
>>long time ago, in a far-far away corner of the campus.
>>
>>Do you know which chipset the card uses?
>>
>>
>
>Unfortunately, no, I don't.
>
>
>
>>The rest of the machine sounds normal -- for an older Workstation-class
>>PC. Shouldn't cause a modern Linux any consternation.
>>
>>
>>
>>>Is there a way to invoke "system-config-display" during the install
>>>phase?
>>>
>>>
>>The installer is supposed to lead you through it, but I almost always
>>have to reconfigure the monitor when I deliver the machine (and attach
>>it to it's real monitor). Also, if you used the text installer, or if
>>it's guestimate of your configuration was wrong, it might have just
>>skipped that step.
>>
>>One other thing that you'll want to know is that once
>>system-config-display has been run, you can do some real tweaking by
>>logging in on a text-console as root, shutting down the graphics by
>>changing runlevel 3 ("init 3"), and editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf with Your
>>Favorite Text Editor. (Try nano if you don't have one; I use and love
>>vim, but learning it is painful). You can test the new config-file by
>>typing "X" on the command-line. This method can be irritating, but by
>>using system-config-display in conjunction with editing
>>/etc/X11/xorg.conf, you can hit what I think is the sweet spot between
>>ease-of-use, power-of-configuration, and irritating-time-sink.
>>
>>
>
>I'll try the 'nano' text editor, since 'Boxer' isn't available for Linux.
>
> __________________________________
>
>Troy Dawson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>>Can you send the output of the command
>>
>> lspci | grep -i VGA
>>
>>
>
>Yes, here it is:
> VGA compatible controller: Texas Instruments TVP4020 [Permedia 2] (rev 11)
>
>
>
>>I'm just curious what it says for a video card. As for changing the
>>resolution, you should run system-config-display.
>>You can start it by typeing system-config-display at the command line, or
>>select "System Settings -> Display" from the menu. Then go to the 'Hard-
>>ware' tab, select 'Monitor Type'
>>
>>
>
>That's what I was unable to do. See above.
>
>
>
>>Now you didn't mention is this is a flat panel, or a normal monitor. I
>>looked and Hitachi SuperScan 812 isn't in the list of known monitors.
>>
>>
>
>It's actual model number is Hitachi CM812, and it's a CRT.
>
>
>
>> You
>>can try 'Generic CRT Display' if this is a normal monitor, or 'Generic
>>LCD Display' if it is a flat panel.
>>
>>
>
>Couldn't select 'Generic CRT Display' either; I tried.
>
>
>
>>Then under that select 'Monitor 1280x1024' or 'LCD Panel 1280x1024'.
>>After clicking OK, on the monitor section, then go back to the 'Settings'
>>tag, and you should then be able to select 1280x1024.
>>
>>
>
>Looks like this'll have to wait until the first problem is solved.
>
>
>
>>Two other questions:
>>
>>- In the boot choices offered by GRUB, the selection line has a black back-
>> ground, and the screen background is almost all black, making the selec-
>> ted line almost impossible to see. Is there a way of modifying this?
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>Two way's to do this.
>>1) Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and comment out the line starting with
>>splashimage, I also tend to comment out the line hiddenmenu so that
>>things looke like
>>
>> default=0
>> timeout=5
>> #splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
>> #hiddenmenu
>>
>>That will give you a text based grub command, which is white letters on
>>black, pretty easy to see
>>
>>
>
>Yes, that's what I'll try when I get past the first hurdle.
>
>
>
>>2) Get an image and replace /boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
>>It has to be a gzipped xpm file. I personally think step 1 is easier.
>>
>>
>>
>>>- After booting, and invoking LVM (needs password), a window appears
>>> and immediately disappears. What gives?
>>>
>>>
>>What do you mean by "invoking LVM"?
>>Are you selecting something from the menu? Or are you typing in a
>>command?
>>
>>If you are selecting it from the menu, then try typing
>>
>> system-config-lvm
>>
>>from the command line, and let us know what the error is when it stops.
>>
>>
>
>For this too, I'll wait for the next stage.
>
>Any ideas about how to get past the monitor selection problem?
>
>- Dushan Mitrovich
>
>
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