Artifacts in Linux but not Windows, xorg.conf problems? >>nub alert<<

[computabug]

So right now, here's what I'm using:
Athlon 7750
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2995
OCZ Reaper Hpc Edition PC2-9200 2X1GB DDR2-1150 CL5-5-5-18 (OCZ2RPR11502GK)
Viewsonic VX2233WM http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktop-monitors/lcd/x-series/vx2233wm.htm
WD Black 1TB 3 platters of 1000/3gb each

I'm currently using the integrated graphics, still waiting on my gtx260. I'm experiencing a lot of artifacts with the desktop, there are like blobs of discoloured pixels where ever I move my mouse or move a window. I installed the driver that kubuntu recommended, and restarted, and then the artifacting turned into thin gray streaks flashing up and down the edges of the monitor. I have tried a reformat, and still nothing. I DLed the driver from AMD's website, and I don't know how to open it lol it asks me what program to use so I'm really confused now... I contacted my retailer, and they said they don't support gnu linux or any other OS other than Windows (the retailer is NCIX), but a tech support guy did tell me to edit the xorg.conf file, and I have no idea what that is or what I'm supposed to do with it... Do you have any idea as to how I can solve this? Memory passed Memtest86+, and there are no artifacts when I loaded Win7RC on it, so I'm thinking that maybe it's a compatibility issue with my monitor, in which case I have to get a new monitor or edit something? I took a screenie and the artifacts weren't in the screenie, if that helps...

Also, I'm kind of new to partitioning GNU Linux too lol. What I wanted to do is create my swap file at the very outside of the first platter, maybe 2-5gb (recommend a size please?), have the next 50gb or so for program files, and then leave the rest of that platter for storage. Then I would like the 2nd platter's outside to be the actual Kubuntu guts (again, recommend a size for the partition?), and the rest for storage. For the third platter, I'd like to fill up the outside with games, and leave the rest for storage (again, please recommend a size for the games since I don't know how many games there are for Linux lol). Is it possible to find out exactly where a platter starts, so I can start my partition there? Or maybe put 2 of my platters in internal RAID 0? Also, why is it that the partitioner would only allow me to create 4 partitions, and mark the rest of the hdd as 'unusable'? The Ubuntu installer defaults to ext3, should I go to ext4, if I'm looking for a balance of reliability and performance (security and space saving doesn't matter to me)? One last question, I'm extremely confused about mounting my partitions... I put everything under "/" and the partitioner won't let me do it, do I have to mount them somewhere else?

 

[linux_0]

You can't RAID your platters or directly control which platter is used for what partition.

The integrated electronics on the hard drive control the underlying hardware.

Hard drives are limited to 4 primary partitions. LVM can be used if you want to split your drive into smaller pieces although Ubuntu doesn't volunteer to help you do that, Fedora does. Fedora 11 also supports ext4 out of the box without requiring any extra effort.

I'd suggest staying away from extended partitions.

Linux has games, some of them quite good, but that's a matter of taste.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_games

http://www.tuxgames.com/browse.cgi?&category=all

Linux can run some windows games and apps using WINE http://www.winehq.org/, Cedega http://www.cedega.com/ or Crossover http://www.codeweavers.com/products/

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&sTitle=Browse Applications&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true

Your mileage will vary. Native Linux games usually run very well, windows games and apps cannot be expected to always do so.

WINE is free, cedaga and crossover are not.

Your graphic issue should be resolved as soon as you install your gtx260 and the nvidia drivers.

You might want to try Fedora or Fedora Live and see if it has the same problem with your onboard VGA.

Keep the questions coming

Good luck

 

[linux_0]

http://glest.org/en/gallery-screenshots.php

http://wz2100.net/screenshots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Arena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_strike

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_arena

Many games that use the Doom and Quake engine run on Linux.

 

[computabug]

http://glest.org/en/gallery-screenshots.php

http://wz2100.net/screenshots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Arena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_strike

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_arena

Many games that use the Doom and Quake engine run on Linux.

Ok so all I gotta do is wait for that gtx260 but is it possible to run GNU Linux on the hd3200? I mean like when it gets old and I give it to my parents, but of course they don't game (lame old peeps) so I'll pull out my gtx260 from it, so would they be able to run Kubuntu?

Also, could you explain the partitioning a bit more please? What's LVM? lol I've no idea how to configure GNU LInux I'd just like to partition my 1tb (3x333gb) most efficiently, as in stroking each platter. The partitioner does let me choose to install what partition from the beginning or end of the drive, so then could I calculate exactly on which bit my next platter starts, and start stroking my platters from there? :huh: I'm still really confused about all those types of partitions, what's an extended partition and what's wrong with having one? I read lissot.net that some people make a logical partition and then split it into tiny partitions, are those what extended partitions are?

