Jitter issue using 60x80 VGA output of old notebook running Alpine

Lain Iwakura · 01-27-2023, 05:11 PM

Hello great LQ Community!

Let me jump strait into the specs:

Eee PC 4G (i386 arch if I remember correctly) somehow running Alpine Linux v3.17.1 x86 (i686) on an Intel Celeron M 900MHz (1) @ 630MHz, without any GUI (terminal only I mean).
/proc/cpuinfo has this:

Code:

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 13
model name	: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor          900MHz
stepping	: 8
microcode	: 0x20
cpu MHz		: 630.075
cache size	: 512 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 1
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 1
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 2
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe nx bts cpuid
bugs		: cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf mds swapgs itlb_multihit mmio_unknown
bogomips	: 1260.65
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual

And here's the oversized lshw output for posterity:

Code:

eeenavi                     
    description: Notebook
    product: 701 (90OAM01A10112B19E628Q)
    vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
    version: x.x
    serial: EeePC-1234567890
    width: 256 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 smp-1.4 smp
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook cpus=0 family=To Be Filled By O.E.M. sku=90OAM01A10112B19E628Q uuid=00DF3F53-CBC5-DC81-2DED-001E8CC80A1F
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: 701
       vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
       physical id: 0
       version: x.xx
       serial: EeePC-0123456789
       slot: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
          physical id: 0
          version: 0910
          date: 03/03/2008
          size: 64KiB
          capacity: 512KiB
          capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor          900MHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 6.13.8
          slot: CPU 1
          size: 630MHz
          capacity: 900MHz
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 70MHz
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe nx bts cpuid
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 5
             slot: L1-Cache
             size: 32KiB
             capacity: 32KiB
             capabilities: internal write-back data
             configuration: level=1
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 6
             slot: L2-Cache
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: internal write-back unified
             configuration: level=2
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 1f
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 512MiB
        *-bank
             description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
             product: PartNum0
             vendor: Manufacturer0
             physical id: 0
             serial: SerNum0
             slot: DIMM0
             size: 512MiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 04
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
        *-display:0
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:f7f00000-f7f7ffff ioport:ec00(size=8) memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:f7ec0000-f7efffff memory:c0000-dffff
        *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
             description: Display controller
             product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:f7f80000-f7ffffff
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:16 ioport:1000(size=4096) memory:20000000-201fffff ioport:20200000(size=2097152)
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.2
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:18 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:f8000000-fbffffff ioport:f0000000(size=117440512)
           *-network
                description: Wireless interface
                product: AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
                vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 01
                serial: 00:15:af:77:2c:d7
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath5k driverversion=5.15.90-0-lts firmware=N/A ip=192.168.158.62 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
                resources: irq:18 memory:fbff0000-fbffffff
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:23 ioport:e400(size=32)
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.15.90-0-lts uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@2
                logical name: usb2
                version: 5.15
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: driver=hub slots=2 speed=12Mbit/s
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:19 ioport:e480(size=32)
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.15.90-0-lts uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@3
                logical name: usb3
                version: 5.15
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: driver=hub slots=2 speed=12Mbit/s
        *-usb:2
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:e800(size=32)
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.15.90-0-lts uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@4
                logical name: usb4
                version: 5.15
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: driver=hub slots=2 speed=12Mbit/s
        *-usb:3
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.3
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:16 ioport:e880(size=32)
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.15.90-0-lts uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@5
                logical name: usb5
                version: 5.15
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: driver=hub slots=2 speed=12Mbit/s
        *-usb:4
             description: USB controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=0
             resources: irq:23 memory:f7ebbc00-f7ebbfff
           *-usbhost
                product: EHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.15.90-0-lts ehci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@1
                logical name: usb1
                version: 5.15
                capabilities: usb-2.00
                configuration: driver=hub slots=8 speed=480Mbit/s
              *-usb
                   description: Video
                   product: EeePC 701 integrated Webcam
                   vendor: eMPIA Technology, Inc.
                   physical id: 8
                   bus info: usb@1:8
                   version: 8.21
                   capabilities: usb-2.00
                   configuration: driver=uvcvideo maxpower=500mA speed=480Mbit/s
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: d4
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: driver=lpc_ich latency=0
             resources: irq:0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ide pm isa_compat_mode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0
             resources: irq:19 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ffa0(size=16)
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 04
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: ioport:400(size=32)
     *-pnp00:00
          product: System Board
          physical id: 1
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:01
          product: AT Real-Time Clock
          physical id: 2
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=rtc_cmos
     *-pnp00:02
          product: IBM Enhanced keyboard controller (101/2-key)
          physical id: 3
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=i8042 kbd
     *-pnp00:03
          product: PnP device SYN0a00
          physical id: 5
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=i8042 aux
     *-pnp00:04
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 6
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:05
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 7
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:06
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 8
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:07
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 9
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:08
          product: System Board
          physical id: a
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system

