Linux is driving me nuts

Okay I am a nube newb noob however you spell it, but I got fed up with Vista and have tried not one but three different distros with no luck thus far. Wait i take that back I had some luck with SUSE 10.2 but not enough to keep me involved with it.

Anyway, the problem with SUSE is lack of video card support for my X1300. If I had an nVidia card, I would be set, but it seems all I can use is frame buffer whatever its called. Kinda pissed me off considering this is a dual core 2 machine with 2GB of ram and 500 GB of storage. I tried everything people on the SUSE forum told me to try and alas I still have minimal video support.

So I reinstall Vista. It works fine but I cannot get a free firewall to work so I say screw it and try to install Ubuntu. I get all the way through the installation but the boot loader screws something up and it gets stuck at the Ubuntu loading screen. Ok fine I try it again. Same result. So screw it I wipe it clean again and try another distro.

So I try Mandriva and lookie lookie they have support for my 64 bit processor and my video card. Holy cow I thought I struck gold, but after installation instead of going from the grub (or lilo because I tried both ways) loader to the login screen it takes me to a black Mandriva screen with text prompts asking me for my login and password. Instead of loading gnome or KDE like it is supposed to it just says robert@localhost.com $ and that is it.

So I reinstalled Vista again this morning and have decided to surf without a firewall and an antivirus program until I can find a distro that works.

So far, SUSE was the easiest with believe it or not Mandriva coming in second. Ubuntu was easy enough but lacked any options like the others did (such as multiple interfaces like KDE, gNome).

Anyway if anyone else has gone through this please let me know if and how you fixed it, because I am getting pretty frustrated.

 

You are at an unfortunate disadvantage, Linux support for ATI is poor.

Try this:

Its more cutting edge than anything else you have tried so far.

www.sabayonlinux.org

 

Will do, I should am doing that as I type this. Thanks for the help.

 

Keep me updated

 

Adrynalyne- if Sabayon has KDE then it will be same problems for video drivers.

Need to correct drivers FIRST

 

Okay, same problem different distro.

Actually as far as installations go, the second time I tried to install this it went smooth and i got to actually login. That wasn't easy however because the screen defaulted to 1900 by whatever putting he password box I think in my neighbors yard. I did hit the tab key and was able to insert my password but that is just when the fun began.

Sure enough this has support for ATI. Sure enough everything was eye candy (I did pick KDE just because it was first on the list of choices and it said i could e install the others later) but very few of the programs did anything but spin the hour glass when I tried to click on them.

I right clicked on the desktop and switched the res to a more normal state and that was no problem. But Konquerer, and system properties, none of that worked. WHen I tried to log off and back on thinking that I had to possibly do this for the changes to take effect it wouldn't allow me to log on as myself anymore, I had to logon as the root user and this was more of the same.

I did like the looks of the distro and the installation seemed pretty easy, but what the heck do I know. Thanks for the link however it was worth a shot, I do appreciate that.

 

KDE is a desktop environment. Drivers are mutually exclusive not and dependent on it. If drivers are the issue, then Gnome will have the same effect.

I mentioned Sabayon because it only makes sense that a cutting edge distro would have the latest drivers bundled with it. The 'buntus, even in the alpha state, arent really cutting edge. If I thought cnybud was ready, I would have him install a bleeding edge distro, but that takes a lot more work outside of a gui and would be difficult for a novice (no offense cnybud).

 

Was this the mini or full size?

Full size is on DVD. The mini just came out, and there might be some more bugs with it. Do you think it was mostly a resolution problem (this is fixable)? Did you run it off CD/DVD, or did you install it? Assuming that Beryl was running (red gem in the notification area icons), you can right click and choose the window manager to be kwin. Did that have any effect?

 

It was the full distro. I did a full install since loading Vista is easy if I don't like or find that the Linux is unusable.

It was wierd. Let's say that if you clicked on your dashboard and things looked as if they were going to load and yet didn't, that would explain what happend with yon. it was messed up pretty bad. On the good side it recognized and installed the drivers from the ATI right away, without my help.

I do not think Beryl was running, and I couldn't get any of the software to run, past getting to the desktop. It was the strangest thing.

 

Maybe this needed a new posting, and I am reposting on the Ubuntu Forums. This user is typical of how we are not going to see Bug #1 in Ubuntu Linux solved. I am not a Linux novice and yet my experience makes me wonder if $100 for M$ may be an alternative now.


I installed the drivers AS described on the Beryl Wiki. Many times each day. (if you use up arrow you can scroll back though command line entries!)

Then I reinstalled Feisty Beta, and tried again and now had white screen. So I go to the NVidia site and download as described. I had directions in Swiftfox and cut and paste in Konsole. Still nothing. I do not even have a clue how I got it all to work, but I have latest drivers and Beryl functioning perfectly. :cool confused

 

You have a PM.

