X window Config with Latitude CP
Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: X window Config with Latitude CP
started by: MrBear37
Posted by MrBear37 on Jan. 20 2004,20:55
I just got a new ( old) laptop for my loving bride..here is the issue - after booting DSL.. the resolution is great.. But the little penguin is in the lower right.. and you can not see things in there unless you move the screen around..
Since DSL uses a non XFree86 can I get some ideas on how to adjust this prior to the HD install, or just after ?
Thanks !
Posted by nosebleed on Jan. 21 2004,01:30
That sounds like a problem of your resolution being too high for the physical screen size of you laptop. My laptop did that as well until I changed vga=791 in /etc/lilo.conf to vga=789. Does the text roll offscreen during boot as well?
Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Jan. 23 2004,16:09
I just got a Compaq Armada 1592DT (233MHz, 64MB, 3.2GB) today, and I'm having the same troubles. The screen is in high colour and looks cool, but it's obviously too big for the screen! There were no options for setting resolution - actually, all of the X things seem too big, eg. the mouse setup before the desktop is launched... dialogue bow is about 2/3 of the way across and down the screen.Have to use the frame-buffering mode (can't remember what it's called) as the other mode won't boot.
I haven't modified the distro in any way, it's the stock-standard iso, booting off CD (I intend to do a hard drive install when I get this sorted out...)
Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 24 2004,18:40
try:knoppix vga=normal
from the boot prompt. Then use XVesa with a low screen resolution, say 640x480
Good Luck.
Posted by Rapidweather on Jan. 25 2004,21:46
I have a Toshiba 4015CDS, and my liittle icon is in the lower right of the screen. I didn't know that I had a larger screen than I could see on the laptop. I could not find the pager, so I re-wrote the .blackboxrc file to put it where I could see it, and some other changes also. I have a copy of it here:
< http://www.angelfire.com/ms/telegram/blackboxrc >
That file can be saved and copied to your home directory, and you just rename it to .blackboxrc to make it active, then restart fluxbox. The toolbar with the pager autohides at the top, so when you bring your cursor up there, it appears. If you are running MozillaFirebird and have it "full screen" on your laptop, the toolbar will come up on top to allow you to switch desks.
I also have my menu at:
< http://www.angelfire.com/ms/telegram/fluxbox_menu >
-----
be sure and add .blackboxrc to your filetool.lst file on your USB drive, so when you restore, you'll get all this back.
You don't have to worry about the menu, the default filetool.lst
files already have .fluxbox as the first item to be saved, so the menu will come back when you restore.
-------
Next thing I want to do at the boot prompt is try this:
boot: vga=789
and see what happens
Posted by - on Jan. 25 2004,22:26
That did it!For all us laptop, etc users that have the little fluxbox background penguin-on-a-dinner-plate image Not Centered, kinda off to the Lower-Right,
then here's what I did to "center it":
at the boot prompt when you start up:
boot: knoppix vga=789
Then answer the questions just like you always do, about what server you want
to use (I use fbdev), if you have a usb mouse (of course we don't, that's where we plug in our memory stick for restoration and backup), and so forth. Make no changes to the answers, do it like you did before. The "vga=789" thing has not been forgotten by knoppix/DSL, and when your GUI comes up, the Penguin will be centered!
------
There is a possibility that vga=789 might not be right for you. Dig around on Google and see if you can find other choices, and try them. The XF86Config file does not refer to these numbers, but that file can be modified, With Caution,to come up with different screen resolutions and color depth. If you do that, you'll have to exit fluxbox, and return to "Text Mode" and then restart with "startx" to use your new file. I'd save it in my filetool.lst, so I can get it back after restore. Kind of complicated, but the vga=789 thing is so simple, you just have to be around to enter it before the boot: prompt times out.
-----
Since you always get a brand new setup (before restore) with Damn Small Linux when you first boot up, you can't hurt anything.
Although I am using a "hard drive install", it's just a copy of the CD, made with
boot: knoppix tohd=/dev/hda1
where knoppix makes a directory, C:\Knoppix on your hard drive, and
when you boot with a boot floppy, (no cd in the tray) then knoppix searches and finds that on the hard drive and uses it. Very fast, much more so than running DSL off the CD drive.
Posted by Rapidweather on Jan. 26 2004,01:51
For those of you trying different vga modes at boot, here aresome that I am trying, or have tried:
---
boot: knoppix vga=789 (gives 32 bpp at 800x600)
---
boot: knoppix vga=787 (gives 16 bpp at 800x600)
I know both of those work on my Toshiba 4015CDS laptop.
More:
769 8 bpp 640x480
771 8 bpp 800x600
790 16 bpp 1024x768
788 24 bpp 800x600
786 32 bpp 640x480
792 32 bpp 1024x768
----
experimental (for me anyway)
32K colors , 15/16 bpp
784 resolution unknown
787 resolution unknown
790 resolution unknown
------
Depending on your hardware, these give you an assortment
of codes to try. I have to use fbdev on this laptop, cannot get
the vesa choice to work.
------
You know you have one that's right when the little fluxbox
Penguin is in the center of your screen.
Also, the boot up text stays on the screen, and does not
scroll down off the bottom of the screen where you cannot see
what is going on.
-----
In review, for those new here, the vga=789 or whatever is to
be entered at the boot prompt, right after Damn Small Linux starts, and the big and little Penguins appear on the screen.
-----
I'm using vga=787 right now, gives me 16 bpp at 800x600.
Hard to tell the difference on a laptop screen between 16 and
32 bpp, for me, anyway. The lower bpp (16bpp) is supposed to
run a little faster than the 32, or so I've been told.
--
Hope this helps everyone with X problems