The internal display (800x400) is alright. However, the VGA output looks like it's stuck on incredibly low scales (with the "vga=ask" linux boot argument I can only choose from the following: 80x25, 80x50, 80x43, 80x28, 80x30, 80x34 and 80x60. These modes are then visible on the integrated display at the start of the boot process and it just switches to the default scale after that. But the VGA output remains janky at all times on my - fairly recent - monitor which can only handle a minimum of 600x800. (with auto calibration)
The text colors are visible on the monitor so I know it could work, but it's all just very fuzzy diagonal strips (just like a resolution issue) this way '\'.

Another thing to note is that on the BIOS menu, I can not only display correctly on the VGA output (in 600x800 I think) but I can also mess with the display mode Fn button that can switch from cloned-screen mode to single-screen mode on either the integrated or the external display. There must be some kind of system option (maybe an event like the things you trigger to toggle LEDs??) that change this. Yeah I'm really not a Linux system expert...

What do I need for this small piece of plastic to display a terminal on another screen via the VGA output or any workaround? I was thinking about buying VGA->DVI adapters in the vain hope that they might fix the scaling issue. What do you think? Or is it my monitor?

fatmac · 01-28-2023, 12:12 PM

Laptops usually offer built in screen, external screen, or both using the function keys.

The resolution is/should be set in your Linux O/S; normal base resolution would be XGA, so you would need to alter it for lower resolutions via you software.

I'm thinking, if you select external monitor (only), your distro will auto resize to your monitors native resolution, mine used to.

Lain Iwakura · 01-28-2023, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

Laptops usually offer built in screen, external screen, or both using the function keys.

The resolution is/should be set in your Linux O/S; normal base resolution would be XGA, so you would need to alter it for lower resolutions via you software.

I'm thinking, if you select external monitor (only), your distro will auto resize to your monitors native resolution, mine used to.

Hi fatmac, looks like you're talking about a GUI system. I mean, all the answers I found online to resize or mess with a screen always require xrandr, which is an X extension. I don't have any X window system right now and cannot get it working properly on Alpine... It's always been a pain to setup X manually.

Whatever, it's probably some OS issue (I hope), knowing that this is an i686 version and that it's incredibly light which means some drivers or helpers may be missing. I'll try to setup FreeBSD instead and see how it goes (it got a real i386 version, incredible), maybe with great luck I won't run out of space to install the X server; with this I will be able to further tweak the VGA output I believe.

Anyway, if anyone have any other idea please let me know. I could always jump back to Alpine if things get out of hands.

mrmazda · 01-28-2023, 10:32 PM

Is the i915 kernel module getting loaded? What does ls /dev/dr* show? What do /sys/class/graphics/fb0/mod* contain? What modes are listed in /sys/class/graphics/fb0/device/drm/card0/card0*/modes? You're not using nomodeset or i915.modeset=0 on Grub's linu line to disable KMS, are you? If not, maybe try one. Instead of using vga= on Grub linu line, try setting a known supported mode with video= instead (won't work if KMS is disabled). I don't have any hardware like yours to compare. Most what we should know would normally be found in output from inxi -Gaz, but without being run in X, inxi's output is limited.

