Cheap Linux Hardware - Setting display resolution not working

Author

Setting display resolution not working

Ignoramus16089

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

Fedora Core 5.

Upgraded my PC (basically got everything new, but kept hard drives).

It works great with my old Compaq P110 monitor. Even, to my surprise,
the Ethernet adaptor built into the motherboard. Everything is perfect
and required zero system meddling, even though I have a new CPU, new
memory, new ethernet, new everything (OK I have not yet tried
sound).

I also bought myself a new nice 24" LCD monitor. It has resolution of
1920x1200, 60 Hz.

Plugged it into my computer. The display would say "attempting to use
wrong resolution, please use 1920x1200 60 Hz". And then X would
fail. Understandable, since I was configured for old display.

My question is, how to configure my X windows to work with this one.

I tried booting to runlevel 1 and executing system-config-display. but
I would get the same warning as above.

Any suggestions, thanks, see my xorg.conf

i

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, a font server independent of the X server is
# used to render fonts.

FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "yes"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Acer AL2416W"
DisplaySize 510 320
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
HorizSync 24.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 49.0 - 75.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "mga"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G550 AGP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1920x1200" "1680x1050" "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

Dances With Crows

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.hardware.] On Sun, 20 Aug
2006 19:19:22 GMT, Ignoramus16089 staggered into the Black Sun and said:
> Fedora Core 5. I also bought myself a new nice 24" LCD monitor. It
> has resolution of 1920x1200, 60 Hz. Plugged it into my computer. The
> display would say "attempting to use wrong resolution, please use
> 1920x1200 60 Hz". My question is, how to configure my X to work with
> this [new monitor]?

1920x1200... interestingly weird resolution.

> I tried booting to runlevel 1 and executing system-config-display.

Redhat's automatic configuration utilities tend to fail in stupid ways
when you go beyond the bounds of what they're designed for. You'll
probably have to do something manually.

> # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Only post the relevant sections of huge config files. Trimmed:

> Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "Monitor0"
> DisplaySize 510 320
> HorizSync 24.0 - 80.0
> VertRefresh 49.0 - 75.0

Is this correct? LCDs don't *have* sync rates the way CRTs do, but you
may need to adjust these values.

> Driver "mga"

See what "man mga" says about supported resolutions. 1920 pixels wide
shouldn't be too much for it to handle, but it might.

> Modes "1920x1200" "1680x1050" "1280x800"

You may wish to download and compile gtf, then run it. I get the
following Modeline for 1920x1200@ 60 Hz:

# 1920x1200 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 74.52 kHz; pclk: 193.16 MHz
Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" 193.16 1920 2048 2256 2592 1200 1201 \
1204 1242 -HSync +Vsync

....so you may need to add that Modeline to your Modes section in your
xorg.conf, like so:

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" # copy+paste
EndSection

....and put the line
UseModes "Modes[0]"
....into your Monitor section. HTH,

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin / mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com / "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/ penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL

Ignoramus16089

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:46:07 -0500, Dances With Crows <danSPANceswitTRAPhcrows@gmail.com> wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.hardware.] On Sun, 20 Aug
> 2006 19:19:22 GMT, Ignoramus16089 staggered into the Black Sun and said:
>
> 1920x1200... interestingly weird resolution.

Seems to be rather typical for big LCD screens, and yes, I agree it is
a little unusual from a more traditional perspective.

make that single user mode
[vbcol=seagreen]
> Redhat's automatic configuration utilities tend to fail in stupid ways
> when you go beyond the bounds of what they're designed for. You'll
> probably have to do something manually.
>
>
> Only post the relevant sections of huge config files. Trimmed:
>
>
> Is this correct? LCDs don't *have* sync rates the way CRTs do, but you
> may need to adjust these values.

Sure, I have little clue as to the syntax in that file, despite having
been a linux user for 12 years, it still mystifies me (my fault, I
know).

>
> See what "man mga" says about supported resolutions. 1920 pixels wide
> shouldn't be too much for it to handle, but it might.
>
>
> You may wish to download and compile gtf, then run it.

sorry, wtf is gtf?

