What flavor of Linux should I use.... 4

[CaRKiLLa]

Hey all...
I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100 Laptop that I would like to install linux on. I've tried Redhat but could not get x to install properly. I'm currently downloading Redhat 7.1 to try again. I currently have Mandrake 7 installed but for some reason it only wants to stay in 640x480 mode so it won't show full screen. I've tried different video drivers but am at the same point. Has anybody atempted on installing linux on an 8100 and what do you guys think would be the best flavor of linux to use? I mainly want to use it for network administration, switch configuration, troubleshooting, etc.

 

[rycamor]

Slackware worked great for me on a laptop, even presenting me with options about what screen mode I wanted to run in. I found that the best choice is to use the Frame Buffer driver, which (as I understand it) sort of abstracts the system from the video driver. I was able to get both my terminal mode AND my X window mode to run at 800X600,

 

[TheRAt]

try looking at

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

for instructions on installing Linux on Laptops. I thing that the Tecra 8100 is on there.

I have a NEC with a RH7.1 Installation and it works with 1024 * 768 right out of the box...
AV
tnedor@yahoo.com

 

[danns]

Whatever distribution you choose; to get X working the way you want, you need to know the video chipset, the amount of ram, and the horizontal and vertical refresh rates of your lcd. Then use xf86config to set all this information up. It's text based, and not flashy, but it gives you the most control and you can enter you own rates in the monitor section.

 

[danns]

Whatever distribution you choose; to get X working properly, you must know your video chipset and model number, the amount of video ram, the horizontal and vertical refresh rates of your lcd panel. Then, use xf86config to set all this up. It's text based and not flashy, but I feel it offers you the most control.

 

[CaRKiLLa]

Thanks for the help..
I've got RedHat 7.1 installed and it worked with 1024x768. The only problem I'm having now is getting it to work with my 3Com 3C575-TX Fast EtherLink XL. It look like it sees it but when it starts it fails during startup when it loads the NIC.

 

[Guest_imported]

Hey did you ever get it to work...I am thinking about putting redhat 7.1 on my tecra 8100

 

[CaRKiLLa]

Yeah, I sure did... I found a fix to make the 3com work, but of course that was after I switched the 3COM with an Intel PRO/100 PCMCIA card. The site

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

had a lot of information on setting up linux on that laptop and I think that's where it also said what changes needed to be made in order for the 3com nic to work. I've been running it for a little over a month now with no problems so far. Right now I'm trying to find some good network tools (preferably freeware) to work with it. Linux is a little intimadating to use at first but I'm starting to love it more every day.

 

[neonyak]

I personally recommend SuSe. It's more.....user frienldly....if you wanna use those words with linux s-) I came, I saw, I connected at 48.8...

 

[Comtech]

How about a version that runs from a CD, with nothing to install?
Check out

http://www.demolinux.com

It works great on my system, and only had trouble recognizing my lousy PCMCIA NIC, which was cured with a trip to the local shop. Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/