X configuration issues - initially with quality of X

[Joe]

Hi there,

I am enjoying PCBSD a lot!

I am still having issues with X. I usually don't post on a board with an issue until I have exhausted all options, searched forums etc. so here goes.

My target computer for the install is a Toshiba Satellite 2610DVD, with 433 celeron processor, so its a little old, but very robust. PCBSD installed like a breeze, X worked fine... but wasn't smooth or quick... for example, menu pop ups on the toolbar slowly swipe on the screen, scrolling looks terrible, Video is unwatchable.

The video card is a Trident 9525 2.5 meg

I tried to adjust the XF86Config file in various different ways, changing options, resolutions, etc... searched web for example files for this particular computer, added and took away options, and still the same thing happened... X loaded fine, but KDE runs like a bit of a dog.

The Control Cennter>Peripherals display showed all these extra options that weren't in the XF86Config file too, which I thought was strange.

ANYWAY - the thing I don't understand is - I have a live CD of SLAX and I pop that in to my laptop and KDE is fantastic, quick and wonderful. That is the kind of graphical experience I want with PCBSD, so I spent all night trying to figure out how to do this.

I also used xorgconfig too... but it didn't make any difference. I would try doing a "generic" set up with xorgconfig, but I did something silly.

I copyied the xorg.config, xorg.conf-fbdev, xorg.conf-vesa files from the SLAX distro (cos they worked the best) and now my X crashes the computer when it boots. I then spent two hours or more searching here to find a way to stop PCBSD loading up X when logging on, so I can delete all those files and run xorgconfig again.

I am sorry if this is a bit longwinded. My feeling at the moment is that SLAX uses the VESA driver and that seems to provide the best results.

Any advice appreciated. I am going to go to bed now and deal with this tomorrow. The first thing I need to know is how to stop X from loading at boot so I can delete the bad config files, and second I need to know from more experienced PCBSD users if it is possible for me to use VESA with my chipset, or even some pointers on where I need to go to figure it out. I have spent a lot of time today trying to get this right! ha ha.

Thanks :)

[Joe]

Still no luck with this issue!

Is there any way I can log onto PCBSD without it starting X automatically?

Then I can at least reconfigure X to work.

Thanks for any help/pointers :)

[antik]

Still no luck with this issue!

Is there any way I can log onto PCBSD without it starting X automatically?

Then I can at least reconfigure X to work.

Thanks for any help/pointers :)

Log in single user mode.
How much memory do you have on laptop?

[Joe]

My laptop has 192 meg of RAM.

I tried single user mode with no luck, so I did a complete system reinstall. X is still rather sluggish, maybe I will just put up with it for now. I have to investigate why SLAX works so well, and the X server with PCBSD doesn't. If I could fix this one thing, l would be so happy with PCBSD. Well... I already am :) just more happy if you get my drift.

Maybe the X server that SLAX uses is a different version... or something. I don't even pretend to understand how X works though I am prepared to learn. I have always used BSD (NetBSD) via command line (remote server).

Thanks for the reply.

[antik]

My laptop has 192 meg of RAM.

I tried single user mode with no luck, so I did a complete system reinstall. X is still rather sluggish, maybe I will just put up with it for now. I have to investigate why SLAX works so well, and the X server with PCBSD doesn't. If I could fix this one thing, l would be so happy with PCBSD. Well... I already am :) just more happy if you get my drift.

Maybe the X server that SLAX uses is a different version... or something. I don't even pretend to understand how X works though I am prepared to learn. I have always used BSD (NetBSD) via command line (remote server).

Thanks for the reply.

when you log in single user you have to mount all you partitions found in fstab

mount -a

I know that Trident blade something is horrible videocard even with windows...

[Joe]

Thanks for the tip re: mounting in single user mode.

Yeah, this video card is probably not the best... but it does work really well under Windows, (and slax as mentioned). I would really like to be able to watch video content such as online video and DVDs without the poor image quality. I am sure it is possible under PCBSD so I am not giving up yet!

I will post back here to tell you how I go. Also, if anyone has any ideas, feel free to post a reply.

Thanks so much for your support.