Display problem with Acer laptop from 1999 using external monitor

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[llnk]

Hello,

I recently came across an old Acer laptop. It's an Acer Extensa 368D which is from roughly 1999. It has Windows 98 installed, and it still boots. The LCD monitor seems to be defective, but i've managed to get it working using an external monitor attached to the VGA port.

Whenever i try starting DSL, the display looks very strange. It says the video adapter is VESA VGA. I have tried all of the different display "modes" but none worked. Most of the time i can see the linux desktop GUI, but everything is illegible.

I have also tried loading xsetup and changing the screen resolution and colours with no luck.

Any help would be much appreciated. I'd like to try recovering about 15mb worth of autocad files stored on the laptop hard drive.

[andrewb]

It looks like this system has the NeoMagic chip. (http://delicate-linux.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=288)


Have a look at http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/vga_xxx.html You should be able to get it working with the framebuffer.

[llnk]

I looked but still couldn't get DSL booted properly.

It always prompts to hit F1, F2, or F3 for different boot options. I've tried all three mode, but still can't get the framebuffer working properly. How can I load the Xorg vesa drivers?

I suspect i'm having problems because i'm using the an external VGA monitor. The laptop's LCD monitor is broken.

[CNK]

Have you tried the instructions for "additional modes" on that DSL Wiki page?