Display problems using DSL with Panasonic CF-27 Laptop

[Jieimulg]

Hi all,

First time poster here. I am trying to install TCL onto an old Panasonic CF-27 Laptop which was given to me by a relative. Upon reaching the GUI, the graphics are glitched and I struggle to see what is being displayed. I have tried running in Framebuffer mode, but this has no effect. There is no problem with the LCD, as this displays both the BIOS and the command prompt with no issues. When plugging in an external monitor, it also displays these glitched graphics which suggests to me there is potentially a problem with the graphical displaying software.

For reference, the specifications of the laptop are as follows:

- PII 266 MHz MMX CPU
- 96 MB (approx.) RAM
- 4 GB HDD

Here is a photograph of the laptop when glitched: 


I would appreciate any help you could provide in fixing this problem.

Thanks,

Alex

[gerald_clark]

It looks like your video RAM window may be too small.
You really need more RAM to run X.

[nitram]

Not sure what you mean by DSL, but your screenshot says Tiny Core so you're in the right place

I recall booting to Xvesa GUI with under 40MB RAM at one time, but my old hardware only gave me 800x600 resolution. There are many things to try. Reboot and check BIOS settings regarding graphics and see if you are able to manually allocate more memory to graphics.

If neither this or Xfbdev help then remove the Xfbdev entry from /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst, so you just have Xvesa. Reboot system and utilize 'text' boot code to reboot into CLI only. In CLI run the 'xsetup' command and try a different resolution. Then type 'startx' to test. If no good, i believe Ctrl-Alt-Backspace or Delete get you back to CLI to test another resolution.

My old hardware never had success with Xfbdev either, but my impression is that to use it Xvesa should be removed from onboot.lst and replaced with Xfbdev, then use the appropriate vga=XXX bootcode.

If you can't get a decent resolution/colour combination then you may need to go with Xorg, which might be a stretch given the limited hardware, but what the heck may as well try. With the same old hardware, Xorg allows me to run pretty much any resolution i want. You may or may not require a customize xorg.conf file. You didn't specity graphic hardware, make sure you pick the correct video driver if going with Xorg.

A reboot is necessary when switching between Xvesa, Xfbdev and Xorg.

Chapter 28 of the Into the Core book, regarding old hardware:

28.3. VESA support
Some older graphics cards don’t have proper support for the VESA
standard. This means that the standard Xvesa server might display at
a wrong resolution, with wrong colors, or fail to start altogether.
In these cases, the options are the framebuffer, and Xorg. To use a
framebuffer resolution, you need to add the vga=791 bootcode to
your bootloader’s config file (where 791 is a number specifying the
resolution and color depth - this particular one is 1024x768 at 16bit
color depth), and to install the Xfbdev server instead of Xvesa.

Table of common VESA resolutions:
640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
256 colors 769 771 773 775
16-bit 785 788 791 794
24-bit 786 789 792 795
Should the framebuffer also fail, or if non-VESA resolutions are
needed, you’ll need to install Xorg with a suitable driver.

There doesn’t exist a Xorg driver for all cards - check
online before trying.

[nitram]

Just noticed the TC 6 repository has two Xfbdev extensions, one is named Xfbdev-old. Not sure what the difference is, but you may want to try each of them to see which/if any provides a better outcome.

[Rich]

Hi Jieimulg
To minimize the memory requirements for graphics, try using 256 color mode. Google suggests your screen is 800x600
so try vga=771.

[curaga]

That's a Neomagic chip, they do have trouble with the vesa standard. Xorg does have a neomagic driver, but you'd need to compile it, as nobody has yet contributed one to the repo.

[Jieimulg]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your replies. I have tried all manner of different resolutions and colour combinations, but to no avail. Indeed, I have also checked my BIOS for any additional settings, and updated it to the latest version. Still no change. Both extensions of the Xfbdev make no difference.

[Jieimulg]

Not sure what you mean by DSL, but your screenshot says Tiny Core so you're in the right place

I recall booting to Xvesa GUI with under 40MB RAM at one time, but my old hardware only gave me 800x600 resolution. There are many things to try. Reboot and check BIOS settings regarding graphics and see if you are able to manually allocate more memory to graphics.

If neither this or Xfbdev help then remove the Xfbdev entry from /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst, so you just have Xvesa. Reboot system and utilize 'text' boot code to reboot into CLI only. In CLI run the 'xsetup' command and try a different resolution. Then type 'startx' to test. If no good, i believe Ctrl-Alt-Backspace or Delete get you back to CLI to test another resolution.

My old hardware never had success with Xfbdev either, but my impression is that to use it Xvesa should be removed from onboot.lst and replaced with Xfbdev, then use the appropriate vga=XXX bootcode.

If you can't get a decent resolution/colour combination then you may need to go with Xorg, which might be a stretch given the limited hardware, but what the heck may as well try. With the same old hardware, Xorg allows me to run pretty much any resolution i want. You may or may not require a customize xorg.conf file. You didn't specity graphic hardware, make sure you pick the correct video driver if going with Xorg.

A reboot is necessary when switching between Xvesa, Xfbdev and Xorg.

