On Tuesday 18 November 2008 08:06:04 am David C. Rankin wrote: < snip much useful information >

if your satisfied with your work and it looks like my example above, then

:wq (write and quit)

And if things get messed up and you just want to get out without writing any changes [ESC][ESC] and then :q! (quit and I mean it!) -- Don -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 20:48, Verner Kjærsgaard wrote: [...]

...lots of cutaway...

[...]

- One question though...one that reveals my endless lack of basic knowledge, sigh...

In my present xorg.conf (and I've got Nvidia just fine) on my SuSE10.3 (DELL 17" laptop), I haven't got any modelines, the core section looks like this:

[...]

The original *install backup of my xorg.conf DOES have mode-lines, albeit only for 800x600 pixels.

How come my system is at all working without these lines?

X has the ability to probe for some stuff and use the values from EDID. Take a look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log to see what it is capable of. HTH ne... -- Registered Linux User # 125653 (http://counter.li.org) Now accepting personal mail for GMail invites. Dan Quayle - "This President is going to lead us out of this recovery." -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Verner Kjærsgaard wrote:

David C. Rankin skrev:

...

dwain wrote:

...

i just installed the nvidia driver for my graphics card and rebooted. when i did, i was brought to the command line instead of the desktop.

...lots of cutaway...

Hi David and list...

- thanks a lot for your rather long and elaborated answer on this matter. I've taken the liberty to copy it to my personal knowledge base, it's a lifesaver, really.

- One question though...one that reveals my endless lack of basic knowledge, sigh...

In my present xorg.conf (and I've got Nvidia just fine) on my SuSE10.3 (DELL 17" laptop), I haven't got any modelines, the core section looks like this:

----------------------------------------- Section "Modes" Identifier "Modes[0]" EndSection

How come my system is at all working without these lines?

Verner Felix is right, you don't need the modelines anymore. However since I don't know what hardware this xorg.conf might me run on, I intentionally put them in there setting the Vertical refresh to 60Hz to make sure it doesn't try to drive an older monitor beyond it limits in case the monitor doesn't report its correct EDD information (what it's capable of) back to the driver. Don't worry in your case, you don't need it! -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. | Rankin Law Firm, PLLC | Countdown for openSuSE 11.1 510 Ochiltree Street | http://counter.opensuse.org/11.1/small Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 | Telephone: (936) 715-9333 | openSoftware und SystemEntwicklung Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 | http://www.opensuse.org/ www.rankinlawfirm.com | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

* dwain [11-18-08 23:05]:

thanks for the lengthy reply. as one poster noted i should have been in runlevel 3 when i installed the driver. i was in runlevel 5, so i guess i screwed up royally.

recovery *is* possible :^)

my question is, if i do a startx,

no reason as your X is bonkers at the present and "startx" litterally means to *start* X.

go to the console, switch to runlevel 3 and reinstall the driver, will it correct my error and boot into the kde desktop?

yes/maybe/probably, but more information is necessary to be sure. How did you install which nvidia driver? Usually when trying to solve a problem, you would announce the openSUSE version and architecture, and detail the steps that caused your problem and any particular hardware that might be interesting, such as the video card. -- Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA HOG # US1244711 http://wahoo.no-ip.org Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535 @ http://counter.li.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:49 PM, Patrick Shanahan wrote:

...

go to the console, switch to runlevel 3 and reinstall the driver, will it correct my error and boot into the kde desktop?

yes/maybe/probably, but more information is necessary to be sure.

How did you install which nvidia driver?

i did the one-click install on the opensuse site from the new driver link since i didn't find my geforce fx 5200 pci on the legacy card list.

Usually when trying to solve a problem, you would announce the openSUSE version and architecture, and detail the steps that caused your problem and any particular hardware that might be interesting, such as the video card.

i am using opensuse 11.0, with updates, so i think the kernel is 0.18. i was in runlevel 5 when i did the update. the graphics were fine after the update. i then ran yast2 and and ran sax2 to check things out. before the update the 3d accelerator was disabled and after the update it was checked. i saved the settings (don't know why), exited yast2 and rebooted the machine. everything was going along fine until on loading the os the screen went black and then the opensuse logo along with the loading indicator line showed through the black screen and then i ended up at the command prompt. i hope this helps. i knew i should have gone into the the terminal and run init 3 before the update. why i didn't do it i don't know. i guess i thought it would be ok to do it from where i was. at least after the update it didn't look like i did any harm. cheers, dwain

-- Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA HOG # US1244711 http://wahoo.no-ip.org Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535 @ http://counter.li.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 19 November 2008 04:16:18 am dwain wrote:

i did the one-click install on the opensuse site from the new driver link since i didn't find my geforce fx 5200 pci on the legacy card list.

It is legacy. http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_18897.html The latest driver for FX 5200 is 173.14.15 in: 32 bit ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/173.14.15 64 bit ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/173.14.15 I usually download the last (biggest) file in the list. For 64 bit it would be NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-173.14.15-pkg2.run The rest is on http://en.opensuse.org/Nvidia#The_hard_way Don't forget that you can have GUI using Failsafe boot option. It is the same GUI that was used for installation so it will work. -- Regards, Rajko -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

dwain wrote:

On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 12:03 AM, Rajko M. wrote:

...

