Matrox/MGA-G200e video

[gerhard54]

Thanks Steve,

now I dont only know IT WORKS, but also WHY!

for such an old card

...and I always thought Linux is here to save us from the necessity to buy new hardware every other year....

But I can live with it, as long as I can get my old graphic chips working.
The only thing I dont like is the fact that so many people (judging from postings) seem to be unable to use Linux Live-CD's becouse of the missing boot parameter.

Gerhard

[SteveRiley]

The only thing I dont like is the fact that so many people (judging from postings) seem to be unable to use Linux Live-CD's becouse of the missing boot parameter.

If the Live CDs all included the nomodeset parameter, then every installation would revert to the VESA driver and effectively be unable to use any form of hardware acceleration that exists in the computer. So adding this parameter as a default is not something I would recommend.

[ardvark71]

Thanks, Steve

[gerhard54]

Hello Steve,
Of course you are right, disabeling hardware acceleration as the default mode is no option.
But wouldn't it be nice to have an option like "Use this if your scren looks weired"?
Might help some novice users who would otherwise stay with the Windows?

Gerhard

[SteveRiley]

Of course you are right, disabeling hardware acceleration as the default mode is no option.
But wouldn't it be nice to have an option like "Use this if your scren looks weired"?
Might help some novice users who would otherwise stay with the Windows?

That's actually more difficult than it first appears. For one thing, who's to say what "weird" means? For another, GRUB handles video in different manner than X. What might look perfectly fine with GRUB can prevent X from loading. The inverse is also true. This is why, in general, I think graphical boot managers are a mistake.

[gerhard54]

For one thing, who's to say what "weird" means?

Thats exactly what makes searching for a solution so frustrating and might turn novice users away from Linux.

What might look perfectly fine with GRUB can prevent X from loading

True again.

What I had in mind was an easily accessible option for live CDs with "safe" parameters, like "nomodeset".

Gerhard

[SteveRiley]

It's been a long time since I've used the live installer (the one with Ubiquity), as I prefer the CLI method on the alternate installer. But I seem to recall something like a "safe mode" option. Has that been hidden now?