And here's a killer question: which distro? lol I know it's kinda annoying to answer that, but here's what I'm looking for: a clean distro that doesn't write to my hdd every 5 seconds (no time stamps or complex registries, if linux has a registry sry I'm still a noob), accessible options and configurations and very practical and useful options that are there when you need them. I tried Ubuntu first (since SUSE was now proprietary >>), and I didn't really like it, so I switched to KDE and wow I loved it, huge improvements. What would make me love a distro is if it had one of those OSX like bars on the bottom... I don't know where to get it lol. So there, gives you an idea of my preferences and style and I like Kubuntu's blue over Ubuntu's orange lol

And do I have to worry about that xorg.conf thing? Thanks

 

[linux_0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux)

The Fedora 11 installer supports LVM and ext4. I'm not sure if the proprietary VGA drivers work yet.

Don't worry about xorg.conf just yet.

Extended partitions should be avoided, LVM is much cleaner and has other advantages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning


I recommend this partitioning scheme:

/dev/sda1 512MB /boot ext3 type 83 - should be ext3 to avoid potential issues, do not use ext4

/dev/sda2 1TB Linux LVM no mount point type 8e


under /dev/sda2 create a volume group VolGroup00

under VolGroup00 create Logical Volumes LogVol00 - LogVol0?

For e.g.

LogVol00 / 50GB ext3 or ext4

LogVol01 /home 800GB ext3 or ext4

LogVol02 /data 100GB ext3 or ext4

LogVol03 swap 2GB swap

Good luck

 

[computabug]

Ok I'm going to try Fedora as soon as it finishes DLing If I want to dual boot GNU Linux distro's, should I just install them in different partitions? Not sure if it's like Windows lol. And what are the advantages and disadvantages of using ext4 to ext3? I googled it up and found this... http://www.linux-magazine.com/online/news/linus_torvalds_upset_over_ext3_and_ext4 are they both not good or something? I still don't quite understand how and why I have to mount partitions in different places... there's a bunch of options in the partitioner, '/', '/usr', '/home', and a bunch of others that I can't remember. Could you explain the point of mounting partitions, and where I should mount them for performance and reliability? I'm still confused about how to use LVM, how do I access it? From what I understand, it's included in the Fedora installer/partitioner on the Fedora CD?

For the example partition table, would that mean that the swap file would be at the very inside of the platter? Or does the partitioner go from inside to outside of the platter? Having swap at the very inside wouldn't give the best performance, so I'd like to reserve that for data files I originally wanted the swap on the first partition since I assumed the partitioner starts on the very outside of the first platter to give the best performance. To kinda list what I wanted my partition table to look like in a very non-technical way (since I don't know what dev/sda means lol):

From outside to inside
1st platter-3gb swap, remaining is data
2nd platter-50gb linux (not sure how much I need), remaining is data
3rd platter-another linux distro or Win7 so I can run more 'popular' games lol. 2 partitions on this platter

So that would add up to 6 partitions... Or, I can make the 4 partitions on the first 2 platters and leave 3rd platter 'unusable' to install Win7 or another distro on it? Do I have the right idea? And one last thing, is there any way to tell the partitioner to create a partition to the end of the platter?

 

[linux_0]

1st partition /dev/sda1 512MB /boot ext3 type 83 - should be ext3 to avoid potential issues, do not use ext4


2nd partition /dev/sda2 800GB Linux LVM no mount point type 8e


3rd partition /dev/sda3 100-200GB NTFS type 7 /windows7

Under Linux /dev/sda is the 1st SATA hard drive in your computer.

You cannot control the platters directly the hard drive's onboard controller deals with the platters.

 

[linux_0]

Setup as in the image except use the values below.

1st partition /dev/sda1 512MB /boot ext3 type 83 - should be ext3 to avoid potential issues, do not use ext4


2nd partition /dev/sda2 800GB Linux LVM no mount point type 8e


3rd partition /dev/sda3 100-200GB NTFS type 7 /windows7

Good luck

 

[computabug]

Ok now I'm DLing Fedora >< I just DLed the KDE live cd for x86 64, and I'm supposing that's as close to pure 64bit as I can get? Also, do you know why there's no dvd version for kde?

Sorry I can't resist but ask one more time, is it possible at all to get rid of the artifacts on my hd3200? I'm thinking of giving my current set up to my parents when Intel Haswell comes out with the slew of new interfaces, and I'll be migrating my gtx260 over even though there'll be gtx3XX's lol so my parents would be using the hd3200 that's 2 generations behind ^.^ I wanted them to try linux, since my dad thinks that gnu linux sucks

 

[linux_0]

If there's nothing wrong with the hardware it should work with the latest drivers when you're ready to hand it over in a few months or years.

