[Sussex] New distro install (Mandriva 2006) problems - where to start?

[Thomas Adam]

On Sat, Dec 10, 2005 at 03:12:07PM +0000, John D. wrote:

> though it doesn't seem to tell "us" much ??

It doesn't tell me what I wanted to know, either -- so no news is good
news.

> I also looked through some of the output of "lspci -v" as Steve
> suggested - but it just seems to list the pci related devices - which
> all appear to be there.

I'd have been more interested in the output of "lscpi -n", personally.

> When I had a look through the the /var/log/Xorg.0.log I was looking
> for something that might be listed as (EE), but there was nothing
> there - plenty of the (II) and (WW) but I've seen those before and
> don't, as far as I can tell, cause a problem.

They're there for your information.

> I also had a look at the /etc/X11/xorg.conf - which caused me to
> think a little (yes I can manage that, occassionally :D ). The
> first thing I noticed was that the monitor was set at 1600x1200 @
> 70hz. I'm presuming that thats something that harddrake or whatever
> utility, chose automatically (my memory suggested that the monitor
> has been set at slightly different "speeds" previously) so I changed
> it to 1600x1200 @ 76hz which has made some improvements the normal
> horizontal/vertical settings that [it's] capable of are * "30-94 Khz /
> 50-160 Hz", *I'm sure that previously I've had it set at 1600x1200 @
> 85hz but am not offered that option. Hum???

If you're careful, I would use xvidtune(1) to spit out a modeline for
your monitor, and throw that in your xorg.conf file.   

> Also, with KDE you get the small "cursor icon" that moves with the
> cursor pointer as you move the mouse. This sometimes leaves a trail
> of "little icons" when the mouse/cursor is moved - the mouse entry of
> the xorg.conf shows that it "thinks" that the mouse uses EXPLORERPS/2
> and the scroll setting is entered as Option "ZAXIS MAPPING" "6
> 7". The mouse is "working" reasonably well, though with previous
> distros/installs I've always used IMPS/PS2 and the z axis mapping has
> been set to "4 5". Have I got it "wrong" before and mandriva found/set
> it right?? Or would it be safe/sensible to change it???

Yes --- I would almost certainly use IMPS/2 as the mouse protocol.  This
should then clear up those inconsistencies.

-- Thomas Adam

--  
I'm brutal, honest, and afraid of you.