Multimedia :: TV Out

I'm sorry if this has been covered before, or if I should be able to work it out on my own.

How can I get TV Out on my old ('99) laptop to work?

I'm running DSL live from USB. I haven't really tried much, as I don't know where to begin.

I tried loading the XFree86 MyDSL extension several times, but each time my laptop frooze while it was reloading X (sometimes before it loaded any icons, sometimes after loading a few icons).

Thanks

I'm pretty sure you will need to get either XFree86 or Xorg working in order to get TV out - Google shows a number of xorg.conf file examples for TV out.

Maybe the first place to start would be to look at the XFree86 log (I cannot remember it's exact name) in /var/log to see if it gives any clues as to why your laptop freezes with XFree.

do you mean the normal reloading after any extension?
or did you try to use Xfree without a config file?

Give also your laptop's model and graphic chip info

Juanito - I will check. I presumed that as I am running it off a USB it would not be possible to access the logs once the computer freezes (and I have to use the power button to turn it off).

curaga - I haven't had problems with other extensions (although I haven't tried that many). When I try to load XFree86.dsl I have the problem. I had the most success if I quit the window manager and then do mydsl-load and the other changes that are necessary for this extension (copying the modified .xserverrc to /home/dsl and XF86Config-4_vesa to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4). Then startx which begins to load the window manager again, very slowly, taking a minute or more for each icon to load (if any load at all) and then eventually freezes completely. It's a Gateway Solo 9100 with an ATI graphics chip.

You need to edit XF86Config-4, those are just examples, not guarantee to work... For normal usage.

-- You cannot get tv-out! Not with DSL that is. Ati's Linux drivers suck. They have really bad performance, crash often, and lack features just like tv-out..

If you want tv-out for watching video, your best bet is Geexbox 1.1. As it uses Vesa Bios by default, which forces tv-out on even on ati cards.. Not guaranteed to work, but like I said, it's the best bet.

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