First, let me apologize for destroying some of the data that I might have posted here. I simply didn't think about doing this before giving up and reformatting the hard disk for Slackware.<br />
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The computer is an older HP-Compaq server, dx2000 MT; the processor is a Pentium 4 (socket 478) with the processor ID of 0F41. The motherboard has some old PCI slots (not PCI-express), and solder-spots for an AGP slot, but no actual AGP slot. Onboard graphics are used, probably built into the "north bridge" chip (under a heat sink that I don't want to remove, since I'm using that computer to write this message). The south bridge chip is a FW82801EB SL73Z. The onboard graphics are fairly capable; my monitor does 2048x1152 resolution, and I think the graphics chip can actually go up to 2048x1536.<br />
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In the process of experimenting with Linux and learning my way around, I have previously installed the Debian version and the Slackware version. The graphical environments for both worked fine, Gnome with Debian and KDE with Slackware.<br />
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Then I tried CentOS, and as something of a challenge I started with the "minimal" install from the CD-ROM ISO, not the full-install DVD ISOs. That meant using the command line exclusively (not a huge problem), and using "yum" to install stuff like "xdm", the foundational GUI system. Also to uninstall stuff that didn't work, and install something else (like the full Gnome package).<br />
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SOME part of the graphics driver works fine; I am able to reach a screen showing a graphical log-in window. But after entering username and password and the window closes, the graphics system barfs (or some equivalent thereof), and the display manager reverts back to the graphical log-in window. ALL the different display managers I tried did that. Searching the Internet for similar problems strongly suggested that the that the "i915" graphics driver was the culprit, and that a better version of it was available. But, apparently, it was not available via "yum", and I'm not yet knowledgeable enough to be comfortable installing drivers manually.<br />
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So I gave up on CentOS, because I want to do some web-page development stuff that needs a fully graphical environment. That's why I installed Slackware all over again, but this time using Xfce as the display manager --it again works fine, and I'm posting this with the Firefox browser.
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