[K12OSN] trouble with Compaq deskpro 5200mmx

[Jim McQuillan]

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004, Dave Prentice wrote:

> Hello all,
> I have been working for months on my classroom network. It took weeks
> to figure out how make the server work, then each client has given me
> fits. I only have 2 working properly so far (each one took at least 6
> hours to make work), and hope to get a third working. I hate spending
> so much time on each machine!
>
>    The one I'm trying to make work is a Compaq Deskpro 400, model
> 5200mmx. It connects to the server and boots up to a login screen OK,
> but it's the wrong screeen resolution.
>    It does not have onboard video but instead uses a PCI card. The
> BIOS defaults to 640 x 480, and even though I have the server's config
> file (ltsp.conf, if I remember right) set to default to 800x600, this
> one still comes up as 640 x 480. I tried a different video card, a
> Trident with 1meg of memory but it still comes up as 640 x 480. I
> loaded the Compaq configuration program onto a hard drive but can't
> find a way to force it to change resolution. Has anybody had a similar
> problem? How do I fix it?
>
> <rant>The advantage of LTSP is supposed to be that it works on old
> hardware. How come people keep telling me I have to buy new video
> cards with more RAM? That's defeating the purpose. </rant>



<rant> People want help, but they don't want to give us all the 
details </rant>

Sorry, I couldn't resist :)

but seriously, you say you are setting 800x600 in lts.conf.  Could you 
show us your lts.conf file, so we can see how you are setting it ?

Also, in your comments above, you say 'ltsp.conf', but do you really
mean 'lts.conf' ?

/opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf is the file you should be editing,
and the entry you should be adding is:

     X_MODE_0 = 800x600.

Also, are you setting that entry in the specific section for the
workstation ?

Are you using a workstation name for the section,
or are you using an IP addr or MAC addr?  For example, which
one does it look like:

   [ws001]
   [192.168.0.1]
   [00:0C:01:02:03:04]

if you are using the first (hostname), are you sure your workstation
knows it's own hostname ?  If you are using a range of dynamic IP 
addresses, then the workstation won't know it's hostname, so you can't 
do it that way.  Best bet in that case is MAC address, because it never 
changes.

Again, send us your lts.conf file, so we can see how you are setting it.

And, rather than spend weeks trying to figure something out, how about 
you pop into the #ltsp IRC channel on irc.freenode.net, where someone 
should be able to work interactivly with you to solve the problems.

Jim McQuillan
jam at Ltsp.org