Red Hat Linux 6.1 Installation...

[sukhoi]

Red Hat 6.1 does not install the display drivers properly.I am unable to see any CharaCters on the screen, all I get is rectangular blobs. The Xconfigurator also displays junk chars along the boundary. Red Hat 6.1 is supposed to detect SIS6215 PCI card automatically but it tells be that the video card could not be detected. Some applications even give me the message 'Cannot allocate colormap for default background'. Also, the istallation took me 2.5 hours!
Please Help.

[Donkey]

2.5 hours is that all. I took 4 nights of about 4 hours a night until i could get it to talk to my graphics card properly. That included about 3 reinstalls co i had messed it up so much. It is worth the wait though.

[Gentle Giant]

Did you go into XF86Setup and be sure your card is setup in there?

[kcarrera]

I hate to bother you guys, but I too am installing LINUX. Can you tell me how to install a modem?

[orkboss]

That Linux seems like alot of grief. You have frightened me off thinking about trying it.

[Glytzhkof]

You should all try Corel-Linux! I popped in the CD, it installed and I waited for the worst. Then it said basically: "OK, I'm gonna start thinking now so don't bother me". I left it alone and suddenly everything was installed! No problem whatsoever with any graphic card at all.

I do not have a modem though so I cannot guarantee that that will work equally well, but the whole Corel package is great for beginners (experienced linux users should stay away since they won't like NOT having to do all the work).

You can pop the CD in while running windows and it will promt you that you should create a Linux boot disk (CD is not bootable). Just insert a blank disk and the installer will rawwrite the Linux boot disk for you. Then you just reboot with the boot disk, create a new partition for Linux to live on and then just sit back and relax.

You can get the CD-image here (Netscape users: hold SHIFT and click): ftp://sunsite.uio.no/pub/linux/CD-images/Corel/corellinux-oc_1.0.iso (size: ca 320 MB). Do remember to use binary download mode (N.B: Many browsers default to ASCII mode). When you got the iso image just burn a "Track image" with whatever CD-burning program it is that you are using.

[This message has been edited by Glytzhkof (edited 12-16-1999).]

[Donkey]

If we are going to start recommending linux releases then i say Mandrake 6.1. It is basically red hat but it has been recompiled spefically to run on pentium class systems so it is slightly faster than normal red hat on these types of machines. Installation is the same as red hat and is extremely easy. My problem was that my graphics card was not supported in Xfree86 so i had to do a bit myself but it lead to a better understanding of how it all worked. And half the reason for going to linux was so that i'd learn something new. There is nothing like being dropped into the deep end to force you to concentrate and use your mind.
One bit of advise it check thoroughly that your hardware is compatible before wondering why you can't get it to work. If things are compatible linux is almost as plug and play as windows.

[bdog]

I used mandrake 6.0 with no probs. I recently got mandrake 6.5 deluxe and it is driving me nuts. It appears not to have kpp,fat support, sound support, and various other things not compilied in. I don't know how to get them either since I can't get my modem to work or mount my windows drive.

[jad1097]

It seems like I am not the only one with display problems. Just keep playing with x86config and you will get it to work start at the lowest res and color and work your way up.

[CMonster]

There are many video chips on the market, and it is difficult to include a driver for every chip on the market, especially since these manufacturers tend to write drivers only for M$ Windows. However, things are changing in that respect.

You can configure Linux generic VGA drivers for almost any video chip but I do not believe that you would always be happy with the result - with a little work you can get 256 color, but it is better perhaps to just purchase one of the many compatible cards. Almost all ATI chips are supported, Nvidia 128 - TNT (and I think there is a beta driver for the TNT2 available for download), and most 3dfx /Voodoo chips.

Regarding modems: Currently Linux does not support PCI "Winmodems," It may be difficult to impossible to use an ISA Plug-n-play "only" modem, but if you have a modem that you can jumper non-pnp (that is, assign a com port, IRQ, and I/O address) then you are in luck.

For internal ISA modem - in Redhat 6.1, Caldera 2.x, and Corel: First set your modem jumpers to COM2, IRQ 3, I/O 2f8; then disable your on-motherboard COM2 in BIOS. Boot into the Linux/KDE GUI, In Redhat & Caldera find and open "kppp" under "Internet" on your start menu, run "setup" and set your device, modem, and ISP connection account, finish and click "connect." In Corel kppp has been renamed "Dialup" once you find it the configuration is the same.

If you have an external modem the setup is even easier - just make sure that your COM2 port is enabled in BIOS with the common defaults IRQ3, I/O 2f8 - plug the modem in and go to kppp or Dialup to configure.

(This is assuming you are going to use COM2, obivously COM1 would require the necessary adjustments IRQ4, I/O 3f8)



[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 12-20-1999).]

[Groo]

I'll make this real simple:

1) Red Hat is by far the best version of Linux.
2) SIS video cards do NOT work with ANY version of Linux PROPERLY - if at all.

Trust me, I ran 8 versions of Linux with my SIS6326 video card and NONE of them worked properly, including Corel - I couldn't even see the first screen. I know it wasn't the video card, because I know someone else who encountered the same thing.

I reverted back to an S3 Virge 2MB and it worked like a charm.

Conclusion:
Drop the SIS card and get something better like an ATI or S3 (cheaper solution).