Fedora - A Step Forward or Backward?

David L Norris dave at webaugur.com
Tue Nov 25 09:25:50 UTC 2003


On Mon, 2003-11-24 at 10:22, Rick Bilonick wrote:
> It did once, but since then clicking on configure for 
> the adapter does nothing (I can still configure the monitor). I've 
> resorted to manually adjusting the XF86Config file - I've finally 
> achieved 1024 x 768 but I'm not sure now what I've done (I tried so may 
> things without success). I've noticed that there is a Screen Resolution 
> applet under Preferences. It insisted on 800 x 600 no matter that the 
> video adapter was set at 1024 x 768 (it only gave me two choices: 800 x 
> 600 and 640 x 480. Thinking back, I think the problem may have been 
> connected to specifying too many colors (millions) and when I set this 
> lower I was able to get 1024 x 768 again.

I've installed a stripped down Fedora Core 1 system on a Compaq Deskpro
Pentium 75 MHz with no problem.  It runs very smoothly once all the
non-essential services are disabled (sendmail, etc).  The P75 machine
also has the Cirrus CL-GD5445 video chipset.  I believe Anaconda set the
color depth to 24-bit (millions) by default.  I changed it to 16 bit
(thousands) color and was then able to switch to 1024x768 with no
problem.

Also make sure the monitor is defined properly.  I used "Generic CRT
1024x768" monitor settings.  It's also advisable to correctly set the
"DisplaySize height width" (in millimeters) in the XF86Config file
"Monitor" section (since they removed that feature from
redhat-config-xfree86).  Otherwise you may experience scalable graphics
and fonts that are blown WAY out of proportion.  "Welcome" on the login
screen was 3 inches tall on my laptop until I set DisplaySize, for
example.  This does not seem to be an issue with plug-n-play monitors
and video cards.

I will also note that GNOME explodes (ie "your session lasted less than
10 seconds") if you set the default to 800x600 and set the switcher to
1024x768.  I guess Xrandr needs to be set to an equal or lower physical
screen size.  I don't think redhat-config-xfree86 will allow you to do
this, though.  It's something I did manually just to see if it would
work.

> Also, when I logout, an applet crashes (mixer_applet2, seg fault).

Interesting, I've not seen that problem.  Might try to run memtest86
from the install CD just to make double sure the RAM is working well.

> Isn't Fedora an upgrade from RH 9? I was surprised at the problems in 
> setting and modifying Xwindows and the config program not working 
> reliably. (After working once to configure the video adapter, it refuses 
> to allow any changes). When it did allow configuration, there was no 
> ability to do a probe.

I will say that the new XFree86 config program needs some work.  On my
newer machines I'm back to being forced to edit the XF86Config file to
add "Option" directives instead of using the nice, friendly
redhat-config-xfree86 like I could with RH9.  And "configure" frequently
does nothing on the video card settings.  But, I'd think a few good
Bugzilla entries should take care of those problems.

> On the plus side, at least Fedora works on such old equipment and it's 
> not too slow to be useful. In most respects it looks and runs just like 
> RH 9.

Indeed.  I was pleasantly surprised how well everything runs on the
Pentium 75 machines.  RH7 was painfully slow on a P90 laptop I had a few
years ago.

I noticed something I think is new in GNOME 2.4's login screen.  F10
brings up a menu which allows you to do a XDMCP broadcast.  So, I
enabled XDMCP using gdmsetup on my 1 GHz Athlon and logged in via XDMCP
from the Pentium 75.  Now there's an excellent way to make the old
Pentium 75 run like a champ.  ;-)

-- 
 David Norris
  http://www.webaugur.com/dave/
  ICQ - 412039
-- 
 David Norris
  http://www.webaugur.com/dave/
  ICQ - 412039
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