1. RE: [OFFTOPIC][LINUX] Install Problem
hi travis
the error message means nothing to me, but 90% of the time if the
install leaves you at the command prompt and you can't get into
X-windows, it means the video card has not installed properly.
my (previous) version of mandrake had both Xconfigurator and XF86Setup
as command-line video configuration utilities. (i think i've correctly
written the commands). try typing one of those commands and they should
take you to a utility that allows you to manually configure video for X.
they should be safe, because they don't affect the settings for the
non-X interface, but make sure you've got a bootdisk in case.
they run in vga mode so if you can't get them to work, or give you a
reasonable video configuration, your card may not be compatible. you can
check the compatibility lists at the mandrake site, but that doesn't
always answer the question. many of the cards not supported by X will
nevertheless work tolerably in some generic vga or occasionally svga
configuration.
best of luck
tacitus
Travis Beaty wrote:
> Hello All!
>
> Yes, this is offtopic. But I've tried everything else.
>
> I've just managed to succesfully repartition my hard drive and install
> Linux-Mandrake 7.2 (after chewing my fingernails off). When trying to
> start X-Windows, I get an error that it was "unable to allocate 4096
> pages." It then leaves me in Linux's version of the command-line, where
> I get hopelessly stuck. If anyone's got any idea what in the heck
> *might possibly* be going on, please let me know privately.
>
> Thank you and sorry for the blantantly off-topic post. 
>
>
>
> Happy Hunting,
>
> Travis Beaty
> Claude, Texas.
>
2. RE: [OFFTOPIC][LINUX] Install Problem
Travis,
xf86config is generally preferred over Xconfigurator (it's a RedHat program,
I don't know if Mandrake carries it). Also, read the HOWTO (or man page) on
XF86Config, which you should have, probably installed but surely in the
original distribution package. From the command line, I'd use mc, the
Midnight Commander, a Norton Commander clone that also treats compressed
files as directories, so you can look inside .tar and .tgz files.
Relevant: the hardware data and VideoRAM specs. Your hardware _must_ be
compatible; most is, these days, but make sure. See
http://new.linuxnow.com/docs/content/XFree86-HOWTO-html/XFree86-HOWTO-4.html
#ss4.2. Check the keyboard (might be 102-key instead of 101). Good advice
there:
"If all else fails, try to start X ``bare''; that is, use a command such as:
"X > /tmp/x.out 2>&1
"You can then kill the X server (using the ctrl-alt-backspace key
combination) and examine the contents of /tmp/x.out. "
Notice: if perchance you are trying to run X Window (singular, never X
WindowS) on a system that borrows video memory from RAM, it may happen that
your setup hasn't noticed that, and is trying to use all of your 'official'
RAM, regardless whether it's available or not (e.g. you have 128MB, but only
120 actually available since the video card took over 8). This doesn't
bother the standard command line mode, but it kills X Window. You should
edit the config manually: look for the Mandrake Xconfig file (probably in
/usr/X11R6/), and reduce the available RAM data by n+1, where 'n' is the
video RAM. Yes, n+1, don't ask me why (at least that's the way it worked
with RedHat): in the previous example, you should enter 119, not 120.
More: goto www.linuxdoc.org, (The Linux Documentation Project),
www.linux.org (you can ask them a question, also good links),
www.linuxnow.com, etc.
Good luck (not that you'll need it, it's mostly sweat)
Gerardo
----- Original Message -----
From: tacitus <indorlaw at zdnetonebox.com>
To: EUforum <EUforum at topica.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 8:56 AM
Subject: RE: [OFFTOPIC][LINUX] Install Problem
> >
> >
> hi travis
>
> the error message means nothing to me, but 90% of the time if the
> install leaves you at the command prompt and you can't get into
> X-windows, it means the video card has not installed properly.
>
> my (previous) version of mandrake had both Xconfigurator and XF86Setup
> as command-line video configuration utilities. (i think i've correctly
> written the commands). try typing one of those commands and they should
> take you to a utility that allows you to manually configure video for X.
> they should be safe, because they don't affect the settings for the
> non-X interface, but make sure you've got a bootdisk in case.
>
> they run in vga mode so if you can't get them to work, or give you a
> reasonable video configuration, your card may not be compatible. you can
> check the compatibility lists at the mandrake site, but that doesn't
> always answer the question. many of the cards not supported by X will
> nevertheless work tolerably in some generic vga or occasionally svga
> configuration.
>
> best of luck
>
> tacitus
>
>
> Travis Beaty wrote:
> > Hello All!
> >
> > Yes, this is offtopic. But I've tried everything else.
> >
> > I've just managed to succesfully repartition my hard drive and install
> > Linux-Mandrake 7.2 (after chewing my fingernails off). When trying to
> > start X-Windows, I get an error that it was "unable to allocate 4096
> > pages." It then leaves me in Linux's version of the command-line, where
> > I get hopelessly stuck. If anyone's got any idea what in the heck
> > *might possibly* be going on, please let me know privately.
> >
> > Thank you and sorry for the blantantly off-topic post.
> >
> >
> >
> > Happy Hunting,
> >
> > Travis Beaty
> > Claude, Texas.
> >
>
>
> >
>
>
