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X vs. Compaq 486



Hi everyone,

Well I played around with those DeskPro 4/33I machines a little more
today. It looks like Christopher and others were right; X will run at
800x600x8bit with 512k of VRAM. I got X to run, but it needs some
tweaking. The display shows what looks like a fuzzy double image with the
images offset by about 1 mm. I assume it's a timing problem of some kind.

Question #1:  What's the best program for setting up X? I didn't have a
lot of luck with Xconfigurator. I finally got 800x600 to work by using
xf86config. Has anyone used XF86Setup?

Question #2:  How can I capture the text that is displayed as the X server
starts up and shuts down? Obviously, I can read the last screen full of
lines, but there are a lot more that scroll off that I would like to see.

It was a bit of a good-news, bad-news day. I don't think I'll need to
shell out extra cash for the VRAM, but I discovered that most of the
monitors I've got will only support 640x480. Only about 12 out of 30 will
do the 800x600. I think I'll probably have to live with it. I'll give the
crappy ones to the people who want to run Windows! :-)

I had forgotten how much monitors have improved in the last few years
until I started using these 5- or 6-year-old ones. The screens are so
curved that every window looks like you're viewing it through and
extremely wide angle lens. I'm tempted to get myself an Optiquest V95.
It has received very good reviews and is one of the best deals I've seen
for a 19" monitor at about $520. (http://www.mwave.com/)

Later,
Tim

--
Timothy D. Wilson			"A little song, a little dance,
University of MN, chem. dept.		a little seltzer down your 
wilson@chem.umn.edu			pants."   -Chuckles the Clown
Phone: (612) 625-9828                       as eulogized by Ted Baxter