Solved: Booting Fedora 9 Live CD on Dell Latitude C600

Context: Booting Fedora 9 Live CD on Dell Latitude C600

Problem: split screen into 2 or three panels at 800x600.

Details: Fedora 9 Live CD detects built-in video card as "ATI Rage 128 M 2G and display type as "Autoconfigured".

Solution:

Note: this solution requires you to "deal with" the incorrect video settings for a brief period of time.

1. Boot from Fedora 9 Live CD and log in to default login


2. If the the screen is divided into sections and generally not working, continue. If it's perfect, you're done. Don't make any changes based on what I say in this blog entry.
   


3. Move Application panel to left hand side. This will allow you to see more of the menus. Do this by clicking in the grey area next to the mail icon, click and drag to the left side of the screen.
   


4. Go to menus "System | Administration | Display", then the "Hardware" tab. Make the following changes:


• Display: "LCD Panel 800x600"
  
• Video Driver: "Vesa -Generic VESA-compliant video cards"
  
• Press Ok to commit these changes
  


5. Press keys CTRL ALT BACKSPACE to restart the X Window System only.
   
• Do not reboot - any changes made will be lost during a reboot as they only reside in memory.
  

After you log in again, I was (you might be) able to see the screen correctly.

Note: I tried "LCD Panel 1024x768" the first time with no positive results.

References:
I located some information, ideas, clues or inspiration from the following locations. I am not responsible for external content nor it's availability:

1. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-769002.html

Disclaimer:
This solution worked for me. It may or may not work for you. I am not responsible for your actions nor the your results of your actions should you act on what you read here. I do not claim expertise in this very specific area and only convey my experience. There is no warranty on this (and most) free information.