915resolution: widescreen almost working

trashbird1240 · 06-25-2007, 03:16 PM

Hello Slackers,

I'm running Slackware 11, now with a 2.6.18 kernel (generic) and I have a Samsung 941bw monitor that purports to go up to 1440x900 at 60Hz. I've been working on getting my screen resolution correct all day: I've installed 915resolution, patched the new mode in, added it to rc.local. I even installed the 2.6.18 kernel from testing in hopes that would help (it did). I added a number of options gleaned from forums and now have the following xorg.conf:

Code:

# **********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "Samsung 941bw"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

    HorizSync   30-82

#    HorizSync	30-64         # multisync
#    HorizSync	31.5, 35.2    # multiple fixed sync frequencies
#    HorizSync	15-25, 30-50  # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.
    # 1440x900 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 70.50 kHz; pclk: 136.49 MHz
     Modeline "1440x900_75.00"  136.49  1440 1536 1688 1936  900 901 904 940  -HSync +Vsync

    # 1440x1024 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 80.17 kHz; pclk: 156.50 MHz
#     Modeline "1440x1024_75.00"  156.50  1440 1536 1696 1952  1024 1025 1028 1069  -HSync +Vsync

    # 1440x900 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 55.92 kHz; pclk: 106.47 MHz
    Modeline "1440x900_60.00"  106.47  1440 1520 1672 1904  900 901 904 932  -HSync +Vsync

    # 1440x1024 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 63.60 kHz; pclk: 122.11 MHz
    #Modeline "1440x1024_60.00"  122.11  1440 1528 1680 1920  1024 1025 1028 1060  -HSync +Vsync

    VertRefresh 60-75

    Option "DPMS"
    Option "DDC" "false"
#    Option "ForceBIOS" "1920x1440=1440x900"
    #    DisplaySize 1280 1024
EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
    Identifier	"Standard VGA"
    VendorName	"Unknown"
    BoardName	"Unknown"

# The chipset line is optional in most cases.  It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.

#    Chipset	"generic"

# The Driver line must be present.  When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module.  Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.

    Driver     "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for.  When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device.  For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used.  This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.

#    BusID      "PCI:0:10:0"

#    VideoRam	256

#    Clocks	25.2 28.3

EndSection

# Device configured by xorgconfig:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "i810"
    Driver      "i810"
    #VideoRam    12288
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of screen sections may be present.  Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen.  A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "i810"
    Monitor     "Samsung 941bw"
    DefaultDepth 24

#     Subsection "Display"
#         Depth       8
#         Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#         ViewPort    0 0
#     EndSubsection
#     Subsection "Display"
#         Depth       16
#         Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#         ViewPort    0 0
#     EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1440x900_75.00" "1440x900_60.00" "1280x1024"
        ViewPort    0 0
#        Virtual     1440 900
    EndSubsection
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# ServerLayout sections.
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present.  Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised.  A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option.  In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.

Section "ServerLayout"

# The Identifier line must be present
    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens.  The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen.  In this example, screen 2 is located to the
# right of screen 1.

    Screen "Screen 1"

# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used.  Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".

    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

# Section "DRI"
#    Mode 0666
# EndSection

So, when I "startx" I get a box from the monitor display saying "Not optimal mode; Preferred Mode: 1440x900 @ 60 Hz" and the entire screen is squeezed into the lower-right two-thirds of the monitor. The aspect ratio is correct, however it's not filling the screen.

Here's some messages from /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

Code:

joel@... ~ % grep "1440" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Mode: 3a (1440x900)
        BytesPerScanline: 1440
        XResolution: 1440
        LinBytesPerScanLine: 1440
Mode: 3c (1920x1440)
        YResolution: 1440
Mode: 4a (1440x900)
        XResolution: 1440
Mode: 4b (1440x900)
        XResolution: 1440
Mode: 4c (1920x1440)
        YResolution: 1440
Mode: 4d (1920x1440)
        YResolution: 1440
*Mode: 5a (1440x900)
        XResolution: 1440
Mode: 5c (1920x1440)
        YResolution: 1440
(II) I810(0): Not using mode "1440x900_60.00" (no mode of this name)
(II) I810(0): Increasing the scanline pitch to allow tiling mode (1440 -> 2048).
(--) I810(0): Virtual size is 1440x1024 (pitch 2048)
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "1440x900_75.00"
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 75.00Hz refresh for mode "1440x900_75.00" (85a)

joel@... ~ % grep "900" /var/log/Xorg.0.log 
Mode: 3a (1440x900)
        YResolution: 900
Mode: 4a (1440x900)
        YResolution: 900
Mode: 4b (1440x900)
        YResolution: 900
*Mode: 5a (1440x900)
        YResolution: 900
(II) I810(0): Not using mode "1440x900_60.00" (no mode of this name)
(**) I810(0): *Built-in mode "1440x900_75.00"
(II) I810(0): Attempting to use 75.00Hz refresh for mode "1440x900_75.00" (85a)

I seem to be one step away...does anybody know what it is?

Thanks,
Joel

Techmeology · 06-26-2007, 04:17 PM

That looks to me like an interesting way to make the X config. Did you take a backup of your original configuration? I generally have this problem when I install Slackware on a new computer. The solution is as follows:
Change

Code:

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection

to

Code:

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1440x900" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection

and change

Code:

    HorizSync   31.5-50.0 <or what ever the default is>

to

Code:

    HorizSync   31.5-54.0 #adjust this to make it a little bigger if neccesary:
#I get 54 (kHz) from the formula: vertical resolution * refresh rate, (or 900*60)

I hope this helps you.

trashbird1240 · 06-26-2007, 04:22 PM

Howdy, I'm a little confused: the file was generate by xorgconfig and then I added to it the modifications I might need to use the widescreen resolution. Is the only modification changing the upper limit of Horizsync to 54?

I'll try this tomorrow.

Thanks,
Joel

Techmeology · 06-27-2007, 05:06 AM

If you didn't back up your configuration, then you will need to rerun xorgconfig (I hope that will get you your original configuration back - its the easiest way I can think of to get rid of all your modifications, but anything that has the effect of changing the settings from the originals to the new should work), and make the changes as I have described above. 54 is an approximate value. You [I]might[I] have to try a slightly higher value to make it work. Please also note the change in resolutions to exclude 1280x1024 (with a vertical resolution that your monitor cannot handle), and include 1440x900.

trashbird1240 · 06-27-2007, 08:36 AM

Yeah, still no go. I tried everything you suggested. Thanks for the help but I'm just going to wait for Slackware 12 before I mess with it any more.

Joel

tobyl · 06-27-2007, 11:46 AM

Joel, I don't know about 915resolution myself, but I came across a ubuntu forum thread that looked right up your street, so take a look here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1465348

tobyl

trashbird1240 · 06-28-2007, 09:05 AM

Thanks tobyl, this is the thread I have been looking for for months. I will try it and get back to y'all.

Joel

trashbird1240 · 06-28-2007, 11:57 AM

Well, I definitely made a step in the right direction, although it appears I still have a few more steps to take. After following the suggestions in the Ubuntu post, I got a blank screen instead of the warning message from the monitor. So that's progress. However, no picture

They also mentioned that these things work automatically with a DVI connector, so all I need is for my computer to grow a DVI output

Could this be Slackware specific? Does Ubuntu have a more recent version of X.org?
Thanks again,
Joel