[ltp] Newbie video questions

[Matt Graham]

On Tuesday 29 August 2006 08:19, after a long battle with technology, 
funkydoctor wrote:
> I would consider myself a Windows "power user",

Careful.  Most of the time, people who call themselves "power users" 
really mean "I am a big PITA to tech support".

> Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper) on my old IBM Thinkpad A20p.
> My first problem is, simply put, that I can't use Fn+F7 anymore.
> The IBM Thinkpad A20p comes with the ATI Rage Mobility 128
> graphics chip,

Put the line

Option "Display" "BIOS"

into your /etc/X11/xorg.conf 's Device section, restart X.  This has 
been used for r128 cards for a long time.

> as I understand it this chip is not supported by the ATI proprietary 
> driver (?). So is there (a reasonably simple) way to achieve 2D/3D 
> hardware acceleration for my video card? 

You've already got 2D accel if you're using the r128 X module.  3D 
acceleration requires building and loading the r128 kernel module and 
probably agpgart, and probably making some changes to xorg.conf .  I 
forget what those are; it's been a while since I've used my old 
r128-equipped Thinkpad.  Whatever you do, it won't help that much--the 
r128 is not nearly as fast as newer cards.  HTH,

-- 
   Some people are alive only because it is traditional to keep
   torturing the poor guy about being lost in the machine room with an 
   IBM water buffalo.  --MegaHAL, trained on ASR
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see