DIY Street Linux Thread.

[Guest Blooz1]

doc -

 

Go ahead and do the D/L. You can run the whole thing off the CD to check it out, and installation is totally automatic. I ran it, and it's nice!

 

Here's a good review from Ars Technica;

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/ubuntu-g...bbon-review.ars

[dr_bowtie]

downloaded it....

 

I also have the Likewhoa linked Live cd for gentoo i think....but I have never tried Linux....

 

But i still have a little chubby over hte XGL but not enough guts/balls to try something I have no idea about....But I stumbled across a guide for setting up a Linux file server and thats been up my alley....

 

I got a spare mATX-754 board for this kind of thing but I just need a mATX case thats decent for cheap...

[ReelFiles]

e_lion_1, thanks for the help, but it didn't quite solve the problem. I said screw it for now ordered an AGP card. I will try it again when it gets here.

[dr_bowtie]

Ok...

 

I finally grew a pair last night and set down and tried something new...albeit over my head for the 1st time....

 

I am one of those people who have to know about everything I know nothing about...and since I know nothing about Linux and have never even seen it other than the web I loaded Ubuntu 7.10 (GG) to a box....

 

The thing I like worst about myself is if I know nothing about something I am cool with that until I come in contact with it....then I drive myself crazy with wanting to understand every aspect of it and be as good with it as others...

 

I will be so curious about it...it will drive me insane until I know enough about this to do it on my own with little or no help at all...right now I am going nuts because it didnt go as well as I thought it would but I think I got it to a happy medium and want something more....Eye Candy....

 

Here's what I started with...

 

ECS K8M800-M2 Socket 754/2800 Athlon

 

2x512 Corsair XMS (utt-bh-5) tccd wouldnt play nice on this board?

 

FX5200ultra video card (onboard wouldnt work)

 

old but handy 7.5gb hard drive (IDE)

 

Lite-On cd drive (IDE)

 

Ultra 500w PSU (bought from SoundX98 long ago)

 

 

On this set up it took me 8 tries to get this thing loaded...1st couple attemps were because it wouldnt play nice with my TCCD ram and then another because a 6gig hard drive I was using decided to give up the ghost...

 

Then it would load with onboard video going so then I spent most of the time switching hardware until I found a combo that would play nice together....

 

So after 8 attemps I got it installed and i like it...seems simple like a Windows 98se interface....(bet I get some guff over that comment...) but it runs pretty smooth and I want to play more with it before I say ya or na on the whole concept....

 

Now what I would like to do is Install and run the XGL or XGL+Beryl...? I told ya I like the eye candy...

 

Anyone know more about this than I do that would like to walk me thru this whole concept...?

 

I found the links for it but got lost at Downloading it...As I mentioned I have no idea how to work Linux or anything...so I will need a pretty thorough step by step or MSN instruction as I do this at the same time to get this accomplished incase I run into trouble....?

 

links for XGL...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSZacMz9QF4&eurl= (video)

 

Guide.....

 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=203877

 

any help would be greatly thankfull

 

EDIT...After some reading around the web it seems Ubuntu 7.10 (GG) come pre-packaged with Compiz-Fusion which is a very nice 3D GUI interface...like Beryl+Compiz....seems Beryl is just a fork of Compiz...but all you should have to do is enable the driver for your video card then enable Compiz-Fusion...

[Guest Modulok]

not to disappoint you even more...but I would use ubuntu rather than xubuntu. there are more howto's with ubuntu than xubuntu. I tried xubuntu for my server, and noticed that a howto that worked when I used ubuntu didnt work right with xubuntu (since the desktop environment is different)

 

also if you want the cool effects, the 5200 will probably just get the mid level, the high level effects requires a geforce 6XXX or greater.

[dr_bowtie]

Well the reason I did the Xubuntu install was I found a server guide here that is very, very thoruogh even I can follow with step by step instructions....now this is a guide...!

 

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2007/06/05/bu...ur_own_server/1

 

 

I would entertain any Linux distribution as long as it's self installing without much input from me...as this one worked very well...I do have the Gentoo install but I want to make baby steps so I can learn as i go....

 

My goal is to be as fluent in Linux as I am Windows...which is going to be tuff for me until I understand and learn it...

 

This install was pretty painless and the fx5200ultra is pretty good with graphics much better than the regular 5200 but I have nothing in AGP higher than a 5950ultra...

