Booting F9 with NO X11

Rick Bilonick rab at nauticom.net
Sat Jun 7 19:46:14 UTC 2008


On Sat, 2008-06-07 at 10:38 -0700, Les wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-06-07 at 13:34 -0400, Rick Bilonick wrote:
> > On Sat, 2008-06-07 at 13:27 -0400, Rick Bilonick wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2008-06-07 at 13:20 -0400, Rick Bilonick wrote:
> > > > On Sat, 2008-06-07 at 13:13 -0400, Rick Bilonick wrote:
> > > > > I've installed F9 x86 on an hp 2133. But, as I expected, the graphical
> > > > > interface is screwed up. (I had the same problem with the LiveCD). I've
> > > > > tried passing the following options at boot (vesa skipddc vga=794) but a
> > > > > weird somewhat blank screen always comes up and the system is locked (I
> > > > > can't get to a console to try to fix X).
> > > > > 
> > > > > How can I boot just to a non-graphical system so I can get to a console?
> > > > > 
> > > > > I've asked repeatedly on this list for related info but so far no one
> > > > > has responded. Please, I need some help!
> > > > > 
> > > > > Rick B.
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > OK, I tried adding "text" and that allows be to get to a text console.
> > > > 
> > > > Now all I have to do is get X working (it works fine using SUSE 10).
> > > > 
> > > > Rick B.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > It's very weird. F9 appears to correctly identify the graphics card
> > > (something like "chrome" by VIA). I changed this in xorg.conf to "vesa"
> > > which I thought would be very generic but now the screen goes black when
> > > I execute "startx".
> > > 
> > > Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> > > 
> > > Rick
> > > 
> > 
> > I just changed "vesa" to "vga" but there does not appear to be a "vga"
> > driver installed. I'm not sure what rpm to install.
> > 
> > Rick B.
> > 
> Have you tried turning on detail during boot to see what the system
> discovers about your video?  Also look at the setup screen for your
> system to see what it shows about the video.
> 
> Then post that here.  Someone may have an answer if they have that kind
> of information.  I can't help, I left HP systems a long time ago, and
> won't go back due to some of their setup stuff that makes using any OS
> but windows very difficult.
> 
> Regards,
> Les H
> 

The HP 2133 comes with SUSE Linux but I'm more familiar with Fedora. I
will post that information soon. But for now, I should note that Fedora
8 LiveCD booted without any problems. 

I was able to boot in pure text mode to a console, and I connected also
an external LCD monitor. I changed xorg.conf so that it had "vesa" as
the driver (the same from what I can tell for Fedora 8 LiveCD) and it
displays perfectly on the external monitor.

The best I can tell at the moment, F9 chose the openchrome driver which
comes from the vendor and I would think that is the correct driver but
it doesn't work. When I switch the hard drives and boot the Suse Linux
Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 SP2, I will try to determine the driver
that is being used.

Rick B.




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