Display issue when installing DSL

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[aesvry]

I've been trying to get an old Gateway 2000 Destination PC back up and running recently. It has a 200MHz Pentium Processor with 32 MB RAM.

I burned a disc of DSL 4.0 and booted the computer from that, I found that before anything started up I had to go into the DSL boot options and choose 'lowram' otherwise after it was done loading everything up and got to the section for the Xvesa settings I would just get a blank screen. So when I finally got to the settings, no matter what I chose I would get the same result of a corrupted screen image. Just a black screen with a small green corrupted image at the very top. I decided to test it out on another installation disc I had for Wary 5.5. This had the option of using xorg instead of xvesa, when I chose xorg it probed the video hardware in the computer to see what settings would work best. It came back with a rang of options but recommended 1024x768x16 as what would work best for the video card and monitor. I tested this out and while it could barely load because Wary is too much for the system to handle everything seemed to be just fine with the display. So I go back to DSL and follow the same steps I had before and put in those settings of 1024x768x16 and same result. I was wondering if anyone had some knowledge on what I could do to fix this problem? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!   (Attached is an image of the screen issue)

[CNK]

Try entering the "fb1024x768" command (on its own, without "dsl" first) at the boot command prompt and see if that works. If you still need to use the "lowram" command, do it like this: "dsl xmodule=fbdev fb1024x768 lowram". Fo details see the wiki page on boot time commands  (http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/cheat_codes.html).

If it still doesn't work, you can try the instructions gor setting specific vga modes and detecting non-standard ones, also on the wiki  (http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/vga_xxx.html).
EDIT: Looking into the details of the laptop model in general, it does seem quite possible that it would use non-standard vga modes in order to accomodate the unusually large display.

[aesvry]

Using "dsl xmodule=fbdev fb1024x768 lowram" worked perfectly! Thank you I really appreciate your help.

[aesvry]

ran into another small issue most likely the fix is just as simple as the last but I'm just not sure of what to do.

So now I have DSL installed on the hard drive and need to boot without the CD to complete the installation. When the computer starts and I get to GRUB it gives me 4 options

DSL
DSL fb800x600
DSL fb1024x768
DSL fb1280x1024

When I choose DSL fb1024x768 and it goes through it's startup it starts in xvesa which goes right back to where I started with the same problem. The screen moves too quickly for me to type in any commands to change it though I caught a glimpse of it giving me an instruction on what to do if I wanted to change the display.

So I rebooted and went back into grub and to edit for DSL fb1024x768 and it is: 'kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2 quiet vga=788 noacpi noapm nodma noscsi frugal'

Would I be able to correct the problem here? And if so what would be the correct way to type out the command?

Thanks again for the help.

[CNK]

Yes, put the boot commands you used after "dsl" before, at the end of the command line for that menu option in "/boot/grub/menu.lst". Also remove the "vga=788" command from that line (in my menu.lst it's vga=791 for fb1024x768, but no matter).

With this done, the line should look like:
'kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2 quiet noacpi noapm nodma noscsi frugal xmodule=fbdev fb1024x768 lowram'

Some of the other options could probably be played with as well to increase performance and features, but I'll leave you to play around with that with reference to the wiki page  (http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/cheat_codes.html), if desired.

[aesvry]

Thanks again for the help. This old machine is now up and running 

[Lizavials]

This thread isnt asking for someone with a spare compatible controller. You might be thinking of my wanted ad.

So, has anyone tried using an SPI display with a Pi?