Chapter 28 of the Into the Core book, regarding old hardware:

28.3. VESA support
Some older graphics cards don’t have proper support for the VESA
standard. This means that the standard Xvesa server might display at
a wrong resolution, with wrong colors, or fail to start altogether.
In these cases, the options are the framebuffer, and Xorg. To use a
framebuffer resolution, you need to add the vga=791 bootcode to
your bootloader’s config file (where 791 is a number specifying the
resolution and color depth - this particular one is 1024x768 at 16bit
color depth), and to install the Xfbdev server instead of Xvesa.

Table of common VESA resolutions:
640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
256 colors 769 771 773 775
16-bit 785 788 791 794
24-bit 786 789 792 795
Should the framebuffer also fail, or if non-VESA resolutions are
needed, you’ll need to install Xorg with a suitable driver.

There doesn’t exist a Xorg driver for all cards - check
online before trying.

Thanks for all that information. Sorry, I'm a complete Linux newbie, but how do you access the 'onboot.lst' file in the first instance to remove Xfbdev? I assume that the instructions on here http://tinycorelinux.net/faq.html#framebuffer are correct and up-to-date? This is what I have been trying to do this whole time in order to enable the Framebuffer mode, so please do correct me if I am not using the correct resource.

Thanks!

[nitram]

Tiny Core will be harder to set up if you're a Linux newbie, keep plugging away.

The link you sent is fine, but it does not provide a method to confirm whether your onboot.lst contains Xvesa and/or Xfbdev (just use one or the other, not both).

Easiest way to modify onboot.lst if you can boot into graphics is via the Apps utiity. From terminal launch with 'apps' command or select System Tools > Apps from desktop click menu.  In Apps, click Apps, Mainenance, OnBoot Maintenance, adjust your onboot.lst.

If you can't get into graphics and you know how to use vi terminal editor, run the following to open and modify the file. If modifying manually, ensure you leave a blank space at the end of the file.
vi /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst

Lots of vi tutorials online:
https://www.ccsf.edu/Pub/Fac/vi.html

If vi seems strange, you may find nano more intuitive:
tce-load -wi nano.tcz

Before rebooting, backup your changes:
backup

Reboot:
reboot

Upon reboot to check what is in fact loaded. Press shift/page up/down to scroll.
tce-status -i

...or 'tce-status -i | grep Xvesa' for example just to look for specific extensions.

[Jieimulg]

Tiny Core will be harder to set up if you're a Linux newbie, keep plugging away.

The link you sent is fine, but it does not provide a method to confirm whether your onboot.lst contains Xvesa and/or Xfbdev (just use one or the other, not both).

Easiest way to modify onboot.lst if you can boot into graphics is via the Apps utiity. From terminal launch with 'apps' command or select System Tools > Apps from desktop click menu.  In Apps, click Apps, Mainenance, OnBoot Maintenance, adjust your onboot.lst.

If you can't get into graphics and you know how to use vi terminal editor, run the following to open and modify the file. If modifying manually, ensure you leave a blank space at the end of the file.
vi /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst

Lots of vi tutorials online:
https://www.ccsf.edu/Pub/Fac/vi.html

If vi seems strange, you may find nano more intuitive:
tce-load -wi nano.tcz

Before rebooting, backup your changes:
backup

Reboot:
reboot

Upon reboot to check what is in fact loaded. Press shift/page up/down to scroll.
tce-status -i

...or 'tce-status -i | grep Xvesa' for example just to look for specific extensions.

Thanks for this.

I tried to load up both the VI and Nano, with no success. VI loaded the 'onboot.lst' file only as an empty file, with only blank lines with tildes and the name and status of the file. Whilst Nano would download, I couldn't actually run the file, and got a message when I tried to do so:

/usr/bin/tce-load: cd: line 259: can't cd to /mnt/hda1/tce/optional.

[nitram]

I was under the impression you had TIny Core installed? If not, install it even with glitchy graphics then try again. Without installing it you won't have persistence to make changes (think this is referenced in the manual as cloud mode). Refer to the Core manual for how to install:
http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

From your error message, maybe try:
nano /mnt/hda1/tce/onboot.lst

And just to check contents:
cat /mnt/hda1/tce/onboot.lst

Edit: did you boot into funky graphics and just try 'apps' via terminal?

[Jieimulg]

I was under the impression you had TIny Core installed? If not, install it even with glitchy graphics then try again. Without installing it you won't have persistence to make changes (think this is referenced in the manual as cloud mode). Refer to the Core manual for how to install:
http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

From your error message, maybe try:
nano /mnt/hda1/tce/onboot.lst

And just to check contents:
cat /mnt/hda1/tce/onboot.lst

Edit: did you boot into funky graphics and just try 'apps' via terminal?

Thanks. I'll give it a go and get back to you.

[Juanito]

xf86-video-neomagic posted - it should work with your hardware with Xorg-7.7 without an xorg.conf...

[andrewb]

IF you are still having trouble:

I used DSL on a Toshiba Libretto 100CT which had the NeoMagic chip in it. There may be some additional video modes available for use with the framebuffer  via the 'vga' bootcode. See the info at: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/vga_xxx.html. This allowed me to run the unusual 800x480 mode that the libretto supported.

I haven't run TC on this machine so can't verify the same applies, but there is no reason it should be any different.