Via/S3 ProSavage DDR Problem

[casperboy77]

I need a little help on a Compaq Presario S4220NX that has the Via/S3 ProSavage DDR graphics on board. I am fairly new to Linux so please try to explain in simple terms for me. Kubuntu installed and works pretty good on this machine except for the graphics. When I go to click on an icon it will appear funny with scan lines, like it isn't rendering properly. I does this all over the place. I am guessing I need to find some kind of S3 ProSavage driver for Kubuntu..... Can someone point me in the right direction? Also I do know how to use Aptitude in terminal to install programs. The muon Software Center does not work and crashes at launch so I have never been able to use that. I tried all of the tips and fixes I could find on Google and none work (for the muon software center). So any installations I'm going to have to do manually unless someone knows how I can install the KPackage center. Thank you very much for the help!

-Jim

[Snowhog]

VIA/S3 graphics cards/chips are not *well* supported in Linux. There is the xserver-xorg-video-savage driver which is likely to be the one installed by the system on your rig.

It might be a problem with the 3-D effects. Try disabling them all: System Settings > Desktop Effects > General and uncheck Enable desktop effects at startup (assuming it is checked).

[Teunis]

It sounds like you'll have to start with a good update & upgrade of the system.
Package management via the command line (in Konsole) is generally done via apt-get.

sudo apt-get update

and;

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Will first update the your database with installed programs and next upgrade all what is upgradable.
The whole thing can be done in a single line:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

A quick reference for various commands is here:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=info apt-get&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEMQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2 Fwww.cyberciti.biz%2Ftips%2Flinux-debian-package-management-cheat-sheet.html&ei=tyRdT8TmNMat8gPQsPHjCg&usg=AFQjCNEgu Wj5T_7xrt6YLKc49Op548MzLg&cad=rja

You can learn more about any program via the commands man or info:

man programname

So for apt-get it would be:

man apt-get

A nicer display of the man pages can be had through Konqueror by typing the above command in the address bar as follows:

man: programname

[ardvark71]

Hi...

Concerning the package manager, you can also try using Synaptic...

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Also, could you post the output of:

sudo lshw -C video

There is some information on VIA chipsets on Ubuntu's site here, however, I'm not sure if the information listed on the site would be applicable in your situation or if the proprietary driver would work with your system (if there is one available.) We would have to see the information on your chipset.

Yet, there may be an alternative. You mentioned your chipset was onboard. Do you know if your motherboard has an AGP expansion port and what speed (4x or 8x?) Is this your specific motherboard? I'm guessing not, since you mentioned your chipset is onboard, whereas, the one listed on the link doesn't appear to have one. If your board does have an expansion slot, you could upgrade to a Nvidia card like this one and have, I believe, a much better experience with Kubuntu overall. :-)

Regards...