The All In Wonder is listed as a 7500 card on ATI's site so that driver should be ok? For that one (blank screen) there is a thread here:
LinuxQuestions.orgSome people had no output on a DIGITAL output but did on the analogue VGA though, I assume you're using a CRT display?
For the other problem you may need to tinker with your
/etc/XF86Config file.
Log in in text mode, by either changing runlevel to 3 (text mode) and restarting
(1) or switching to runmode 3 from a console directly
(2).
(1)To restart in runlevel 3 log in as root and edit
/etc/inittab and change the
id:5:initdefault line there to
id:3:initdefault, save and restart.
If you need to switch to root at any time in a console use
su - and enter the root password.
(2)To change immediately start a console and type
init 3...Make a copy of the working (even if flickery) config file:
cd /etc/X11
cp XF86Config XF86Config.works(you can type part of a name and hit Tab to complete)
Then you can try a couple of automatic config utitilities.
XFree86 -configure(note case)
This tells you how to test the generated config file after it runs. If it works (you get a great big X cursor and nothing else) kill the server with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace and copy the file to /etc/X11 with
cp /root/XF86Config.new /etc/X11/XF86Config(assuming that's where it put the .new file, it will say)
Change the inittab entry back to 5 again if you changed it and restart. If you use
vi to edit the file it starts up in command mode so DON'T PRESS ANY KEYS, any one you do may do something. Use cursor keys to move around,
i puts you in insert (editing) mode,
Esc exits editing mode,
x in command mode deletes from the right (or usually the Delete key itself). To quit use
: to get a command line at the bottom and use
w to write the file.
wq to write and quit,
q to just quit. Some people find
vi a PITA but it has always been there (like Kosh :-)) whereas nicer editors like
nano and
pico are not always, e.g. on Redhat
. So restart and try that, if no joy go back to text mode again and try:
redhat-config-xfree86
which should bring up a graphical setup tool. When/if I had problems like this I just used one of these auto-generate config file tools and they worked.
It's interesting (?) to look through an XF86Config file to get to know where different sections are, all your resolutions, devices, modes and drivers are described in this text file.
To see whatever went wrong any time you get an error you can look at the X log file in: /var/log/XFree86..log i.e. :
cat /var/log/XFree86.0.log
This will tell you what went wrong with Error (EE) entries plus gives other info such as what config file it uses and so on.
As for Mandrake, I keep hearing people say it's great but it's the ONLY linux distro I have ever tried that failed spectacularly to install with terminal and unfixable problems with both my old motherboard AND my new one (different problem, newer version of Mandrake).
I presently use RH9 and Suse9, having tried Slackware, Knoppix, Redhat 8/9, Lycoris, two versions of Mandrake (well almost tried), Suse 8.2/9, Gentoo etc.
Suse 9 is really slick for a desktop, it seems way more responsive than others I have tried, you wouldn't know you were using X! There is a LiveEval CD you can try, you do have to go through just ONE install procedure but this just writes one file to your Windows partition.
Suse downloads
Unfortunately, they only offer a freebie as an FTP install/LiveEval CD, or you buy it. Doing the FTP install is a tale for another day :-)