Don't forget that you can have GUI using Failsafe boot option. It is the same GUI that was used for installation so it will work.

thanks for the info. would it hurt to do the 1-click install of the legacy over the driver i have installed?

also, i have reinstalled 11.0 after trying to fix x and i got a boot load error asking for a system disk. now x won't start and i keep getting pushed to the command line. when i did startx from init 3 it said that x wasn't supported and there was no xconf. this is from the 11.0 dvd. i also tried a fresh install from the live cd and the kernel doesn't load and i hang at the grub line.

i'm pretty frustrated about all this. i don't know if i fried my hardware (graphics card) when i installed the new driver and then saved it to sax-2, but at this writing i can't use 11.0 at all except from the command line and then with an install from the dvd.

i'll try installing 11.0 later today and see what happens and also try the failsafe mode.

cheers, dwain

No, should be fine... It will just replace the driver (kernel module) that is giving you problems. Both current and legacy modules will be named nvidia.ko, so it should just overwrite the kernel module. At this point, couldn't hurt! -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. | Rankin Law Firm, PLLC | Countdown for openSuSE 11.1 510 Ochiltree Street | http://counter.opensuse.org/11.1/small Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 | Telephone: (936) 715-9333 | openSoftware und SystemEntwicklung Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 | http://www.opensuse.org/ www.rankinlawfirm.com | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 19 November 2008, dwain wrote:

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 9:06 AM, David C. Rankin

wrote:

...

Dwain (here is the long version),

thanks for the lengthy reply. as one poster noted i should have been in runlevel 3 when i installed the driver. i was in runlevel 5, so i guess i screwed up royally.

my question is, if i do a startx, go to the console, switch to runlevel 3 and reinstall the driver, will it correct my error and boot into the kde desktop?

regards, dwain -- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

The simple way is Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to a text screen login as root "init 3" graphics setup commands ......... "init 5" that should put you back at the login for youe KDE or whatever else you use . -- SuSE Linux 10.3-Alpha3. (Linux is like a wigwam - no Gates, no Windows, and an Apache inside.) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Carlos E. R. wrote:

On Tuesday, 2008-11-18 at 09:06 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:

...

...

If your panicking because you don't know vi, no sweat, just do this (still as root):

...

# vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

For a novice, it is far easier to use "joe". It is included by default on all installs, even on the rescue disk - and has online help :-)

-- Cheers, Carlos Robinson

I like them both. As long as I have 'ctrl+k h' in joe and as long as I have :help *and* remember that [esc][esc] gets me back to command mode, I'm good to go in either. I used to think vi was the most cryptic beast imaginable, but after using it a little and just remembering 'i' to get to insert mode [ins] to toggle between insert and overwrite mode, and remembering [esc][esc] to get out of each, I began to like it. Where else do you get to do :set nu, :12,18/^/# / and :12,18/# // to get line number see you need to comment lines 12-18 and then uncommenting the lines again in 3 short commands? If you want to look at a truly cryptic beast --> look at emacs -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. | Rankin Law Firm, PLLC | Countdown for openSuSE 11.1 510 Ochiltree Street | http://counter.opensuse.org/11.1/small Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 | Telephone: (936) 715-9333 | openSoftware und SystemEntwicklung Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 | http://www.opensuse.org/ www.rankinlawfirm.com | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

G T Smith wrote:

David C. Rankin wrote:

...

Carlos E. R. wrote:

...

On Tuesday, 2008-11-18 at 09:06 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:

...

...

If your panicking because you don't know vi, no sweat, just do this (still as root): # vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

For a novice, it is far easier to use "joe". It is included by default on all installs, even on the rescue disk - and has online help :-)

-- Cheers, Carlos Robinson

I like them both. As long as I have 'ctrl+k h' in joe and as long as I have :help *and* remember that [esc][esc] gets me back to command mode, I'm good to go in either.

...

I used to think vi was the most cryptic beast imaginable, but after using it a little and just remembering 'i' to get to insert mode [ins] to toggle between insert and overwrite mode, and remembering [esc][esc] to get out of each, I began to like it. Where else do you get to do :set nu, :12,18/^/# / and :12,18/# // to get line number see you need to comment lines 12-18 and then uncommenting the lines again in 3 short commands?

...

If you want to look at a truly cryptic beast --> look at emacs

Hmm... trying to start editor wars eh! :-)

Personally, as someone who has done a little programming I tend to prefer pico over joe for basic text editing (but I would recommend either before vi), and nowadays emacs for any serious code hacking that I cannot do in eclipse (which is basically at the moment mainly Bash and I would suspect someone somewhere has a bash plugin :-) ). Emacs has a lot more features than vi and is much better suited as a programmers editor, and as such with such beauties as edlin and SOS should be firmly consigned to the dustbin of history. :-)

I have used emacs in various guises under DOS,Windows, and *NIX (and have vague memories of an IBM/VM and a VAX VMS version). Once you have learnt the basics for one you can use it on all platforms...

No, no -- no editor wars. In my quest to learn this thing called Linux, I have not yet got to emacs. I stumbled through mailx which led me to a brief encounter with emacs from which I beat a hasty retreat to live to fight again another day. I have no doubt I'll love it -- once I have time to make friends with it ;-) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. | Rankin Law Firm, PLLC | Countdown for openSuSE 11.1 510 Ochiltree Street | http://counter.opensuse.org/11.1/small Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 | Telephone: (936) 715-9333 | openSoftware und SystemEntwicklung Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 | http://www.opensuse.org/ www.rankinlawfirm.com | -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Carlos E. R. wrote:

On Friday, 2008-11-21 at 21:37 -0600, David C. Rankin wrote:

Please, trim your quotes...

-- Cheers, Carlos E. R.

I know, By my count I've screwed that up 3 times tonight :-( -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. | Rankin Law Firm, PLLC | Countdown for openSuSE 11.1 www.rankinlawfirm.com | http://counter.opensuse.org/11.1/small -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org