[Eug-lug] Am I missing the big picture?

[Neil Parker]

Dhosthi Dhosthi wrote,
>Hey, are video drivers taboo?  I don't want to *iss on
>any sacred cows.  
>
>Missing ATI drivers issue seems to be a common one
>with Ubuntu6.10, however nobody on this board is
>responding.  
>
>Is it too basic an issue?  
>
>As mentioned, the community boards seem to be all over
>the place with this matter with no resolution.  
>
>Is it an issue with old hardware not being supported? 
>I should maybe throw in another card?

Nope, no taboo or sacred cows...more likely nobody who's seen your mail so
far has any good suggestions.

I have successfully used an ATI Rage IIC with Linux.  However, the only
way I know to set it up involves manually editing the configuration file,
but you seemed to indicate in your previous letter that you didn't feel
confident enough to try that yourself.

I'm sure Ubuntu must supply a nice GUI program to save you from having to
manually edit the configuration file, but I'm not an Ubuntu expert, and I
don't know where it hides such things.

At this point my best suggestion is to bring it to the next meeting (which
probably won't be for a couple of weeks...there's no meeting this week due
to Thanksgiving, and I think the following week is SAO).

A few points:

* The Rage IIC was new circa 1998, when video cards had a lot less memory
  than they usually do now.  Depending on how much memory it has, it might
  not be capable of some higher-resolution modes.  (But it should be able
  to do better than 640x480...if it has 4MB, it can manage 1024x768.)
* The Rage IIC has 3D capabilities, but they're not available in Linux.
  (Apparently you're not missing much...I understand its 3D hardware
  has some rather severe limitations.)
* The resolution you can get depends on your monitor as well as your
  video card.  If you have a really old monitor, Linux may think 640x480
  is the best it can do.

If possible, you might want to see what happens with a different monitor
or a different video card.

               - Neil Parker