Installed Debian, but nothing works

[spamsk8r]

I happen to be typing this from a lynx session I just installed Debian 3.0r1, but I cannot start X. I tried reconfiguring the X server, but it was a no go. I am running an ATI Radeon 8500 video card, what driver should I use so that I can get into X? Also, I tried installing the ATI driver so that I could build the special XF86Config file, but RPM won't allow me to install it. It is looking for a database in /var/lib/rpm, but this directory doesn't seem to exist. Can anyone help me?

Thanks
Geoff

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

it's debian, you dont use rpms!

run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86, and choose the "ati" driver.

 

[cleverhandle]

Does XFree's native ati driver support the 8500? I thought it only went up to the 7500 (original Radeon chip). Or maybe I'm mixing up my video chipsets...

edit: clarity

 

[Chaotic42]

Debian uses packages with the extention .deb. They are package files like RPMs, but they allow things like package suggestions (I'm not really sure about how either system works in detail). You can install them by using
dpkg --install package.deb

or preferably by using

apt-get install package-name-not-filename.

Follow BingBongWongFooey's directions, and you should be ok. In order to use RPMs, you must install and run a package called ]b
alien[/b]. Then run

alien package.rpm

which will create a .deb file, that you can install using dpkg.

Edit: cleverhandle, I *think* that it does, but don't hold me to it. I know that for my GeForce 4 card, I have to download drivers from nvidia. PITA, but that's how they want to be about it.

 

[Nothinman]

Does ATI package the drivers in 'normal' tar.gz format as well as the RPMs like nVidia does? If so, I would suggest you use those. Otherwise you can use alien to convert the .rpm to a .deb or .tgz.

 

[spamsk8r]

ATI only provides their driver for the 8500 via RPM, so I'm stuck to using that. So how does alien work?(lemme guess...RTFM) I already tried using the standard ATI driver that comes with X, but I get a "no screens found" error.

 

[Chaotic42]

Just run

alien drivers.rpm as root.

 

[earthman]

Good luck. I couldn't get this to work with a 7500 using the "ati" driver. Simply no go.

 

[SUOrangeman]

If you want a very quick jump into Debian, download the latest ISO for Knoppix. It is entirely based on Debian and runs directly from the CD. You can copy some of the config files from Knoppix directly into your Debian install (or just install Knoppix onto your hard drive).

-SUO

 

[civad]

Have you tried using the Vesa driver instead of any of the ATI drivers?