So, I downloaded and ISO image of the latest stable release of Debian Linux, burned it to a CD, rebooted and started the install. Everything went fine until I hit the X Windows configuration. Being that I haven’t really messed around with Linux for about three years, I forgot how easy it is so screw up an X Windows install. I wrote down a bunch of hardware info about the machine from WinXP before I reformatted the hard drive, but neglected to check out the video card info. BIG mistake. I ended up guessing vga on the chipset and of course, it doesn’t work. Since I inheirited this machine from someone else, I don’t know what the hell is in there off the top of my head.
Is it too much to ask for a Linux installer that can examine my video card and configure everything so that I don’t have to know the refresh rates of my monitor and the chipset of my video card? I think Red Hat got this right at some point, but they’re now dropping their traditional packaging and splitting into Red Hat Enterprise and the Fedora Project. Since I fear what is new, I’m a little skeptical of Fedora and I’m staying away for now. For instance, there isn’t any documentation for Fedora, per se. It appears that I’d have to use the Red Hat 9 manuals if I were going to try it out now. At the same time, I’m dreading trying to tweak an existing X Windows install. I may spend a little time trying to get it to work, but it’s not really something to which I want to devote more than an hour or so. Either way, I’m looking at yanking the video card and examining it. Not a big deal, but still. I can whine can’t I?