[vox-tech] XF86Config Question

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Robert G. Scofield (rscofield at afes.com):

> This Debian Net Install is requiring a lot of work.  I'm trying to set
> up X, and I keep reading warnings that one can burn out a monitor or
> video card if one screws up.  That's why I'm asking this question.
> 
> I ran the xf86config program and was asked how much RAM my video card
> has.  I've got onboard video, and I didn't know the answer.  I
> couldn't find it on the web, or in my motherboard manual.  So I picked
> 4096.

Suggestion:  

Before configuring XFree86, install some of the optional
hardware-recognition packages, some of which make XFree86 setup
"smarter".  Here's my standard list[1] of such packages:



Hardware-recognition (and related) packages:

discover
  Hardware identification system (thank you, Progeny Systems, Inc.),
  for various PCI, PCMCIA, and USB devices.  Will improve XFree86
  hardware probing.
kudzu, kudzu-vesa
  Hardware-probing tool (thank you, Red Hat Software, Inc.) intended to
  be run at boot time.  Requires hwdata package.  kudzu-vesa is the
  VBE/DDC stuff for autodetecting monitor characteristics.
mdetect
  Mouse device autodetection tool.  If present, it will be used to aid
  XFree86 configuration tools.
read-edid
  Hardware information-gathering tool for VESA PnP monitors.  If
  present, it will be used to aid XFree86 configuration tools.
sndconfig
  Sound configuration (thank you, Red Hat Software, Inc.), using isapnp
  detection.  Requires kernel with OSS sound modules.  Uses kudzu, aumix, 
  and sox.
hotplug
  USB/PCI device hotplugging support, and network autoconfig.
nictools-nopci
  Diagnostic and setup tools for many non-PCI ethernet cards
nictools-pci
  Diagnostic and setup tools for many PCI ethernet cards.
mii-diag
  "A little tool to manipulate network cards" (examines and sets the MII
  registers of network cards).
printtool
  Autodetection of printers and PPD support, via an enhanced version of 
  Red Hat Software's Tk-based printtool.  Requires the pconf-detect 
  command-line utility for detecting parallel-port, USB, and
  network-connected printers (which can be installed separately as
  package pconf-detect).



The list is getting a little moldy with age (e.g., odds are long that
you won't need nictools-nopci), but at minimum mdetect and read-edid 
would be helpful.[2]

Although "XFree86 -configure" will do a decent job on any *ix, on Debian
specifically you might consider "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86",
instead (_after_ installing those hardware-autorecognition packages).

>         #VideoRAM   4096
> So it looks to me like my 4096 selection is commented out, right?

Don't sweat that.  It's there in case XFree86 attempts some stupid guess
at your video memory amount that you _know_ to be wrong, in case you
therefore wish to un-comment that line, to hit XFree86 with the Cluebat
of Enlightenment.

[1] "Hardware Detection" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Debian.
[2] I'm unsure about why such packages are omitted by default.  One
speculation is that some hardware may tend to hang if autoprobed.