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XWindow -- on EGA?

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Twist

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2002
I have an old computer, and I installed a small (5 floppy-sized) version of linux -- MonkeyLinux -- and it comes with an XWindow GUI, but I can't get it to work. :mad:

Here is my problem: This computer is running EGA (maybe its VGA? I got confused...) and whenever I type the command to start XWindow (command is: startx) it tries to run it, but the screen just stays blank. It's trying to start in 8-bit mode, but it doesn't work? Any ideas? I would really love to get this working!! :bang head
 
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What kind of res is X set to do? I'd think if you plugged in a computer with a vga card to an EGA monitor, you'd just get a crummy picture unless the computer was outputting at too high or a resolution.

This is an EGA monitor that can do non-character graphics, isn't it?
 
I believe so. It's an old NEC monitor. The computer I'm using has no graphics card though.

Um..the resolution? I'm not sure, gotta check that
 
If the computer you are using has no video card... then how are you outputting to a monitor? Are you on a serial console or something? You aren't going to get X to work one of those.
 
The graphics card must be integrated then.

Specs:
COMPAQ XE560
Pentium 60 (60MHz)
6GB HD
Integrated sound card (outputs to internal speaker)
Compaq Mobo (unidenitfiyable, all I could find is that is was from compaq!!)
 
Well what does the connector you are plugging the monitor into look like? Plain old 15-pin vga?

Have you tried to verify that the monitor is capable of non-character-based graphics?
 
Yes. I used it with windows XP on my other computer.
 
Whats the highest res you can run it with in XP? You checked to see if Linux is trying to run at a res higher than that? When you hit ctrl-alt-backspace on the Linux box, do you get your console back?
 
If you used the monitor with WinXP, then it's definitely a 15-pin, VGA style sort of thing. And hopefully no Pentium machine would have built-in EGA anyway. Even a Compaq. =)

But at any rate, EGA uses a different connector, so your machine does not have EGA graphics. It might, however, have a very archaic implementation of VGA. So if you find those resolution and color settings somewhere, go for 640x480 and as few colors as you can. 4-bit color at 640x480 is supported in the brain stem of every color VGA adapter ever built, so that's definitely safe.
 
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