From: Chris Robinson 

I've not done massive amounts since my last posting but I did nearly break
my system - luckily I managed to recover it (yippie!) - Geo, this could be
the first "more complex" thing I've done ;o)

1. Instant Messaging:
I tried a new IM client called Kopete (http://kopete.kde.org/).  It's a
multi protocol IM client for KDE but it runs fine in Gnome.  It has a tone
of import options and it imported my contact list from Trillian's
"buddies" XML file without any problems.

2. Me + Trying to install new Graphics drivers = X won't start: I'd been
wondering why my playing of video files was jerky at full screen. I tried a
couple of things like turing down the colour depth from 24bit to 16bit (I
used to get problems with video in XP if my colour depth was set to 32bit)
but this didn't really make much difference.

The next thing I thought of was to update my graphics drivers.  I looked
through nVidia's site (I have an old 16Mb TNT) and read some stuff before
downloading a small scirpt that tells you which files you need to download.
For the driver you need a kernel file and a GLX file.  I downloaded the
correct files and installed them.  I then had to modify my XF86Config file
(this file stores all your X settings like input devices, monitor settings
and graphics card settings) by replacing "nv" as the graphics
driver with "nvidia" amoungst other things.  When I rebooted, X
(i.e. the GUI) wouldn't start.  Not knowing much about troubleshooting I
thought - oh deear I'm gonna have to reinstall.  But luckily I didn't have
to.

Whilst reading the driver installation instructions about modifying the
XF86Config file, I'd read a part that mentioned how some versions of Linux
included a tool call "xf86config" (note the lower case) that
would build an XF86Config file.  I typed this in at the $ prompt and hey
presto - a menu driven interface poped up that helped me build a new
XF86Config file.  I did this and then ran "startx" which loaded X
back up again - yippie.  I had some probs getting my mouse to work but I
sorted this out by navigating with keyboard only to RedHat's
"mouse" option and setting it in there - that worked fine.  I
then set my display setttings again and everything was back to normal :o) 
I did find some interesting things through keyboard navigation - ALT+TAB
works as in Windows but to navingate through folders you use ALT+Arrow Keys
(took me a while of pressing various key combos to figure this out).

So, as far as I'm aware the nvidia graphics drivers are still installed but
not set in the XF86Config file.  However, my jerky display problems are now
gone.  I don't know why but here's my (possibly rubbish) theory.  the
drivers modified the XF86Config file to inclde a line called
"GFX" - this is to do with (as far as I'm aware) OpenGL stuff. 
Could it be that installing the graphics drivers HAS worked but X doesn't
like using OpenGL with my card (I have had OpenGL problems in Windows
before)?  Another thought is that the origional XF86Config file was set up
incorrectly in some way (it was created by Anaconda - the RedHat installer)
and that creating my own has sorted this.

Either way I'm not too bothered as I have working video and everything else
is fine too.

I now keep a backup of my XF86Config called XF86Config.works should this
happen again.  I'm still going to probe deper into why this has happened
though...

Chris.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-4