How to modify xorg.conf from command line in rescue console (F7)

Bo Berglund bo.berglund at telia.com
Sun Sep 2 09:25:37 UTC 2007


On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:49:39 -0500, "Mikkel L. Ellertson"
<mikkel at infinity-ltd.com> wrote:

>Bo Berglund wrote:
>> I am trying to install Fedora 7 in VirtualPC 2007 and I have gotten to
>> the first restart after the install has completed.
>> At this point one must boot the dVD in rescue mode in order to change
>> xorg.conf so that the default color depth is not 24 (can be anything
>> but 24 but this particular value is incompatible with VPC2007).
>> 
>> So I was adviced to do it this way, however they did not tell me *how*
>> one can edit a file in Linux....
>> Using more I can see that the file is set for 24 bit depth and I just
>> need to change that to 16 and I'm done.
>> 
>> (Forgot to say that I am a Windows user, completely green at Linux...)
>> 
>> Detailed instructions on how to start a command line editor for this
>> file would be appreciated as well as how to save and exit from it.
>> 
>> Bo Berglund
>> 
>Joe have many choices for a text editor in Linux. It does depend on
>what you have installed. The vi editor tends to be the standard
>editor, but coming from Windows you will probably find it hard to
>use. You may want to try joe (Wordstar command syntax) or nano. I
>would probably recommend nano as being easier to use. Just remember
>that you have to be root to edit the file.
>
>nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
>
>Another option is to run system-config-display and pick the correct
>color depth and so on for your system.

joe did not work (was not a recognized command) but nano did.

So I changed the default color depth from 24 to 16 and the actual also
to 16. Saved and exited nano.

Then typed exit twice after removing the install DVD (releasing the
iso in VPC).

What happened was that Fedore started and after some time it showed a
black screen with the mouse cursor (X) centered and immovable. After a
while more I had a garbled graphic screen and it looks like it is
still using the 24 bit color depth.
Since VPC2007 does not support this I can get no further. :-(

So what I am wondering about now is why my changes to xorg.conf were
not used? Is there something else one have to do?

Are there any options I can add to the boot like I had to do on the
install DVD boot? I added this to make the install work after using
TAB on the setup screen:
 vesa i8048.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit

This apparently makes the setup use a graphic mode that VPC2007 can
handle and it also fixes a problem in the Linux kernel for mouse
handling (VPC2007 emulates the mouse as a PS2 device).

But I have only found instructions on how to use these settings on the
initial screen when starting the Fedora7 install DVD, not how to do it
when Fedora itself starts up after the install has been done.

Is there a file somewhere in which I can enter parameters like this
from the rescue console (using nano) so they are used when the system
starts up?

Bo Berglund




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