Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Supported) [SOLVED]

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mcurran

Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Supported) [SOLVED]

Post by mcurran »

I just wanted to let Clem and the developers know that the latest edition of Mint (currently Gloria) does not support this old machine out-of-the-box (iso/live cd). All prior releases have supported this machine, but for some reason xorg.conf refuses to configure my legacy ATI 3D RAGE LT PRO 4MB gpu. I believe it has something to do with the lack of ATI support "out-of-the-box." For Felicia and others I needed to run a GParted live cd or other distro, and take note of the xorg.conf file, and then rewrite the code for Mint before starting x: But now with Gloria, I get kernel panics before I'm even able to kill gdm processes and edit xorg. What's up? Maybe think about adding more legacy support to Helena. I don't think I'll have the money for a monster laptop before she's released, so I'd appreciate a peek into this. Why would every other distro I've tried (at least 10) all startup no problem, even Ubuntu, but then have kernel panics with Gloria? Also, FYI, I did try reburning numerous images of Gloria before posting this... and I'm eager to use linux again and I refuse to use any other distro besides Mint. Maybe Debian, but the lack of multimedia support and extra's we get with Mint is ridiculous, and it's not worth spending a month getting Debian up to par and useable.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Husse

Re: Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Not Supported)

Post by Husse »

I hope you checked the md5summ too :)
Maybe the problem is gfxgrub which we use but not Ubuntu, I'm not quite sure how far you come
Can you boot the live CD?
If so it may help to boot and edit the xorg.conf on the installed system from the live CD
Add
Driver "vesa"
to
Section "Device"
If you use Compatibility mode this is what happens (and a few boot options added)
mcurran

Re: Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Not Supported)

Post by mcurran »

Thanks Husse. Unfortunately the vesa driver doesn't want to work either. It's a little more complicated with this old machine. I think the main problem is that I only have 256MB RAM, plus there's some type of issue with this kernel or distro release that doesn't like legacy ATI cards or something. I need to add lots of extra video options in xorg, and can only boot Felicia with the default ATI driver. I'm just gonna wait and see if I can get Helena RC1 up and running; hopefully it'll be released soon...
DrHu

Re: Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Not Supported)

Post by DrHu »

The RAM size will prevent Mint's graphical logon, since that RAM size does not meet the Mint installation specs..512MB is recommended /perhaps needed
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=628
http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/04/15 ... inux-mint/
--old link..

General info..Mint
http://www.linuxminthcl.org/index
http://www.linuxminthcl.org/browse/sear ... category=6
ATI ..
--I am not sure about this site, looks like an advertising troll. so their works fine quotes might not be that valuable, but at least it does show hardware options available !
mcurran

Re: Gloria - COMPAQ PRESARIO 5660 (Not Supported)

Post by mcurran »

Hello:

I have figured out how to workaround the improper configuration of xorg.conf (Monitor, GPU, and DRI drivers) for my ancient PC, and get Helena (Linux Mint 8 ) up and running. I have decided to post this fix for anyone else having trouble with a similar system and the latest Linux Mint releases.

1.) Boot Linux Mint .iso disk as usual.
2.) Wait for configuration message stating that the input is not supported.
3.) Press Ctrl + Alt + F1 to enter terminal/command prompt (repeat if necessary).
4.) Type "sudo -s" and then press Enter to acquire root privileges.
5.) Type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" and then manually type in the appropriate configurations...
[I have provided my xorg.conf file below]
6.) When finished entering all of xorg.conf, press Ctrl + O and then hit Enter - Then press Ctrl + X to return to terminal session
6.) Type "sudo killall --user mint" to reset XAuth* files
7.) If the xserver session has not restarted, then type "sudo killall --user root," followed by "sudo startx".

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file for reference:

Section "Files"
InputDevices "/dev/gpmdata"
InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"
Option "ZapWarning" "on"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "freetype"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "drm"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "kbd"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "Name" "PS2++ Logitech Wheel Mouse"
Option "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 340 270
HorizSync 30-80
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
Option "DPMS"
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
VendorName "EPI"
VertRefresh 43-75
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1280x1024" 135 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 -hsync -vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

Section "Device"
BoardName "Mach64 LB"
Driver "ati"
Identifier "Device[0]"
VendorName "ATI"
Option "DMAMode" "async"
Option "ForcePCIMode" "false"
Option "AgpMode" "2"
Option "AgpSize" "32"
Option "BufferSize" "2"
Option "LocalTextures" "true"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Option "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
EndSection
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