Hi, I tried running the live cd of opensuse 11.2, everything works ok except all the text is microscopic, I can’t see any thing to change any settings, I did mange to read that it had the right screen resolution under a icon of a display, this happens with Kubuntu to, Ubuntu and PCLinux work fine.
I tried changing what I thought was the resolution settings but got the old black screen and signal out of range etc, is this just the live cd that causes this. Also is there a way to reboot if things go blank or freeze when running live cd’s, sorry if I’ve posted in the wrong place, thanks.
Yes, there could be a problem. Why not test to see if you can tune this with the live CD ?
When running the live CD, open a terminal and type type “init3” (no quotes) to get to run level 3 which is a full screen text mode. I’m not possitive as to the syntax (I never type “init 3” but rather I typically boot to run level 3). Nor do I know if root permissions are needed. Try and find out. Or simply reboot and select the text mode (press F3 at grub menu ?? ) to boot to a text mode. Note regular user name is “linux” and password <enter>
Once in run level 3 (ie a full screen text mode) and logged in, type “su” (no quotes) and <enter> for password and then try to configure your graphics better. You can do that possibly by typing:
sax2 -r -m 0=radeonhd
Then see if typing “init 5” (maybe its “init5”) to see if you can get back to run level 5 (the GUI) with better graphics. Alternatively type “exit” to become a regular user and type “startx” as that may work better. Note the regular user is “linux” and the password <enter>
I can’t see any text at all, it’s microscopic, so I can’t change anything from the desktop, I did try and find that under look and feel etc but it was impossible to change, thanks for your reply. Will try other suggestions when I get home.
Hi, I tried booting in text mode as I could not see or find a terminal in the desktop to try init3, it started ok and then stopped when it reached this point:
Master Resource Control: runlevel 3 has been reached
Fail Services in runlevel 3 Postfix
Skipped Services in runlevel 3
nfs splash
I then typed user name linux, password enter and got a red command line but could not go any further as I did not know any commands. I not sure how to start the terminal in OpenSuse or if what I did open was the terminal.
I did manage to check my hardware, it recognised my graphics as ATI HD3200 but there was a exclamation mark on the driver.
Would the dvd version have the correct driver already installed as it seems impossible to use this distro with my hardware or to install them, I did try all avaible options at boot, including changing screen resolution but it made no difference.
Perhaps you obtained a full screen with a white or greeen command line first after first logging in as “linux” and pressing <enter> as password ? … and then after typing “su” (no quotes) and pressing <enter> as password you obtained the full screen with a red command line?
The “red” indicates administrator permissions and it is a warning one must normally be careful.
At that point, you run one of the commands I suggested … ie …
sax2 -p
will tell us what graphics card you have.
Next …
sax2 -r -m 0=radeonhd
will create an xorg.conf file (configure file for X window) and if that is successful, you then exit sax2, and type “exit” (to get rid of root permissions) and type “startx” to start X window.
… or if the “radeonhd” driver does not work, try the “radeon” driver with
sax2 -r -m 0=radeon
will create an xorg.conf file (configure file for X window) and if that is successful, you then exit sax2, and type “exit” (to get rid of root permissions) and type “startx” to start X window.
… or if the “radeonhd” and “radeon” driver does not work, try the “vesa” driver with
sax2 -r -m 0=vesa
will create an xorg.conf file (configure file for X window) and if that is successful, you then exit sax2, and type “exit” (to get rid of root permissions) and type “startx” to start X window.
… or if the “radeonhd” and “radeon” and “vesa” driver does not work, try the “fbdev” driver with
sax2 -r -m 0=fbdev
will create an xorg.conf file (configure file for X window) and if that is successful, you then exit sax2, and type “exit” (to get rid of root permissions) and type “startx” to start X window.
However if it were me, I would not install openSUSE if it was only the vesa and fbdev drivers that worked.
Perhaps you obtained a full screen with a white or greeen command line first after first logging in as “linux” and pressing <enter> as password ? … and then after typing “su” (no quotes) and pressing <enter> as password you obtained the full screen with a red command line?
Yes this did happen, sorry I thought it would then load the desktop and then I would use the other commands in a terminal. I will study what you have posted and try again, I have ATI HD3200 intergrated graphics based on the AMD 780 chipset.
Sorry for delay in replying, thanks for all your help, will let you know how things go.
Hi, found the problem, it was my monitor, it has a strange resolution of 1360x768, I changed to my old acer 17" and loaded the versa drivers and it was ok, I tried configuring the other monitor but every setting produced the same result of microscopic text, the monitor was given to me and I think it’s a combo tv, monitor.
Thank you for your help, the commands all worked ok, it just does not like the monitor or there may be a dodgy vga connection, but ubuntu and pc linux worked ok, so will look into that, sorry to waste your time and effort.
How do your graphic display: everythings ok except text.
what is your resolution: 1360x768
what is your screen size ( measured diagonally) 22"
I should have checked and tried a different monitor before posting, actually my pc linux live cd kept giving me a blank screen after the boot menu last night, so should have known better, I guess because ubuntu was fine I thought it was opensuse and a driver issue, thanks again.
Or simply reboot and select the text mode (press F3 at grub menu ?? ) to boot to a text mode. Note regular user name is “linux” and password <enter>