Bingo!! That: Option "overridevalidatemode" was the magic incatation I was missing. I added that line to my XF86Config-4 file and at last I have nothing disappearing off the bottom of the display - I did't even know there was a status bar down there till now...
Oddly, however, when I tried installing your XF86Config-4 file verbatim, all I got was a blank display. The server didn't die, and the CTL-ALT-Fn sequence didn't get me to a text console, so I was rather glad I had an ssh server setup.... I'll have to do a gradual migration to your settings to try and find out what it doesn't like... The kernel that my install gave me, by the way, is 2.6.8-2-386 What bugs me is that I definately searched through neomagic(4x) looking for an option like that, and it isn't mentioned at all :-/ Where did you find it? On your other points: On Wed, Jan 25, 2006 at 05:19:49PM +0100, Richard Mittendorfer wrote: > Also sprach Digby Tarvin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:42:59 > +0000): > > As of 24 hours ago I have just dipped a toe into the debian waters by > > attempting my first debian install on an old (but still much used) > > Libretto 110CT, and wondered if there were any other users of such > > 'classic' hardware out there... > > Debian Etch/Sid, 110ct @ 266MHz, 64M, still original 4G Drive. Kernel > 2.6.15-ck2. :) Forgive my Debian ignorance, but what does 'Etch/Sid' refer to? And what about the 'ck2'? You seem to be on a later kernel - I assume my install gave me the latest stable. Have you moved up to a development version? Your hardware sounds the same as mine, except I have long since upgraded the HD. I am installing Debian on my older 20GB drive, and if I get it to a point where it does everything I need, I might splash out on a 100GB upgrade, which seems to be the sweet spot to 2.5" drives at the moment - at least for 5400RPM. If I was worried about speed, I would probably have upgraded to a faster laptop... > > I am interested in comparing notes on getting an installation that > > supports the integrated hardware as fully as possible... > > Just a few things that won't work. minimal. Depending on your > Kernelversion. There isn't much left that I havn't had working on the old setup. Just the external SVGA, and the FIR. I had the PCMCIA floppy going, and the EPR USB interface. PCMCIA LAN/WLAN/SCSI/MODEM/CF all worked fine, as did external keyboard, mouse and of course serial. For some reason the little HDD activity light only works with some drives. I havn't had it working with anything over 20GB, even though the drive itself works fine. > > The net-install, bootstrapped from the old system, went very smoothly, > > and I have the basic necessities going - PCMCIA Ethernet connection > > and rudimentry X server. > > :) good fight. It too two attempts. The first, which followed the instructions in appendix C.4 of the install docs for 'Install from GNU/Linux host' got a basic system booted, but I never managed to get the PCMCIA to go, and without a working LAN it wasn't much use.. (same place I got stuck when I tried gentoo)... My second attempt used the Lilo/GRUB method of booting an netinstall CD from hard disk, and the hardware detection part of the install routine found the right magic to get my PCMCIA going... I suspect in retrospect that it might have been my choice of a 2.6 kernel in the second attempt which was crucial, as even my current install fails to talk to the PCMCIA when I reboot into the 2.4 kernel.. > > However I am not yet at the point I was at with SuSE as far as > > hardware support goes. In particular: > > > > 1. X11 Configuration > > On my old system I had resorted to using the commercial Xi Graphics > > 'Accelerated-X' laptop display server - primarily because it supported > > the unconventional Libretto 800x480 LCD out of the box, and I had > > originally bought it to use on my BSD/OS system for which it was > > the only option. > > Use xorg/xfree that comes with etch/sarge. Use this config: Thanks again for your clues there. I feel much more comfortable with a reasonable X display up and running. I have been trawling the www.xfree86.org site in search of some documentation that contains all the secret modes that weren't in the online docs, but still havn't found it.. > > So far the sample XF86Config files I have found online have not > > worked with the default XFree86 server (4.3.0.1) on Debian, and my > > attempts to modify the generated config file, which creates a 800x600 > > display with the bottom 120 pixels obscured, have not worked. (I > > havn't attempted the externel display mode yet). > > I just use 800x480. That is all I really want on the LCD. The SVGA output would be nice to have for those occasions when one is away from home and able to borrow a keyboard, screen and mouse to make the Libretto a bit more ergonomic. But that is just a 'nice to have' - the 800x480 was the need.. > > 2. Audio. > > /etc/modules > -------------8<----------- > snd-opl3sa2 dma1=1 dma2=0 irq=5 midi_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388 > wss_port=0x530 sb_port=0x220 port=0x370 opl3sa3_ymode=3 > snd_mixer_oss > > #toshiba > #ath_pci > #cfq-iosched > -------------8<----------- > > Be sure to have your BIOS settings are this way too. > > You can also use alsa or /etc/modutils/sound to give these parameters to > the module. Thanks - I'll be trying this next... > > Do I need to rebuild the kernel, or is something else missing...? > > The distribution kernels are quite big. Here's my .config, you may have > to add a few things if you need them. It's vanilla 2.6.15 (.1 comes with > patch!) with ck's patch from > http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/ . You'll need recent > udev and stuff if you use this newer kernels! And pcmcia (not cardbus) > currently needs a bit of luck ;) Thanks. A kernel rebuild is on my list also - but I thought I had better make sure I was starting from a stable 'stable' release before I experiment with the bleeding-edge. Thanks again, DigbyT -- Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com http://www.digbyt.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]