Hi, My questions are: A) I need to change the video settings without the GUI as it is not available. How would I accomplish this? Is there a batch method I can use? B) Will changing them damage the monitor? (There are other production machines on this switch/monitor so I can't damage the monitor etc) C) After I change them, Is there a way I can test the GUI before changing the runlevel back to 5 and rebooting? (I don't want to reboot and find out it doesn't work) Perhaps there is a procedure somewhere on this? Some background information: (kinda lengthy but here is what we did) 1) I setup and tested a new Suse 9 server in our lab. I got the GUI working there. (Monitor Dell, Keyboard, mouse all separate pieces, Switch Omniview Pro 16 Port F1D116-OSD) 2) I moved it into production (Different location combination monitor/keyboard/mouse - Dell - Model SL340-part 0636U) (switch - Omniview Pro 16 Port F1D116-OSD) 3) I tried booting it (run level 5) but the monitor didn't autodetect and wouldn't come up. 4) We then attached a mouse keyboard/monitor from a different source, 5) Brought it up runlevel 5 - GUI, went in changed the runlevel to 3 and rebooted. 6) It came up in text mode (connected to the mouse keyboard/monitor from a different source) 7) We then reconnected it to the production location (switch/monitor/keyboard/mouse from step 2) 8) Brought it up in text mode. This is where it is at the moment. We need to get the GUI working on this monitor. Perhaps there is a procedure somewhere on this? Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks in advance. Dana Jaeger Hartford Hospital jaeger@harthosp.org
On Wed, 2005-03-16 at 09:23 -0500, Dana Jaeger wrote:
Hi,
My questions are: A) I need to change the video settings without the GUI as it is not available. How would I accomplish this? Is there a batch method I can use? B) Will changing them damage the monitor? (There are other production machines on this switch/monitor so I can't damage the monitor etc) C) After I change them, Is there a way I can test the GUI before changing the runlevel back to 5 and rebooting? (I don't want to reboot and find out it doesn't work)
Perhaps there is a procedure somewhere on this?
Use ctrl-alt-f1 to get to console one, login as root, type init 3 to stop X from running. Then type in sax2 to start the X configuration gui process. If this doesn't work try sax2 -l. When finished type init 5 to start X and login. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998 * Only reply to the list please* "The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day they start making vacuum cleaners." -Ernst Jan Plugge
Dana Jaeger wrote:
Hi,
My questions are: A) I need to change the video settings without the GUI as it is not available. How would I accomplish this?
Use sax2 to configure video settings. If your monitor is supported, its capabilities are already in the database, and there is no chance of trying an unsupported video mode. If not, sax2 will allow you to configure resolutions, trace and refresh frequencies, and screen geometry (physical size). In that case, if you have the manual, you only configure supported modes; if not, you can try almost anything you want, without worrying about damaging the monitor. Sax2 includes a test mode which temporarily resets the video mode. Any keypress or mouseclick will end the test if you happen to try testing a video mode your monitor doesn't support. In short, a complete video configuration tool.
Is there a batch method I can use?
To accomplish what? Changing video modes on the fly? Configure available modes in sax2, then these will be available to each user within the desktop.
B) Will changing them damage the monitor?
Only if you leave the monitor in an unsupported mode for a long time. See above.
C) After I change them, Is there a way I can test the GUI before changing the runlevel back to 5 and
In addition to the tests within sax2, you can test the full desktop by running startx. If something goes amiss, hit ctrl-alt-backspace to kill the Xserver.
Some background information: (kinda lengthy but here is what we did) 1) <snip> 3) I tried booting it (run level 5) but the monitor didn't autodetect and wouldn't come up.
What do you mean by this? What wouldn't come up? Did the screen simply go blank or unreadable when the graphical login manager loaded? This suggests that perhaps the video mode you configured in stage 1) isn't supported by the monitor you use in the production location.
5) Brought it up runlevel 5 - GUI, went in changed the runlevel to 3 and rebooted.
You can always boot into a non-default runlevel by typing "init=n" at the boot prompt, where "n" is the level you desire (1 for single-user, 3 for text-mode "normal", 0 for a shutdown and 6 for reboot). You can change the runlevel to "n" without rebooting by typing "init n" at any console prompt. If your graphical login fails to function properly, you always have 5 additional ttys, and these are I believe in text mode. Access them with ctrl-alt-Fn where n is a number between 2 and 6 (you're already in tty1 in the graphical screen).
participants (3)
-
Dana Jaeger -
Darryl Gregorash -
Ken Schneider