A few issues with the X interface

Forum: X and Fluxbox
Topic: A few issues with the X interface
started by: mdawgmike

Posted by mdawgmike on Mar. 19 2007,02:35

Hello, I am a n00b to linux. I've always wanted to learn about it though. I saw this version and thought it would be the ideal learning version. I'm probably going to just buy a"dummies" book in the near future, but had a few things for now I thought I would ask in these forums.

Okay, I have installed on my harddrive of a AMD K6 computer that I have recently acquired. I use the GRUB loader.

First, is there a way I can boot to the command prompt each time (instead of going into X)? I've added a three to the list of "cheats" in the boot menu. This does boot to the prompt, but only once. I also can't get into X (by typing "startx") when I do this. Is there a way to permanently boot to the promt I guess I should ask.

Second, is there a way to change the screen refresh rate? I have looked at the xvesa setup and only see options for resolution and colour depth. The highest I can get it is 60hz by choosing 640x480 (of any colour mode). This is acceptable but I still notice a little bit of flicker on my CRT (I would like to have atleast 800x600 too, at this resolution the refresh rate is at about 50hz which is quite painful to the eyes)

Third, is there a way I can load windows networking into my linux machine? This is the only linux machine in my household. I would like to be able to share files and print to a printer that is attached to a Windows XP computer.

Let me know if I need to give more info. Sorry if these are stupid questions and thanks in advance for any help.

~Mike~

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 19 2007,04:41

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is there a way I can boot to the command prompt each time

Edit /home/dsl/.bash_profile, removing the "startx" command, then make sure this file is being backed up and restored if you are running a frugal system.

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is there a way to change the screen refresh rate?

Aparently this is not an option with Xvesa. You can do it with Xfree86, which is available from the mydsl repository.

Quote

is there a way I can load windows networking into my linux machine?

Samba is also available from mydsl. I think you can connect to windows shares with the samba client available in DSL base, but the full samba is needed to share files on your DSL system.

Posted by mdawgmike on Mar. 20 2007,01:10

Okay I have gotten my system to boot to the promt. I have installed xfree86.dsl and X will start with xfree86. Now how would I go about changing the refresh rate? It is currently at 60hz and I would like to up it to 85hz (which my monitor supports).

thanks again
~Mike~

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 20 2007,01:41

You can change it in several places... in XF86Config[-4] you can edit

Monitor -> VertRefresh <range>

or add custom modelines.