ATI drive not installable in synaptic

Check out setting up ATI/nVidia Graphics at the link below for MEPIS.
http://kb.tafusion.org/link.php?action=detail&id=32

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Hi Sam,

I went ahead and downloaded/installed the ATI drivers from above link, and now I can't get into my desktop. It will only take command username and password after it boots up, but it never takes me to graphical page. I tried Ctr Alt F8, but that doesn't work. Clicking F3 at start of splashy boot up doesn't do anything. Putting live DVD in and choosing install doesn't give me xconfig option to reinstall, though I this probably wouldn't help anyway. A kernel thingy.

I'm left with a command prompt after logging in
Lisa@tty1[~]#

Anyway, obviosly I didn't need the ATI drivers. I'm using Simply Mepis 6.0-1

I'm sure this has been answered before. How do I uninstall the ATI drivers?

I have a ATI Radeon 7000 AGP card.

Thanks Sam and anyone else with help! Call me Lot's wife. I turned back to look.

Regards,

Lisa

Dr. Lazarus: By Grabthar's hammer, we live to tell the tale. Surrender may be our only option!
Commander: No! Never give up ... NEVER surrender.
From, Galaxy Quest

Ok. Put in your install CD (live CD) and boot your computer up to it. Login to root using the password root. Now follow these steps...
1. Open the Konsole by pressing Alt+F2 and typing in konsole in the command dialogue to access the linux terminal.
2. Type in the following commands:
$ su
(type in the root password, the cursor won't move because of security purposes)
# mutilities
3. Now you click on Reinstall X.org Config and it will install the currently viewed display configuration on your live CD into your hard-drive installation.

Post if there are any problems and I'll be more specific
SAM

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Play Savage for Linux! MEPIS Knowledge Base Articles
MEPIS Quick-Start Guide

If you want to try to fix it...
Press Ctrl+Alt+F7 and it should go into the graphical display. If it still doesn't come up then login anyway. Once your in the command line of your user then type in "startx" without quotes. If it works then it will run. If it doesn't work then it will give you an error.

If it DOES work using the startx command then end the current session and it should be back to that command line login.

Log BACK into the same user (it should still be in command line). Now you should type in the following commands.
$ su
# init 5

This should bring up your display and you will be good to go for good.
WARNING!!! If your display doesn't work then DO NOT run the init 5 command or it may render your system unusable and you will possibly have to reinstall.

Use the init 5 command if you get a graphical display successfully after running startx.

Post if more problems...
SAM

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Play Savage for Linux! MEPIS Knowledge Base Articles
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That reinstall xconfig went like a breeze. Thank you.

I followed directions and the only thing I didn't have to do was type in my root password-it didn't ask after I prompted #su, it changed to root rooot#.

Thank you for the reinstallation of xconfig, and the fix it. I've copied both for reference.

Thanks again for your precious time, Sam!!!

Warm regards,

Lisa

Hey Lisa,
This is the very reason why I like MEPIS over all other distro's of Linux. It is much more forgiving. So if you screw up your display it's that simple to fix it. Before on other distro's I always had to do a reinstall and that's a b**ch. I feel that MEPIS is the very best because it automatically compiles and configures the ATI fglrx driver on MEPIS systems. It is one of the hardest things to do on a Linux machine. I've tried several times before and failed many times before.

But with MEPIS you just click an X in a checkbox and it autocompiles for your system hardware. I love it!
There's a ton of things that make MEPIS easier to work with over other distro's so if you stick with it you'll find them. I've only been using a MEPIS for about a 1 1/2 months but as you can see I'm already pretty fluent with how it works.

It's because it's that easy so I suggest you stick with it because if you switch to other version you're not going to be happy.

Check out the Knowledge Base Articles in the links on my signature and you will find several helpful tips. The Quick-Start MEPIS User guide was written by me and also contains helpful information tailored specifically to MEPIS. Check out my 3D Desktop article on MEPIS also. Here's the link:
http://www.mepis.org/node/11472

Enjoy!
SAM

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Play Savage for Linux! MEPIS Knowledge Base Articles
MEPIS Quick-Start Guide

Hi Sam,

That is all so true! I think the first reason I thought I needed the ATI drivers was because, well, I could't find out what graphics drivers the system was using by looking in "System", so I did a knee jerk/Windoze reaction and said, "ah hah, I must install the ATI drivers!" Stupid.

The default drivers with Simply Mepis 6.0-1 work great, so I have no complaints. I haven't used any 3-D challenged software to push the envelope, so I don't know if it would crash or not in this scenerio. But, like I say, it works Fine with DVD's and yes, I finally can view SVCDs and home recorded DVD's.

With Windoze, I would have gotten the blue screen 'o death with this situation.

Thanks for the great work you do for Mepis! Thanks for the links.

Cheerio,

Lisa

Hi again Sam. Edited to add, can you give me a link to a 3D program so I can see if I can crash it LOL! I'm just curious. I'm sure there are a few games that came with SM. I'm not a gamer-I get dazzled enough by modern movied on DVD! But, I'd like to see what it would look like with my AGP ATI card.

Hey Lisa,
There is a cool feature called 3D Desktop Switcher. It uses OpenGL which is 3D. Here's the link. It may/may not work in your situation.
http://kb.tafusion.org/link.php?id=144

What's it do?
This is probably one of the coolest features on MEPIS Linux! Rather than using your regular Desktop switching applet (the little squares) give 3D Desktop a try. It shrinks your currently viewed desktop into a single side of a cube of all of your desktops. You then "spin" the cube to choose which desktop you want to go to. Each side of the cube has a screen shot of the desktop it's representing so you know which desktop you're going to! Give it a try because it blows the Windows Vista 3D Alt+Tab out of the water!

How's it render the cube? If you are not OpenGL compatable then when you run 3ddesk, nothing will happen.
SAM

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Thanks Sam. I was just looking over your coolest LINUX game, and seeing the 413MB size, I had to pass on it. Maybe I will purchase a 3D game and see how it plays. OpenGL sounds a mystery to me. I will give it a go and see what it's all about. Yes, it's easy to tell I'm a newb LOL!

Lisa

http://kb.tafusion.org/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=7
That's a list of some games (download and purchase). You should do some research on what games are supported in Linux. With many games, such as Doom 3 and Quake 4, you must buy the Windows version and then download the Linux native game engine and copy over some games files that will run the game. Otherwise you would have to invest into something like Cedega 5.2.6 by TransGaming to run games that aren't natively compatable in Linux.

Good luck!
SAM

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Play Savage for Linux! MEPIS Knowledge Base Articles
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well, there's always planet-penguin racer
which is always fun
and installed by default