[Plug] Remember that problem I had with X a couple months back? :) (including general ramblings and questions)

["Bill Jonas" <Bill_Jonas@msn.com>]

For those of you who don't remember, a few months back, I was having trouble
configuring X to run properly with my ATI Rage 3D IIc (AGP).  Well, I never
did get it resolved.  Here's the scoop:  This card is integrated into my
motherboard (as is everything except the winmodem that eMachines was kind
enough to give me), and I couldn't get it to run with the Mach64 driver
(which is the driver that it supposedly requires).  I had a somewhat
"staticky" display on the left half of the screen, and a wavy and staticky
display on the right.  I was trying to download Slackware 4.0 at the time.
I never did get that resolved with the Mach64 driver.  I then tried to
download RedHat, but I got frustrated (trying to figure out which files were
required and whatnot, as well as wrestle with a brain-dead Windows FTP
client), as with Debian.  (I *really* need to get the money together to get
a real modem, or get cable access.)  However, my girlfriend had bought me
that Slack 7.0 CD set @ Micro Center that I mentioned about 2 weeks ago, and
gave it to me Thursday as a present for passing my A+.  I installed it,
typed "startx", and KDE (which is a *much* better WM than fvwm, thank you
very much (everybody say it:  "Thank you, Captain Obvious!")) started right
up.  I couldn't leave well enough alone, though, and I was back in
XF86Setup, and I changed the X server back to Mach64.  BAM!  Same problem.
I had to disable gpm this time, but once that was accomplished, X gave me
the same damn problems.  I tried specifying sane settings, running
SuperProbe, searching the web and deja.com, but I couldn't find any answers.
(BTW, I already knew that I had an internal RAMDAC; SuperProbe told me that
my chipset is 264GT-IIc, which wasn't on the list in XF86Setup for the
Mach64 driver.  Internal RAMDAC was there, though.  Also, SuperProbe did not
report on the clock chips, but I *believe* mine are non-programmable.)  I
tried changing to the generic driver ("Unsupported Card"), but graphics
performance was horrendously syrupy, both Bad *and* Wrong.  Included in the
Slack 7 set was a bootable CD with a "live" filesystem, so I booted off of
that, just to see if X would work properly and to see which server it used.
Lo and behold, it *did* work.  I wanted to see what was going on, so I
examined /usr/X11R6/bin/X, and found it was symlinked to /var/X11R6/bin/X,
which was symlinked to /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_FBDev (!).  I reinstalled the OS,
and the same server was active by default.  KDE worked great, though.  So I
thought, "If it ain't broke, why fuck with it?"

I guess I wrote all that to ask a few questions, including, but not limited
to, the following:

1.) I have a little more Clue(TM) than the average luser, so I know I'm
probably taking a performance hit by using the generic framebuffer server,
but can anybody approximate how much?  What differs between the framebuffer
and a card-specific server?  I let Slackware setup configure LILO to use the
framebuffer device (as it called it) rather than the plain ol' hardware so
that I get a nifty Tux logo on bootup and my console (before I start X) runs
in 1024 X 768 (great for those long-ass directory listings).  What exactly
does this mean?  If I reconfigure LILO to run directly off the hardware, can
I still use the framebuffer server in X?

2.) If there *is* a significant performance hit, can anyone help me
configure X so I can use the Mach64 server?  Here is the output from
SuperProbe:

Chipset: ATI 264GT-IIc (3D Rage IIc) (Port Probed)
Memory:  4096 Kbytes
RAMDAC:  ATI Mach64 integrated 15/16/24/32-bit DAC w/clock
         (with 8-bit wide lookup tables)
         (programmable for 6/8-bit wide lookup tables)
Attached graphics coprocessor:
         Chipset: ATI Mach 64
         Memory:  4096 Kbytes

3.) There is no number three.

4.) KDE or GNOME?  <ducks>  I installed KDE because hard drive space is a
big issue for me right now (88MB vs 135MB for a full install in Slack 7),
and I don't have the space to install them both.

5.) On an unrelated note:  Anyone have any success in getting the Canon
BJC-1000 to work with Linux?  I think I saw in somebody's database on the
web that it's a "Paperweight" under Linux.  Can anyone confirm or deny that
it's a Winprinter?

Sorry to go on for so long, but it's late, and I needed to rant a little.  I
also apologize for a lot of the newbie questions.  I've tried RT'ing a bunch
of FM's, and I feel as though I haven't gotten anywhere.  TIA for any help
anybody can provide.

Bill




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