> I get the
> following Modeline for 1920x1200@ 60 Hz:
>
> # 1920x1200 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 74.52 kHz; pclk: 193.16 MHz
> Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" 193.16 1920 2048 2256 2592 1200 1201 \
> 1204 1242 -HSync +Vsync
>
> ...so you may need to add that Modeline to your Modes section in your
> xorg.conf, like so:
>
> Section "Modes"
> Identifier "Modes[0]"
> Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" # copy+paste
> EndSection

Thanks, do I need to add the rest of the line, that is, should my
actual entry be exactly as you typed, or should it be like this

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" 193.16 1920 2048 2256 2592 1200 1201 1204 1242 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

> ...and put the line
> UseModes "Modes[0]"
> ...into your Monitor section. HTH,
>

sounds good, i will try it as soon as i clarify your answers to my
above questions. I greatly appreciate your help!

i

Dances With Crows

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:57:53 GMT, Ignoramus16089 staggered into the
Black Sun and said:
> Dances With Crows wrote:
> Seems to be rather typical for big LCD screens, and yes, I agree it is
> a little unusual from a more traditional perspective.

I'll keep this 19" CRT until it falls apart! (Well, it's a *total PITA*
to get LCDs to display anything < 640x480....)

> Sure, I have little clue as to the syntax in that file, despite having
> been a linux user for 12 years, it still mystifies me

The values *may* be correct. At least you have a range there, not a
single number.

> sorry, wtf is gtf?

It's a program that generates Modelines for X (or framebuffers). Google
for it to find it; it's one .c file.

[vbcol=seagreen]
> Section "Modes"
> Identifier "Modes[0]"
> Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" 193.16 1920 2048 2256 2592 1200 1201
> 1204 1242 -HSync +Vsync

Yeah, put the Modeline all on one line. I broke it because slrn
complains if you try to post articles with lines > 80 chars. HTH,

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin / mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com / "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/ penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL

Allen Kistler

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

Ignoramus16089 wrote:
> Fedora Core 5.
>
> Upgraded my PC (basically got everything new, but kept hard drives).
>
> It works great with my old Compaq P110 monitor. Even, to my surprise,
> the Ethernet adaptor built into the motherboard. Everything is perfect
> and required zero system meddling, even though I have a new CPU, new
> memory, new ethernet, new everything (OK I have not yet tried
> sound).
>
> I also bought myself a new nice 24" LCD monitor. It has resolution of
> 1920x1200, 60 Hz.
>
> Plugged it into my computer. The display would say "attempting to use
> wrong resolution, please use 1920x1200 60 Hz". And then X would
> fail. Understandable, since I was configured for old display.
>
> My question is, how to configure my X windows to work with this one.
>
> I tried booting to runlevel 1 and executing system-config-display. but
> I would get the same warning as above.
>
> Any suggestions, thanks, see my xorg.conf
>
> i
>
> # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display
>
> [snip]
>
> Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "Monitor0"
> VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
> ModelName "Acer AL2416W"
> DisplaySize 510 320
> ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
> HorizSync 24.0 - 80.0
> VertRefresh 49.0 - 75.0
> Option "dpms"
> EndSection
>
> [snip]

I've never had to wrestle with an ornery monitor swap, but I'd suggest
following the suggestion in the comment as a first step.

My LCD also doesn't have the DisplaySize line.
AKAIK the VendorName and ModelName lines are just theater, so it doesn't
matter what they say.

Dan Espen

2006-08-20, 7:15 pm

Ignoramus16089 <ignoramus16089@NOSPAM.16089.invalid> writes:

> Fedora Core 5.
>
> Upgraded my PC (basically got everything new, but kept hard drives).
>
> It works great with my old Compaq P110 monitor. Even, to my surprise,
> the Ethernet adaptor built into the motherboard. Everything is perfect
> and required zero system meddling, even though I have a new CPU, new
> memory, new ethernet, new everything (OK I have not yet tried
> sound).
>
> I also bought myself a new nice 24" LCD monitor. It has resolution of
> 1920x1200, 60 Hz.

It will never work with Linux, send it to me.

Floyd L. Davidson

2006-08-21, 1:17 am

Ignoramus16089 <ignoramus16089@NOSPAM.16089.invalid> wrote:
>
>I also bought myself a new nice 24" LCD monitor. It has resolution of
>1920x1200, 60 Hz.
>
>Plugged it into my computer. The display would say "attempting to use
>wrong resolution, please use 1920x1200 60 Hz". And then X would
>fail. Understandable, since I was configured for old display.
>
>My question is, how to configure my X windows to work with this one.

....