 

None taken and I am sure I am not ready for Linux either

 

If you actually want to learn Linux from the command prompt and learn to install a GUI from scratch, I found Arch Linux to be very good on their wiki page. They have a page for beginners that walks you step by step through an FPT install. The beginner page is very helpful and doesn't leave anything out. It tells you how to do updates and install packages and makes recommendations on how to create a working xorg.conf file. They also have very good support on their forum.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

If you do the installation as described in the link above, you can't help but learn a lot about Linux in general. I've tried a lot of distros and this is the one that worked for me. I'm now running 3 linux boxes in my home and am working on another one. Thats not counting my IP Cop firewall box but then I didn't really do anything to set that up except provide some names and numbers.

 

OMG. Can it be?

Another Arch user! Here?!

Woot!

I'm not sure cnybud is ready for Arch, but if he is willing to give a shot, more power to ya!

http://www.sellshome.com/screenie2.jpg
http://www.sellshome.com/Untitled.png

 

I guess in the Major Geek category I am actually only a buck private, because I really just want something that installs itself and can be up and running without my help. After that I like to tweak it. mod it, and learn it, but it has to be running first for me

 

Adrynalyne:

I just thought I would suggest it in case he was interested in actually learning Linux. I spend most of my time trying to learn new stuff and Linux has been a good challenge. I tried Gentoo but couldn't get a stable machine.

And, yes. . . . I've got woot!

 

Fair enough

 

I am using Ubuntu 6.10 on a Dell OptiPlex 745 with ATI X1300. Install the Os, then search for Envy and Module assistant. Download both and run the modune assistant, then Envy. Envy will go out and install the correct video card driver for your system, both ATI and NVidia. I have included a script that will help you install the ATI drivers and install Beryl.

Install Beryl on Ubuntu Edgy with XGL and ATI
From Beryl Wiki


Notice that this a first beta version of the automatic ATI+XGL+Beryl installation based on the Nvidia script, you SHOULD NOT use it in a stable environment.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Automatic installation
o 1.1 Ubuntu
+ 1.1.1 Creating the script
+ 1.1.2 Running the script
+ 1.1.3 Postinstallation
+ 1.1.4 Removing the autostart
# 1.1.4.1 Single User
# 1.1.4.2 All Users

[edit]
Automatic installation

The following instructions have been tested successfully on an updated base Ubuntu installation, using a ATI 9600 XT video card (though it should work with all other cards supported by the ATI driver).

Be SURE to close Synaptic Package Manager or the install will fail and Beryl will not work. You will need to run the script again if that happens.
[edit]
Ubuntu

The automatic installation will:

* Perform all necessary steps to install Beryl with no user input needed while the script is running;
* Install the latest stable ATI drivers
* Run aticonfig to configure /etc/X11/xorg.conf; and
* Disable Composite extension.
* Install XGL server
* Create a XGL launcher
* Create a new session option for XGL
* Create a Desktop icon for beryl-manager
* Add menu item into Applications:Accessories
* Automatically start beryl for each user.


[edit]
Creating the script

Open a terminal. Execute:

gedit ./beryl-install-script

Now, copy and paste the following script into the window:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $UID -gt 0 ]; then
echo "You must run this script as root.";
else
# Backup your source list and your xorg.conf
cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.beryl-script
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup.beryl-script
# Add and install latest ATI binary drivers repository
echo "deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/latest/32bit binary/" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://albertomilone.com/drivers/tseliot.asc -O- | apt-key add -
aptitude -y update && aptitude -y install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r) xorg-driver-fglrx
# Autoconfigure your current xorg.conf
sudo depmod -a
aticonfig --initial
aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
echo "Section \"Extensions\"
Option \"Composite\" \"0\"
EndSection" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Add and install latest beryl and xgl packages
echo "deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | apt-key add -
aptitude -y update && aptitude -y dist-upgrade
aptitude -y install xserver-xgl beryl emerald emerald-themes
# Now we create a XGL launcher and a session menu entry to start gnome with XGL
echo "#!/bin/sh
Xgl :1 -fullscreen -ac -accel xvbuffer -accel glxbuffer &
DISPLAY=:1
exec gnome-session" >> /usr/bin/startxgl.sh
chmod +x /usr/bin/startxgl.sh
echo "[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Xgl
Comment=Start an Xgl Session
Exec=/usr/bin/startxgl.sh
Icon=
Type=Application" >> /usr/share/xsessions/xgl.desktop
# We create an desktop icon and a menu entry, also add beryl-manager to startup programs
echo "[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Beryl Manager
GenericName=3D Window Manager
Comment=Beryl Manager daemon
Icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/beryl-manager.svg
Exec=beryl-manager
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=GTK;GNOME;Application;Utility;
StartupNotify=true
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=beryl-manager" > /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop
cp /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop /usr/share/applications/beryl-manager.desktop
cp /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/Desktop/beryl-manager.desktop
echo -e "\n\nBeryl is now installed.\n\nTo run Beryl on Ubuntu startup, please add beryl-manager to your\nstartup programs (System > Preferences > Sessions, and click on\nthe \"startup programs\" tab). Afterwards, please reboot and select \"Options - Sessions - gnome-gxl\" in the login menu to start Ubuntu with XGL.\n\nBackups of /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/X11/xorg.conf were made:\n /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.beryl-script\n /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup\n\n If you see a ugly gnome in the XGL session add gnome-settings-daemon to the startup programs as you did with beryl-manager before"
fi;

