[Cialug] RHEL install Inspiron 9300

[Dave J. Hala Jr.]

Interesting what you said about the newest versions. I went ahead and
downloaded that lastest  RHEL iso's, with all the latest updates. While
I still had to install in text mode using the vga=791 command, the
install wouldn't load the driver for the hard drive. I found this to be
rather strange. Since I already had a working install, I didn't pursue
it.

Soon, I'll be updating and tweaking the install.  That should be
interesting.

:) Dave

On Sun, 2006-01-29 at 22:21, D. Joe Anderson wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 25, 2006 at 03:40:52PM -0600, Nathaniel Petersen wrote:
> > Not an X server issue.
> > 
> > There is a problem with most of the latest Dell equipment with this
> > issue.  Even the Debian installer will get that 'weird' video issue. 
> > While I am not willing to wager without further research, I found that
> > adding the "vga=791" to the boot options will resolve the text-based
> > install.  No work has been down with the graphical install to know if
> > this resolves the graphical install.
> 
> Doesn't a problem even in text mode does sound like an unhappy
> attempt to use the framebuffer?  maybe vga=ask would be the
> thing to use, and then have it not use the framebuffer at all. 
> 
> 1440x900 sounds like a decidedly non-VESA resolution (Dr. Google
> reports seeing some call it WXGA, or WXGA+ or WSXGA).  If the
> software thinks it knows what its doing, but it asks the
> hardware to do something the hardware can't do, that may give
> you trouble.  Maybe the BIOS has some settings to stretch a
> normal VESA mode on the screen.  I've seen this work on some
> 1280x800 or other near-WXGA screens.  While it will be
> distorted, it'll be legible and might allow you to progress to
> using the full resolution.
> 
> This is where it might be fun to throw the latest versions, or
> even release candidates or alphas, of the various live CDs at it
> (I'm thinking KNOPPIX and Ubuntu here, mostly) just for kicks. 
> Increasingly I've been reading/hearing reference to the Ubuntu
> Dapper flight 3 CD, but haven't given it a spin yet.
-- 

Open Source Information Systems, Inc. (OSIS)
Dave J. Hala Jr., President <dave at osis.us>
641.485.1606