Tested Darkstar on a VirtualBox (7.0.4) VM. Can't reproduce the display issues, the live system nicely defaulted to 1280x800 and same with the installed and fully updated system. The display settings go up to 2560x1600. VirtualBox guest additions came preinstalled.
Can't point out where the message on color depth comes from, though, as I didn't see such message. I assume it's either an issue with your VM or the guest OS configuration.
WetGeek I just didn't expect that newer video cards still supported it. Thanks for enlightening me.
As far as I know, all Intel video cards are backwards compatible to 16-bit because Microsoft requires 16-bit for Windows Compatibility Mode and won't certify the card unless 16-bit is supported. I don't know about NVIDIA and AMD.
tomscharbach I don't know if it even matters whether the actual graphics card supports 16-bit color depth. It's a VM and the host system still runs at 32-bit color depth.
I ran Darkstar in a Live session for about an hour this morning. I like what I saw, and might take the time to install it on a portable M.2 later this week. I was glad to see that installation includes a "Don't touch MBA or ESP ..." option that means I won't have Grub2 trying to take over the computer, allowing me to use the Boot Menu, which is what I prefer to do.
tomscharbach I have two ESPs on their respective drives and choose from BIOS what OS I'm going to boot to. I thought that's the least amount of hassle when dealing with a Linux / W10 dual boot.
tomscharbach Microsoft requires 16-bit for Windows Compatibility Mode and won't certify the card unless 16-bit is supported
After I found that out, it occurred to me that perhaps gaming could be another reason 16-bit color is still supported. For those paying a lot to get the last shred of video performance out of a computer, I imagine it's possible that using a 16-bit color depth would be an advantage. And it would still provide sufficient resolution to play a game.
After this recent adventure, I decided to revisit my exploration of the KED Plasma version of PCLinuxOS. I've replaced the Darkstar .ISO file with the Plasma .ISO file in the VM's virtual CD drive, and installed without any problems. It's now about to the middle of 555 software upgrades. It'll be interesting to explore its current state.
WetGeek It'll be interesting to explore its current state.
I'll be interested in knowing what is included in the normal (not loaded) version, as opposed to Darkstar. Darkstar was too minimal in my opinion, missing a lot of the tools I expect to see in a working distro like Solus Plasma.
I've given this a bit more thought, and decided to install PCLinuxOS (probably the "normal" version, depending on what you report) bare metal on my 11-3180. I recently bought a Dell-refurbished Latitude 11-3120 to use with Solus, intending to use the older (and less powerful, by a lot) 11-3180 to look at distros that showed promise in a Live session. I've been holding off turning the 11-3120 to Solus because the laptop runs Windows 11 so well that I enjoy playing with it. Time to move on, I guess.
WetGeek It's now about to the middle of 555 software upgrades. It'll be interesting to explore its current state.
Awww, fsck! After all those hundreds of upgrades finished, this is as far as I could get with it.
That's a never-ending cycle of logon on, and logon again. Never gets to an actual working OS. And by now, I'm ready for this adventure to end. Maybe at a later date, I'll be in a position to repurpose my Precision for exploring various distros on hardware, and I'll revisit this.
Sorry I can't tell you any more about this distro at this time, but maybe later.
WetGeek That's a never-ending cycle of logon on, and logon again. Never gets to an actual working OS. And by now, I'm ready for this adventure to end.
A pain. I spent time last night reading the first 20-odd Distrowatch reviews and looking into the support forum, and users swear by PCLOS. Consider setting up a USB and running a Live session. That should tell you whether or not PCLOS is worth a second look when the Precision is available again.
tomscharbach users swear by PCLOS.
I don't doubt that it works fine in some circumstances, on some hardware. How is it going with your 11-3120?
WetGeek How is it going with your 11-3120?
I love that little computer. It is from the Latitude line developed for the education market, built kid-tough, solid as a rock and with a good non-touch non-reflective display. The retail price reflects the build quality (my 11-3120 retails for $669 but I got it Dell-refurbished much, much cheaper), noticably better built than the Inspiron 11-3180. The specs are good -- 8 GB RAM, 128 GB NVMe SSD, 53 WHr battery -- and the Pentium N6000 is more than adequate to run Windows 11. I don't sit and think "come on, already" like I used to do running Windows 10 on the 11-3180. The 11-3120 is obviously not for gaming or serious multitasking, but I have had 10-12 tabs open in Edge without a noticeable effect on performance.
You can just about pick your poison with all the community builds to.
I just dont do grub anymore.
https://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/community/
tomscharbach I love that little computer. It is from the Latitude line developed for the education market
When you wrote that it was time to "move on," I thought you were referring to installing PCLinuxOS on it in place of Windows. That's what I was wondering about.
Axios I just dont do grub anymore.
Me neither. I've banged my head into the "Grub, Grub Uber Alles" wall too many times. I have come to really appreciate the fact that Solus doesn't use Grub.
WetGeek When you wrote that it was time to "move on," I thought you were referring to installing PCLinuxOS on it in place of Windows. That's what I was wondering about.
Nah. I'll use the 11-3120 for the railroad and general light work, diverting the 11-3180 to become "Mikey", the computer used to test distros that make it through Live testing. I'm about to do another Live test on PCLOS ("normal" build this time rather than Darkstar) and see whether I want to install it on the 11-3180.
I don't know whether I'll keep Windows 11 or install Solus Plasma on the 11-3120. Up in the air right now, because there are some advantages to using Windows 11 at the railroad.
tomscharbach Solus uses GRUB for legacy (i.e. BIOS) boot.
tomscharbach I don't know whether I'll keep Windows 11 or install Solus Plasma on the 11-3120. Up in the air right now, because there are some advantages to using Windows 11 at the railroad.
Is there enough disk space for a dual boot?
Staudey Solus uses GRUB for legacy (i.e. BIOS) boot.
Another good reason to use UEFI, as if there weren't already a hundred good reasons.
tomscharbach I don't think many people are using BIOS by choice 
WetGeek Is there enough disk space for a dual boot?
I gave up on single-drive dual-boot several years ago. If I want to use Solus on a Windows computer, I can use the "Portable Plasma" external M.2 drive which sets up dual-drive dual-boot and works fine on whatever computer I want to use, so long as the computer is UEFI and Secure Boot disabled.