Subsequently, save the file and close gedit.
[edit]
Running the script

Run the following commands:

chmod +x ./beryl-install-script
sudo ./beryl-install-script

The script will then perform all the necessary functions to perform the installation of Beryl. Do not close the terminal while the script is running, or in any other way interrupt the script.
[edit]
Postinstallation

In general, it is not a good idea to rerun the script after the initial execution. Thus, you should remove it:

rm ./beryl-install-script


[edit]
Removing the autostart
[edit]
Single User

Open a terminal. Execute:

gnome-session-properties

Click on the "Startup Programs" tab and select "beryl-manager" then subsequently click "disable."

or from the menu

System > Preferences > Sessions

Click on the "Startup Programs" tab and select "beryl-manager" then subsequently click "disable."


[edit]
All Users

Open a terminal. Execute:

sudo rm /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop002
******************************************************


The following is the actual script to run:


#!/bin/bash
if [ $UID -gt 0 ]; then
echo "You must run this script as root.";
else
# Backup your source list and your xorg.conf
cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.beryl-script
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup.beryl-script
# Add and install latest ATI binary drivers repository
echo "deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/latest/32bit binary/" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://albertomilone.com/drivers/tseliot.asc -O- | apt-key add -
aptitude -y update && aptitude -y install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r) xorg-driver-fglrx
# Autoconfigure your current xorg.conf
sudo depmod -a
aticonfig --initial
aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
echo "Section \"Extensions\"
Option \"Composite\" \"0\"
EndSection" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Add and install latest beryl and xgl packages
echo "deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/ edgy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | apt-key add -
aptitude -y update && aptitude -y dist-upgrade
aptitude -y install xserver-xgl beryl emerald emerald-themes
# Now we create a XGL launcher and a session menu entry to start gnome with XGL
echo "#!/bin/sh
Xgl :1 -fullscreen -ac -accel xvbuffer -accel glxbuffer &
DISPLAY=:1
exec gnome-session" >> /usr/bin/startxgl.sh
chmod +x /usr/bin/startxgl.sh
echo "[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Xgl
Comment=Start an Xgl Session
Exec=/usr/bin/startxgl.sh
Icon=
Type=Application" >> /usr/share/xsessions/xgl.desktop
# We create an desktop icon and a menu entry, also add beryl-manager to startup programs
echo "[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Beryl Manager
GenericName=3D Window Manager
Comment=Beryl Manager daemon
Icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/beryl-manager.svg
Exec=beryl-manager
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=GTK;GNOME;Application;Utility;
StartupNotify=true
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=beryl-manager" > /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop
cp /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop /usr/share/applications/beryl-manager.desktop
cp /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/Desktop/beryl-manager.desktop
echo -e "\n\nBeryl is now installed.\n\nTo run Beryl on Ubuntu startup, please add beryl-manager to your\nstartup programs (System > Preferences > Sessions, and click on\nthe \"startup programs\" tab). Afterwards, please reboot and select \"Options - Sessions - gnome-gxl\" in the login menu to start Ubuntu with XGL.\n\nBackups of /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/X11/xorg.conf were made:\n /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.beryl-script\n /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup\n\n If you see a ugly gnome in the XGL session add gnome-settings-daemon to the startup programs as you did with beryl-manager before"
fi;


Hope this works out. Ubuntu 6.10 works GREAT on my OptiPlex and Dell Precision M65.

 

Well, SuSE 10.1 is buggy as all hell, but the only reason I don't switch to something else is the crappy support for ATI cards like mine. (RS200. looked it up, didn't have a chance without some built-in SuSE crap). But, it dosen't enable the 3d accelleration at all to begin with. I spent a week in CLI before I noticed the little :*** ing "Enable 3d accelleration" checkbox in YaST! :banghead .

 

Suse 10.1 isn't buggy, My old workplace had 4 webservers running that distro with no issues, perhaps its something you did wrong?

 

cnybud, did you find a Linux distro you liked enough to try out?

 

Hi bored, no actually I quit looking until SUSE gets ATI drivers for my card. I really enjoyed using it for the most part and will dual boot for sure when they do get them. For now I am on my fifth installation of Vista and everything seems to be going okay so there is really no rush either. Thank for checking in however, and if anyone hears of any good distros, I do not mind trying tem out.

 

http://distrowatch.com

This is has a lot of information about linux/unix distros

 

I'm not sure about the Driver support, but for a complete Linux noob like me Fedora 6 installed without a problem and runs great. Might be worth looking into.