OLD e-machines box and XF86Config

[Gary Kline]

On Tue, Oct 05, 2004 at 07:32:03AM +0930, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> On Monday,  4 October 2004 at 10:55:41 -0700, Gary Kline wrote:
> >
> > 	Folks,
> >
> > 	Does anybody onlist have a working XF86Config for an
> > 	old year 2000 emachine 500ix? 
> 
> I suppose I'm not the only person to have no idea what kind of machine
> this is.  What architecture is it?
> 
> > 	I just upgraded it to a full 256M of SDRAM and added a
> > 	huge drive.  Now am getting ready toput 5.3 on there.
> > 	xf86config, the shell version, didn't work, and it looks
> > 	like I messed up on the GUI config.
> >
> > 	Assistance much appreciated.
> 
> Well, a good start would be to give some details of the machine (in
> particular, the graphics card), what you've done, and what happened.


	Thanks to haaving used SuSE in 2000, its probe got the initial
	video card stuff and an XF86Config listing::

VendorName      "Unknown"
BoardName       "ATI Mach64 3D Rage IIC"
VideoRam        4096


	According to the E-Machine's people,  the built-in
	vidio chip can run at 1280x1024; I never tried 
	it higher that 1024x768.

	It's a 500MHz P-II
	with 70GB disc, 256MB memory, and some cheesy sound card.
	E-Machines is pretty well known so I prob'ly don't have
	to exlain anything there.  We (an EE buddy) put in two new
	fans and a new PS; I figure it's good for ahnother 4 or 5
	years.  I'd just like to have a working X config file.
	Right now, "startx" works; but "xdm" bring up a bare-bones
	mono-chrome window, and after I type in my name/passwd,
	xdm quits and repawns.  The /etc/X11/  directory has several
	misc files that might be interfering with xdm, but I don't
	understand how.  (I don't find anything interesting in
	/tmp/.*)

	I can use the box via my KVM switch, but intend to use this
	for further driver testing and so want the xdm "xlogin"
	to work.  

	Any clues?



> 
> > 	PS:  oh  yeah, any opinions on xorg vs xfree86 welcome, too.
> 
> The general consensus seems to be to go with X.org, especially with
> unusual hardware.  I'm doing so, and "it works for me".
> 

	Right now the emachine is running 4.8; I'll go x.org once
	5.3-R or -STABLE is out.....

	gary





-- 
   Gary Kline     kline at thought.org   www.thought.org     Public service Unix