[ReelFiles]

Well if you want the eyecandy on a lowend box, use PClinuxOS, I had transparency running pretty good on a 2Mb Virge DX PCI card. And I didn't have to fiddle with much, install automatix, makes things a lot simpler.

[dr_bowtie]

Downloading that now....comes from the College down the street so that means fast DL times...as for automatix...I'll try that...

 

EDIT....got PCLinuxOS installed and I must say I like it better for a OS so far...just need to learn how to update my video card driver for the good stuff...

[ReelFiles]

Already told doc on IMs, but just for reference check this link out to update nvidia GPU drivers:

 

http://docs.pclinuxos.com/SetupNVidia

[dr_bowtie]

That didnt work for me at all...

 

I am stuck as of now and need some help...

 

I have PC Linux 2007 installed and I belive it's 32bit....

 

I want to install the nVidia drivers for my fx5200ultra to get Beryl running....

 

I tried the link ReelFiles posted but the file would load....or apply as you will...

 

So I went to the nVidia web site and nabbed the fx driver and downloaded it....

 

it saves the file by default to my desktop....in the read me file it says i need to point to where the file is saved and run the code....

 

read me link...

 

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linu...section-02.html

 

 

 

here is the code....

 

# cd yourdirectory

# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.19-pkg#.run

 

where do I put this and how in the heck do I do it...

 

I tried in a terminal window but got the no file or directory error...?

 

I typed....

 

cd desktop....?

 

I have no freaking idea so I got the file saved on the desk top ready for lord knows what not....help....

 

 

I just want the easiest way to install the nvidia driver.....

[Guest culinist]

The easiest way is "almost" always to use your packkage manager to install, that way it gets updated automatically. But if you need to use the nVidia provided driver then I would install it in my /home directory. So just drag it into your home from the desktop and at the terminal do:

 

sh blahblah_name_of_driver_file.run

 

Like it says to do.

 

In my experience there are a few things one "must" do to manually install vid drivers.

 

1. as root edit "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" and change the nv/vesa or whatever the driver line says in the "Device" section to "nvidia" for nvidia cards and "fglrx" for ati. These are the ""modules" for the proprietary driver that will give you the best 3D performance.

 

 

2.ensure that you have the proper hsync and vsync values also in "/etcX11/xorg.conf".

 

3. as root load the proper kernel module for your driver. In this case "# modprobe nvidia".

 

These steps may not help you to get this working but they are 3 things to consider, X will not run properly with out them. It either will not load or will display the improper resolutions and look like hell.

 

Damn doc I went and installed LinuxMint(an ubuntu offshoot) so i can help some of you guys and you go ahead and change up on me.

 

 

Fior what it's worth the last time I installed PCLinux, in order to activate the "nvidia" drivers all I had to do was go into the control center and under the graphics card section. Not sure exactly what it is called, and choose the proprietary drivers. It's in there somewhere. PCLinux was the first one that I knew of to automagically install the fglrx/nvidia drivers with just a click.

 

Ok I've probably made this worse for you now.

 

I'll be around to help out today, most of the day anyways.

 

 

EDIT::::

 

BTW if you have actually completed the intructions from Reef's link the you may want to try my 3 steps first before using the installer to avoid any conflicts.

[dr_bowtie]

dammit man....

 

you're as Bad as reel for cornfusing the sheet out of me....

 

I havent done anything yet other than to download the driver and have it setting on my desktop....

 

I looked in the synaptic package manager for updates and found nothing and the beta driver for geforce cards well...it couldnt find it...so that was out...

 

I would liek the correct way for doing this or the esiest as I know NOTHING about Linux and I will just end up screwing this up and wiping the drive....

 

I will check in the control panel again for updating the driver but when i looked earlier I found nothing...but then again the wife was rushing me to leave...

 

I hate stopping in the middle of something I am trying to learn....

 

As far as the Envy link Reel posted I found nothing to download or install or even how to use...as I am looking at all this in my XP64 rig and running over to the linux rig and trying it....

 

but anyhow...I still need to figure this out...thanks though...I got confused at step 1 and scrambled from there...

 

 

EDIT: I did figure how to drag the file to the HOME thing...

 

Then I typed the code in the run box and I get a terminal window that says must run as root....? so then I check the tab in the options to run as root and then I get an error about running a X server and must exit X first...?

 

I found nothing about graphics in the control center...? man I still need to figure this out...?