[NTLUG:Discuss] Graphical desktop in SUSE 7.0

[Buddy Brannan]

Hey y'all,

OK, so we decided to put Linux (dual boot now) on my fiance's computer,
and because she claims to not "know anything about this computer crap", I
thought maybe we should use something that's got some more GUI stuff and
stuff, so I put SUSE 7.0 evaluation version on her machine. It seems to
have installed without a hitch...well, we won't go into the SoundBlaster
PCI128, which the provided ALSA drivers won't seem to find. But I mean
besides that. It went pretty well. We actually got X set up with sax, and
that even works. Now here's the issue we're running into:

At the top and bottom of her screen is a black area, which means that her
desktop and any application windows don't fill the entire screen, and we
think some stuff might be cut off of the display, and we can't figure out
how to make the desktop use the whole screen. Anyone got any clues? (I'm
blind and use all the text-based console stuff and am absolutely useless
in X. For now, anyway...we'll see what happens next month...supposed to be
an X screen reader for free personal use coming out...)

The particulars:

P133, 48MB RAM, the system is split close to halfway between Windows and
Linux (about 3GB each). Monitor is a 15-inch NEC monitor, specifically the
Multisync C500. The video card is a ATI Xpert98 (or Xpert at play, or
something) PCI with 8MB of video memory. The only sticky point during the
X setup was the monitor: there was no entry for the Multisync C500, but
the A500 was pretty close in specifications, apparently, so we chose that
monitor type.

Any help with this video problem would be appreciated. (Well, OK, not a
video problem, but more a config problem...)

Looks like we're using KDE, as well, for what it's worth.

Oh, and if anyone has some info on the sound config...but we can rassle
with that any time, I suppose.


-- 
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV        | And if the ground yawned,
Email: davros at ycardz.com     | I'd step to the side and say,
Phone: (972) 276-6360        | "Hey ground! I'm nobody's lunch!"
Voice mail: (877) 791-5298   | --Eddie From Ohio