On Mon, 19 Aug 2002, Chris Hoelscher wrote:

> Hi.  Having some fun.  I have an old Compaq LTE 5300 laptop laying
> around, and thought I'd try loading Red Had 7.3.  All goes well (albeit
> a very "light" install on the 1.3 gig disk), and at the end of the
> install, I configure X for 800x600 with 16bit color.  The test works
> o.k., so I think I'm in...
> 
> After I reboot, however, when I try to 'startx', it crashes.  The error
> log indicates not enough memory for any of the configured modes.  The
> thing has 32 Meg of ram, and a 1 meg video card, what more could it
> want? ;)
> 
> Am I just out of luck getting X up on a P-133 with 32 Meg ram?  Or is
> there some secret that can be shared?

X likes to look for its configuration files in a variety of places.  You 
get to play a game of placing YOUR configuration file where X checks it 
first.  I believe the first place it checks is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 or 
something like that.  The logs may show where it picks the configuration 
file.  Watch for that.

I have installed linux on a 4MB laptop, and have X to work well on a 486
with 16MB with a 1MB video card.  I suspect redhat's latest distributions
are targeted for the latest computers.

You can always use xf86config to roll a custom set of screen settings of
various resolutions and color depths.  Make sure you install it at the
first place X will look.  If THAT doesn't work, you can always recompile X
to use minimal options.  X these days has everything.