Debian Installation

[z0mbix]

I received my debian potato 2.2r3 CD's last night and got straight on with the install. The installation went quite well up until installing and configuring X. I used the simple package installation method selecting samba, gnome, X and a couple of other options. But when using startx I was advised that XF86_SVGA was not installed.
After chatting with some people in yahoo I managed to get X installed using the impressive apt-get(First time!) :D

Now when I startx I get a messy/grey/blue blocky screen. I can kill X with ctrl+alt+bkspc which brings me back to the console, but still has the blocky screen. I know the console works as I can use reboot even though I can't see it. I can see parts of the screen change when I move the mouse.

I selected the NVIDIA DDR (generic) driver during XF86Setup as this was the driver I used in Mandrake 8.0. I started off configuring 8bit at 640x480 and also tried 800x600 at 8bit both having the same result. My monitor definately supports upto 1280x1024. I used to run MD with 1024x768 at 24bit.

I have exec /usr/bin/gnome-session in ~/.xinitrc

Do I need to download the NVIDIA driver?

I would like to have blackbox aswell as gnome, so is that just a case of "apt-get install blackbox"?

Can anyone help me get X/Gnome/Blackbox going? :confused:

My hardware is as follows:

Pentium III 450MHz
256MB RAM
5GB partition
Hercules GeForceII MX
Fujitsu 17" monitor

Thanks

[z0mbix]

Sorry to ask again, but I'm really stuck with this. Can anyone help? Does anyone here use a geforce II MX with potato?

[Xsecrets]

which version of X are you using I think that debian 2.2rX installs 3.3.6 or possibly gives you a choice between 3.3.6 and 4.X.X you need to have X 4.X.X and the nvidia drivers.

[z0mbix]

Thanks, yes I have X 3.3.6 but I had no option during the installation to use X 4.x.x - I have the NVIDIA drivers already, so can I use apt-get to upgrade X?

[nuisance]

Originally posted by cheeky_zombie:
<STRONG>can I use apt-get to upgrade X?</STRONG>

Yes. I would suggest changing your /etc/apt/sources.list file to get packages from the 'testing' branch instead of 'stable' and then 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get upgrade' everything to get newer packages.

You can search this board or google on how to do that if you need to.

[z0mbix]

Originally posted by nuisance:
<STRONG>Yes. I would suggest changing your /etc/apt/sources.list file to get packages from the 'testing' branch instead of 'stable' and then 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get upgrade' everything to get newer packages.</STRONG>

Thanks, I did this this weekend. Along with dist-upgrade. When I reach the console it states that I now have debian testing/unstable. I don't know if this would have upgraded my version of X as my 3D accelerator is not supported under 3.3.6.

How do I find my X version? When startx fails I get and error message stating that a module cannot be found(will post full error message tonight when back home).

Is there anything I need to run after I have run apt-get update, apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade?

I have downloaded the nvidia driver tarballs for my card that I used in mandrake 8.0 under X 4. What packages to I need installed to run tar, ./configure, make and make install? I only performed a minimal install so I don't have these installed.

Thanks for your help so far - :p

:D I've nearly got Debian working! :D

[nuisance]

I think all you need are tar, make and gcc.

Go here (http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_readme_install) for information about installing the nvidia driver and kernel module. There is a section there about installing from source.

Use 'X -version' to find out what X server you're running.