># Xorg configuration created by system-config-display
....
>Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "Monitor0"
> VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
> ModelName "Acer AL2416W"
> DisplaySize 510 320
> ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
> HorizSync 24.0 - 80.0
> VertRefresh 49.0 - 75.0
> Option "dpms"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Device"
> Identifier "Videocard0"
> Driver "mga"
> VendorName "Videocard vendor"
> BoardName "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G550 AGP"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Screen"
> Identifier "Screen0"
> Device "Videocard0"
> Monitor "Monitor0"
> DefaultDepth 16
> SubSection "Display"
> Viewport 0 0
> Depth 16
> Modes "1920x1200" "1680x1050" "1280x800"
> EndSubSection
>EndSection

You want to look in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see what it says is happening
when the server initializes.

To start with it would probably be best to simplify the configuration
a bit, because the Xorg log is going to be huge and confusing. Change
your "Monitor" section to look like this:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Acer AL2416W"
EndSection

And change the "Screen" section to be,

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Note that I can't tell if your video card can handle a 24 bit
deep screen that is 1920x1200, so that may very well *not* work.
That isn't the point though, as what you want is a log that
tells you what it finds and what it doesn't find. If it fails,
try it at depth 16 too, but I can't imagine that you actually
want that.

Regardless, post the log. It will be huge, but if you don't see
something obvious, post the *whole thing*.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@apaflo.com

Roy Schestowitz

2006-08-21, 1:17 am

__/ [ Dan Espen ] on Sunday 20 August 2006 23:13 \__

> Ignoramus16089 <ignoramus16089@NOSPAM.16089.invalid> writes:
>
>
> It will never work with Linux, send it to me.
>
>

*LOL*

That's why I like SUSE. From the command line, yast2 can be launched (ncurses
UI) and then sax2 be used to generate the Xorg settings file. With most
monitors, X will fall back to some coarse resolution that allows sax2 to do
it all from the graphical GUI. It's largely automated.

Ignoramus4235

2006-08-21, 7:16 pm

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:57:13 -0800, Floyd L. Davidson <floyd@apaflo.com> wrote:
> Ignoramus16089 <ignoramus16089@NOSPAM.16089.invalid> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> ...
>
> You want to look in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see what it says is happening
> when the server initializes.
>
> To start with it would probably be best to simplify the configuration
> a bit, because the Xorg log is going to be huge and confusing. Change
> your "Monitor" section to look like this:
>
> Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "Monitor0"
> VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
> ModelName "Acer AL2416W"
> EndSection
>
> And change the "Screen" section to be,
>
> Section "Screen"
> Identifier "Screen0"
> Device "Videocard0"
> Monitor "Monitor0"
> DefaultDepth 24
> SubSection "Display"
> Depth 24
> Modes "1920x1200"
> EndSubSection
> EndSection
>
> Note that I can't tell if your video card can handle a 24 bit
> deep screen that is 1920x1200, so that may very well *not* work.
> That isn't the point though, as what you want is a log that
> tells you what it finds and what it doesn't find. If it fails,
> try it at depth 16 too, but I can't imagine that you actually
> want that.
>
> Regardless, post the log. It will be huge, but if you don't see
> something obvious, post the *whole thing*.
>

Thank you. I will do as you say and will post the log tonight.

i

Hactar

2006-08-26, 1:18 am

In article <slrneehiko.39p.danSPANceswitTRAPhcrows@samantha.crow202.dyndns.org>,
Dances With Crows <daSPANnceswithcroTRAPws@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:57:53 GMT, Ignoramus16089 staggered into the
> Black Sun and said:

8:5, widescreen.
[vbcol=seagreen]
> I'll keep this 19" CRT until it falls apart! (Well, it's a *total PITA*
> to get LCDs to display anything < 640x480....)

I agree. I try to use modes that are this LCD's native resolution
(1600x1200) divided by a small integer (so it doesn't look _too_ bad),
but it has a low maximum refresh frequency and some other constraints
I forget. Therefore, I have only 1600x1200, 1200x900, and 800x600.
If I want to zoom in on something, tough noogies, double-size is as far
as I can go.

--
-eben QebWenE01R@vTerYizUonI.nOetP
1101000 1110100 1110100 1110000 0111010 0101111 0101111 1110010 1101111
1111001 1100001 1101100 1110100 1111001 0101110 1101110 1101111 0101101
1101001 1110000 0101110 1101111 1110010 1100111 0111010 0111000 0110001