Baslinux mailing list

[baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2007, baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> OK, let's go : 'puter boots to the Linux command line (shell)
> alright.
>
> 1)GUI ? ... Ooops, no way! (My graphics adapter is S3 801.)
>
> /<#> startx
>
> Fatal server error: no screens found.
> X connection to :0.0 broken....

A typical cause for this problem is that you've booted from a DOS that has 
loaded various memory management utilities. These are not unloaded before 
BL (i.e., BL booted from a DOS partition) boots. They tend to foul up the 
graphics program that Linux runs. Since you seem to be booting BL from a
Win95 partition, this could well be the cause of your problem. Try booting 
to a bare DOS, bypassing the system files (autoexec.bat and config.sys), 
then booting BL and issuing startx. Does that get you to the gui?

> 2)Net adapter ? This is 3COM etherlink III (ISA. IO ports @ 0x300.
> IRQ 10.
> I can't find the appropriate "module" : is it included ? If not, can
> you pls tell me how/where to find it, how to install [do I just copy
> the module.o to the Baslin directory under the DOS FAT16 partition?
> What would the command line be ?]

You can download the module from the internet. BL modules are linked to 
from the main BL site. Steven can probably tell you which module it is you 
need and whether a so-called "helper module" will be needed as well. You 
can copy that module to any location on your DOS partition--just remember 
where. You can access your DOS partition from within BL and load it. You'd 
use something like * insmod /DOS/path/to/mymodule.o * from the command 
line. Once you're booted into BL you can, of course, copy the module over 
to the BL file system easily if you so desire. More will be required to 
get you online depending on whether you have a dhcp server on your network 
or whether you assign IP's manually.

> 3)Keyboard : I'd like to have the French keyboard decoded, under the
> console and the GUI as well(assuming X can be convinced to work.

I'll have to pass on that one, but others onlist should be able to help. 
All I can say is I'm sure it can be done.

> expected help. Just don't forget that I am almost Linux illiterate
> please - I'd prefer to do the preparatory steps (like editing config
> files...) under DOS or Windows lest I goof completely. Is there a
> WinDOS user friendly text editor under BASLIN ? And no, I don't think
> I will ever be proficient with vi or vim ;=)

BL's built-in editor is very simple and you should be able to master it 
easily. It's called e3pi. You could undoubtedly install some other if you 
decide you don't like e3pi. I wouldn't edit config files under Win/DOS 
though, unless you can find an editor that can format your files for 
unixish system use (end-of-line markers differ, and this can render config 
files that were edited under Win/DOS ineffectual under Linux).

James