So the other day I thought it would be a fun idea to install BeOS PE on an old laptop. Having no clue where to begin I downloaded BeOS PE Max v4b1 and managed to get it installed. The laptop has a 86C270-294 Savage MX-MV graphics chip and my research suggests that the BeSavage (or BeSavage+ or ++) drivers should work. Upon booting I get a black screen with rainbow stripes going down vertically unless I select Failsave Vesa mode at bootup. I installed the BeSavage++ driver by double clicking the install.sh file. However on booting now instead of rainbow colours I just get a black screen unless I select Failsafe Vesa. Is there a way to force BeOS to use a certain driver on startup? I'd like to see if it is using BeSavage as default and if BeSavage doesn't work is there a way to enable Failsafe Vesa by default?

Video and other drivers killed BeOS for the most part. Kind of hard to tell. The Max distro should have supported what was called "VesaAccepted" and booted to the vesa mode. (I think). VesaAccepted is a neat way some developer added to basically select the safe mode Vesa choice. You can also select your choice in the safe mode, I think the option is like screen choices or something down on the list. Guess you could try to find BeOS Developers Edition, it was pretty good. Better still get the Haiku-OS Alpha iso and try it. If bebits is up you could look at comments for that apps. Might look on the greenboard too. Playing to the angels Les Paul (1915-2009)

VesaAccepted only seems to set the default Vesa settings. I still have to select failsafe vesa when it boots up or I get a black screen with rainbow lines on it. Anyway to make failsafe vesa mode default? Also, the install.sh that comes with Besavage++ just copies the .driver files to their locations. Is that all that is needed to install the driver, or do I have to do someting else to make it the default?

From Bebits. "installation instructions By liquid boy - Posted on March 21, 2005 - 19:49:20 (#16172) Current version when comment was posted: BeSavage 1.0.2 here's how to install it manually: Place the BeSavage.driver in this directory: /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin Now open another window that leads to this directory: /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/graphics Now, right click and drag the file named BeSavage.driver from the /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin folder to the window that has the directory /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/graphics After letting go of the right mouse button a pop-up menu will appear, select "Create Link Here". This will create a symbolic link of the driver from the /bin directory. After that, place the BeSavage.accelerant file in this folder: /boot/home/config/add-ons/accelerants " ___________________________________ Vesaccepted is the normal solution that has worked for many people. Could the monitor be out of range? Try to unplug and replug it maybe. Also are you one a KVM? Did you try to select the video for safe mode options INSTEAD of failsafe? The installer ought to put the files in the correct spot to work. BeOS looks at hardware then scans the files (directory specific) to try to load file. The driver file has choices or ranges for the card mfg and model number that in some cases can be changed but normally can't be easily found what is fully supported. Playing to the angels Les Paul (1915-2009)