Widescreen laptop: Getting X to work on Slackware 12.0

ShellyCat · 08-08-2007, 03:05 PM

I am running Slackware 12.0 on a Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094, Mobile Intel 945 GM Express chipset, hardware acceleration. "startx" ran KDE out-of-the-box, but X would crash or freeze on exit, with several Bad Window messages as well as the following:

Quote:

waiting for x server to shut down .FreeFontPath: FPE "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
ref count is 2, should be 1: fixing.

It stayed on that message forever, did not have a terminal prompt, and I had to use "Ctrl+Alt+Del" to force reboot. I also had the common problem with widescreen laptops, where KDE would default to 1024x768, and though several resolutions were available in Control Center, none of them was a widescreen resolution. Looking though xorg logs and google, I found some avenues to investigate, including some on these forums. None of the answers was complete in itself, not even the xorg.conf info on http://www.intellinuxgraphics.org/man.html#layout. Put together, it (mostly) works.

On reboot, I cat my log through most command.
Note: this log gives you very important information you must use in your xorg.conf modeline!
Here are some key lines from "/var/log/Xorg.0.log":

Code:

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/local/" does not exist.
  Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID/" does not exist.
  Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) VESA(0): Bad V_BIOS checksum
...
Supported additional Video Mode:
   clock: 71.0 MHz Image Size: 304 x 190 mm
   h_active: 1280 h_sync: 1328 h_sync_end: 1360 h_blank_end: 1440 h_border:0
   v_active: 800 v_sync: 803 v_sync_end: 809 v_blanking: 823 v-border:0
...
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1280x800" width too large for virtual size
(--) VESA(0): Virtual size is 1024x768 (pitch 1024)
...
(WW) VESA(0): Failed to set up write-combining range (0xc0000000, 0x7b0000)
(EE) AIGLX: DRI module not loaded

***************************************************
Changes I made in "xorg.conf"
***************************************************

Commented out 2 font lines that do not exist:

Code:

# FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
# FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"

Use of "freetype" module, which takes care of various font types, can interfere with font-type-specific modules.
Commented out all font-type modules except "freetype":

Code:

# Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
# Load "speedo"

Various modules are loaded in the "Module" section.
You must un-comment DRI to allow DRI module to load:

Code:

Section "Module"
   ...
   Load "dri"
   ...
EndSection

To use DRI (hardware acceleration), have "DRI" section with proper permissions ("Mode 066" refers to permissions).
It seems people put this in various sections to no ill effect, I made sure it was before "Monitor" section:

Code:

Section "DRI"
   Mode 066
EndSection

Take info from X log to construct Modeline for "Monitor" section.
First non-quoted # is the "clock", then come all the horizontal #s then vertical #s (except borders) in order, then 2 flags:

Code:

Modeline "1280x800" 71.00 1280 1328 1360 1440 800 803 809 823 -hsync -vsync

Message too long, continued in next post!

ShellyCat · 08-08-2007, 03:10 PM

By default, installation uses VESA drivers. Per Intel, chipset needs to use i810 drivers, but should be specified in Xorg as "intel", not "i810" (confusing, I know).
You also have to set VideoRam: minimum 8MB w/o DRI or 32MB with, up to 64MB max. However, specify in KB (MB x 1024).
Here is the proper "Device" section ("Identifier" is any name you want; elipses indicate other stuff I didn't have to touch):

Code:

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Graphics chipset"
   Driver "intel"
   VideoRam "65536"
   ...
EndSection

Now, "Device" in "Screen" section must match "Identifier" above: "Graphics chipset".
I also got rid of all modes except the one I want my laptop to use:

Code:

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen 1"
   Device "Graphics chipset"
   Monitor "My Monitor"
   Default Depth 24
   Subsection "Display"
      Depth 24
      Modes "1280x800"
   EndSubsection
EndSection

Finally, you probably need to adjust several options (Edit: NOT in the "ServerLayout" section...just main part of file.)
Especially make sure AIGLX is an option, and is not set to false. It might even say "true", but true is the default.
Here are several options you must set, I don't remember exactly how the section looks, I'm using my notes.
These are all for hardware acceleration! Important you know if you have it:

Code:

   Option "NoAcel" "no"
   Option "DRI" "yes"
   Option "VBERestore" "no"
   Option "AIGLX"

Note that Intel says to try enabling VBERestore only if you still have "a problem restoring initial text mode".
I did not have this problem after all my other settings were adjusted, so I left it "no".
(Edit: I had a total crash of X on exit, where I couldn't even Ctrl+Alt+Del, just now, so is only intermittent. Only KDE apps open were, first, the tips, which I closed, then Konqueror, which I also closed before logout. Changed VBERestore to "yes" to see if helps. OK next time with same apps. Probably can't say "it worked", though, till I've been using this for a while!)

Also, you must make sure the "sticky bit" is set on /tmp files (should be already)
I do not have "/usr/local/tmp" as in example, but I do have "/tmp" and "/var/tmp".
Permissions should look like this (note "t" instead of "x" at end!):

Quote:

drwxrwxrwt

If not, you can use chmod command, like:

Code:

chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod 177 /var/tmp

The results of all my changes:

Regular user exits X with no problems.
Root exits X with FPE error, no freeze, but weird terminal behavior.
Can only see a prompt AFTER I enter the answer to it! Seriously!
KDE now properly automatically uses 1280 x 800 resolution, and it is the only option in Control Center.