über-n00bish tick with knoppix PPC MiB edition- On startup, knoppix says it has failed to detect a monitor and sets to "oldscreen" preferences even though it is brand new.
When X11 loads, the monitor is set at far too low resolution, and all the colours are inverted or otherwise messed up.

system data:
iMac G4 800Mhz
nVidia GEForce2MX
15" LCD screen
Knoppix-MiB PPC-alpha-2e