Anyway after a reboot; gdm finally started up at 16 bit (65 thousand
colors) at 1024x768; and the 2-D version of XFree86 4.2.99 for the i845G
card is wonderful (and consistent). I am currently listening to some
mp3s using XMMS, and just finished printing very nice colorful pages to
my Lexmark USB Z25 printer. Looks like XFree86 has finally got a nice
2-D driver for the i845G with the "bleeding-edge" version of XFree86
4.2.99.1.
Xi Graphics in Colorado has emailed me saying a 3D OpenGL version of
their Linux accelerated graphics for the Intel i845G graphics controller
will be in their next release. It will be interesting to see who comes
out with the 3D OpenGL Linux driver for the i845G chip first - XFree86
or Xi Graphics.
Anyway, I am very pleased thus far with RedHat Linux 7.3 on the Dell
Dimension 4500S.
XF86Config (or XF86Config-4 if running RH7.3)
Section "Device"
# no known options
#BusID
Identifier "Intel 815"
Driver "i810"
VendorName "Intel 815"
BoardName "Intel 815"
VideoRam 4096
Option "NoAccel" "On" <-- this is what made the difference for me
EndSection
Now when I switch back and forth between terminals, I don't crash,
freeze, etc.
This has been a glaring problem in the i810 for some time... some other
problems include screen corruption, etc.