The Fedora 11 DVD has everything on it including Gnome, KDE and XFCE.

You should download the x86_64 DVD which is about 4GB.

 

[computabug]

Ok perfect that's the one I downloaded I guess that means I can throw out the x86 64 KDE CD lol

And installing the driver's for ATI doesn't get rid of the artifacts, it turns it into gray bars flashing up and down like a crt monitor

 

[linux_0]

Which drivers did you install? Can you post a picture please?

Good luck

 

[computabug]

Sorry haven't checked back to this post in a while lol I'm still waiting on the GTX260 it's coming tomorrow (just checked with UPS.ca tracker), and I did a killdisk for a fresh reinstall of Fedora this time, so you'll have to wait for the screenie or did you want a photo with a camera so you can see the artifacts? I'll get you both

So, how are Kubuntu and the KDE version of Fedora different? I like the style of Kubuntu, it's just organized and practical, and I really like the start menu organization. Do you think I'd like Fedora better? Or I could dual boot them how do I do that?

 

[linux_0]

 

[linux_0]

Sorry haven't checked back to this post in a while lol I'm still waiting on the GTX260 it's coming tomorrow (just checked with UPS.ca tracker), and I did a killdisk for a fresh reinstall of Fedora this time, so you'll have to wait for the screenie or did you want a photo with a camera so you can see the artifacts? I'll get you both

So, how are Kubuntu and the KDE version of Fedora different? I like the style of Kubuntu, it's just organized and practical, and I really like the start menu organization. Do you think I'd like Fedora better? Or I could dual boot them how do I do that?

KDE provides the same interface on all distributions that support it. The only differences are in aesthetics.

Some logos, images and backgrounds may be different but everything else is still the same.

Good luck

 

[computabug]

Hey linux_0 sorry haven't replied in a long time :lol: I finally got the artifacts gone with the gtx260, guess the 3200 isn't compatible or something 1ctable: sorry no pictures for ya today again lol

So I managed to get this kind of partition table, used ext4 (sorry I just gotta squeeze out that last bit of file transfer speed ><):
1st platter - 6gb 'don't use partition' (win7 page file), 4gb swap, rest is storage '/home'
2nd platter - 50gb linux ext 3 '/', rest is storage '/usr'
3rd platter - 6gb swap lol, rest is 'do not use partition' (planning for 20gb Win7, 74gb games and program files, rest is ntfs storage)

How does that look? Will I be able to install Win7 on the remaining space, or would the partitioner tell me I can't make any more partitions? I did a bit of research, and it seems that I've gotta back up the GRUB before installing Win7, and I'm very confused... I'm following this guide
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_linux_and_windows_xp_linux_installed_first.htm
and I'm stuck on the first step, I type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst exactly and terminal tells me it can't recognize the command. So now how would I dual boot these 2 OSes?

I tried to enable the desktop effects option thing and it didn't work, showed me an error message. Do I have to install something to make it work? I've also heard of people talking about aero of linux, is there such thing, and how can I get it for either fedora kde or kubuntu?

Thanks

 

[linux_0]

Cool the gtx260 is good stuff

Did you install Fedora?

There are tons of videos on http://youtube.com/ some of them provide instructions but some of the instructions are not that great.

Linux doesn't have Aero, I think you're talking about the 3D effects ( compiz? ).

On Fedora you need to install the rpm-fusion drivers for your graphics card and enable the 3D stuff in preferences.

Search for compiz on youtube.

 

[linux_0]

http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration

http://rpmfusion.org/keys

Good luck

 

[computabug]

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for I'll try it out when I got home tonight and let you know how everything goes

 

[computabug]

Hey I was just watching a few youtube vids and noticed that some linux users have a bar on the bottom of their screen with a bunch of icons like the one in OSX... and I drooled over it o.o where can I get it?

Compiz is very impressive... looks better than aero I'm so glad you told me about it.

Would you recomment Fedora kde or kubuntu? Right now I've got kubuntu installed and I've got both installation discs at home. In you opinion, which one should I use? And is there anything else I should get for linux? Any essential things that I should install immediately after installation, things like compiz

 

[linux_0]

I'd suggest the Fedora DVD http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/11/Fedora/x86_64/iso/Fedora-11-x86_64-DVD .iso

Remove the space for the direct download link.

Then install the rpm-fusion rpm and install the nvidia drivers and all the other goodies