I wanted to migrate from Ubuntu to OpenSUSE , used Ubuntu for about a year now and want to try something “new” .
Anyway, here it comes:
PC model:
Dell latitude D531 , ATI graphic card.
First I downloaded the CD version with GNOME , burned and started setup .
Splash / Boot screen loaded fine before the screen went green with a white window , tried different things and found out that using the DVD would be the best choice .
Downloaded and installed the DVD version, the install went fine, only a few connection timeouts to the server that I choose to abort .
When setup was done I booted up and again, the splash / boot went fine, before the screen blinked a bit and terminal mode started .
Googled around a bit and found this post .
Everything went fine before I tried the “sax2”-part and the output was “command not found” .
Tried “zypper install sax2” - and the output told med it already was installed .
Googled around a bit more, but found nothing .
Anyone know what to do for getting GUI / Sax2 working ?
Btw:
Tried zypper update sax2 , the output told me it wasn’t installed , but the zypper install said it was .
Tried reinstall , but got following error :
cd:///?devices=/dev/sr0 on : Mounting media failed
Abort, retry, ignore ? [A/r/i]
You are getting this error because you are not running as root.
At the prompt type “sudo sax2” (without quots) press enter then the root password and the program should run.
By default, your software package manager (yast/zypper) are set up to look at your installation CD/DVD for software. That may explain the “mount error” you are referring to.
I do not think the following advice is directly relevant for your specific GUI problem, but it is good practice, immediately after a fresh install, once you establish an internet connection, which is to setup your software package manager for the following 4 repositories: OSS, Non-OSS, Update, and Packman. Just those 4. No others. None. (You can add others once you understand the limitations and risks and incompatibilities and hiccups that can arise from adding others). There is guidance for adding those 4 repositories here: Repositories/11.0 - openSUSE-Community
again, only OSS, Non-OSS, Update and Packman. Once those 4 are added, if you wish you can disable in your Software Package Manager its looking for your Installation CD/DVD for software.
Did you run the media check which is on the initial boot menu of the DVD ? Its important to do that to check the quality of the DVD you burned.
Reference installing, it is often beneficial to do an installation at a lower resolution, and then change to a higher resolution later. On my Dell Studio 15 laptop (with an ATI Radeon 3450 HD) I performed my installation at 1024x768. Then a few days later, I booted to run level 3 (a full screen text/ascii terminal session with internet access) and I ran sax2 to increase the resolution from 1024x768 to 1440x900.
I did some cautionary steps as part of this. What I did (and this is specific to my PC, you will need to adapt for your hardware) was boot to run level 3 (do this by typing “3” in the initial boot menu, and the “3” will show up in the options line). Then:
a. login as a regular user to the terminal
b. examine /etc/X11/xorg.conf to see what graphic driver I was using. One way to do this is to type: cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep river
I noted the driver for my PC was “radeonhd”. Also note Linux is case sensitive (ie be very precise as to whether you use upper or lower case when typing).
c. typed “su” (no quotes) to switch users to root (admin).
d. backed up my xorg.conf with: cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
e. ran sax2 to check my card and chip # : sax2 -p
f. noted I had a Radeon 3450 HD (I already knew that) and it was chip 0.
g. ran: sax2 -r -m 0=radeonhd #note that is zero equals radeonhd. It is zero for chip 0.
h. noted that seemed to run well, and I ended back at a text ascii prompt.
i. typed “exit” to get rid of root permissions.
j. typed “whoami” to confirm I was no longer root
k. typed “startx” to test my X windows
l. inside X windows I opened a kde konsole (like a small terminal) and typed: su -c ‘shutdown -r now’ #to immediately reboot and confirm the settings held.
You may need to change “sax2 -r -m 0=radeonhd” to something like:
sax2 -r -m 0=ati
or
sax2 -r -m 0=radeon
or
sax2 -r -m 0=vesa
If your chip is 1 and not 0, then you may need to use something like (for example): sax2 -r -m 1=vesa.
Good luck! Note once you get this down it is second nature. Fortunately its not rocket science.
