Mint-11 did not detect correct X11/xorg display shape and size

SaintDanBert · 10-02-2011, 12:30 PM

I installed Linux Mint-11 and all went very well for the most part. One open issue involves the size and shape (geometry) of my primary display as detected during system startup. Can someone help me sort this out and get it set correctly?

The Symptom

PART-1. While running applications and utilities on the desktop, any app will open a child window. Most of the time, these additional windows open and are too far right and too far down on the display. So much so that I most often must grab+move the window up and left before I can use it.

PART-2. The workstation has a screen that will rotate between landscape and portrait. With a size and shape mis-match with the traditional landscape view, it gets worse when trying to use portrait.
NOTE -- the rotation works fine only the size and shape settings have troubles.

Analysis
So we start on the same page, lspci -vv reports

Code:

    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller:
        Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 integrated graphics controller
        (primary)
        ...
        Status: Cap+ 66MHZ- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast
        >TAbort-  <TAbort-  <MAbort-  >SERR-  <PERR-  INTx-
        ...
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules:  intelfb, i915

    00:02.1  Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 integrated graphics controller (secondary)
        ...
        Status: Cap+  66MHZ-  UDF-  FastB2B+  ParErr-  DEVSEL=fast
        >TAbort-  <TAbort-  <MAbort-  >SERR-  <PERR-  INTx-
        ...

One possible cause involves a mismatch between the actual size and shape of the active display and the details X11 knows about that display. I used xdpyinfo to learn this:

Code:

    ...
    X.Org version:  1.10.1
    dimensions:  1024x768 pixels (270x203 mm)
    resolution:  96x96 dpi
    depths (7):  24, 1, 4, 8, 15, 16, 32
    options:     backing-store NO; save-unders NO
    largest cursor:  64x64
    current input event mask: 0xFAC033
      KeyPressMask         KeyReleaseMask        EnterWindowMask
      LeaveWindowMask      KeymapStateMask       ExposureMask
      StructureNotifyMask  SubstructureNotifyMask    SubstructureRedirectMask
      FocusChangeMask      PropertyChangeMask    ColormapChangeMask
    ...

A thorough search of my workstation disks do not find any file named exactly xorg.conf. Did the details have change to use a family of NN-name.conf files instead?

When I was doing X11 coding, we always kept child windows on the visible display by default and allowed the end-user to enable new windows to open off or outside of the display as an option. Does a similar config option exist for the Gnome/X11 desktop?

Thanks in advance,
~~~ 0;-Dan

SaintDanBert · 10-02-2011, 01:37 PM

Follow Up

When I run dmesg I see the following: (in order, but edited)

Code:

    ...
    video LNXVIDEO:00: Restoring backlight state
    [drm:drm_mode_getfb] *ERROR* invalid framebuffer id
    ...

When I look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

Code:

    ...
    (EE) intel(0): Couldn't create pixmap for fbcon
    (II) intel(0): EDID vendor "LEN", prod id 16386
    (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
    (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0  66.83  10124  1048  1184  1382  768  771  777  806  --hsync  -vsync  (48.4 kHz)
    ... the list goes on and on ...
    (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x0.0  65.00  1024  1048  1184  1344  768  771  777  806  --hsync  -vsync  (48.4 kHz)
    ...