Lain Iwakura · 01-29-2023, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Is the i915 kernel module getting loaded? What does ls /dev/dr* show? What do /sys/class/graphics/fb0/mod* contain? What modes are listed in /sys/class/graphics/fb0/device/drm/card0/card0*/modes? You're not using nomodeset or i915.modeset=0 on Grub's linu line to disable KMS, are you? If not, maybe try one. Instead of using vga= on Grub linu line, try setting a known supported mode with video= instead (won't work if KMS is disabled). I don't have any hardware like yours to compare. Most what we should know would normally be found in output from inxi -Gaz, but without being run in X, inxi's output is limited.

Hi! Yeah I tried FreeBSD and ran outta space... so I'm back on Alpine now, I can answer you. I'm now on i3 with X and still got the same jitter.
ls /dev/dr* did not return anything more than that:
by-path card0 renderD128

ls -la /sys/class/graphics/fb0/mod*:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 29 23:07 /sys/class/graphics/fb0/mode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jan 29 23:07 /sys/class/graphics/fb0/modes

/sys/class/graphics/fb0/device/drm/card0/card0*/modes still contains all these:

Code:

And finally, having installed inxi I got from inxi -Gaz:

Code:

Graphics:
  Message: Required tool lspci not installed. Check --recommends
  Device-1: N/A type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 4-2:2 chip-ID: eb1a:2761
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.6 driver: X: loaded: intel
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: i915 gpu: N/A tty: 80x40
  API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console and glxinfo missing.

I don't have much time right now but if you can make sense of these, there you go. It should be easier to troubleshoot now that X is running.

mrmazda · 01-29-2023, 05:38 PM

Lspci is a pretty important tool, indispensable for some things, so you should install it. Glxinfo is provided by a Mesa demo package, a 47,880 byte binary here.

Is the jitter present regardless of mode? Is I3 running on the display's native mode? Normally inxi reports mode, but without the basic system utilities, or X, it can't do its whole job.

I would try running X without the Intel display driver package installed to see if it makes any difference in jitter, if the modesetting DIX default works at all. It does not support really old GPUs, and Celeron M might be that. Upstream its package name is xf86-video-intel. Alpine might name it differently. Many distros do.

fatmac · 01-30-2023, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lain Iwakura

Hi fatmac, looks like you're talking about a GUI system. I mean, all the answers I found online to resize or mess with a screen always require xrandr, which is an X extension. I don't have any X window system right now and cannot get it working properly on Alpine... It's always been a pain to setup X manually.

Whatever, it's probably some OS issue (I hope), knowing that this is an i686 version and that it's incredibly light which means some drivers or helpers may be missing. I'll try to setup FreeBSD instead and see how it goes (it got a real i386 version, incredible), maybe with great luck I won't run out of space to install the X server; with this I will be able to further tweak the VGA output I believe.

Anyway, if anyone have any other idea please let me know. I could always jump back to Alpine if things get out of hands.

Actually, I was talking about a command line installation giving the correct resolution on the external monitor.........but anyway, if interested, I run a full NetBSD 9.3 system, that is, complete with a GUI & all tools, on a 2GB DoM card, (predecessor of SSD drives).

Lain Iwakura · 02-02-2023, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Lspci is a pretty important tool, indispensable for some things, so you should install it. Glxinfo is provided by a Mesa demo package, a 47,880 byte binary here.

Is the jitter present regardless of mode? Is I3 running on the display's native mode? Normally inxi reports mode, but without the basic system utilities, or X, it can't do its whole job.

I would try running X without the Intel display driver package installed to see if it makes any difference in jitter, if the modesetting DIX default works at all. It does not support really old GPUs, and Celeron M might be that. Upstream its package name is xf86-video-intel. Alpine might name it differently. Many distros do.

Lspci wasn't available with apk last time I checked, maybe I don't have the right mirrors (I selected these by ping time with setup-alpine). I also noticed that I cannot use i3/X without the intel driver. The issue might be a driver issue though; at boot, for some time the VGA output works fine until something is loaded (idk what).

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

Actually, I was talking about a command line installation giving the correct resolution on the external monitor.........but anyway, if interested, I run a full NetBSD 9.3 system, that is, complete with a GUI & all tools, on a 2GB DoM card, (predecessor of SSD drives).

Are you talking about the setup-alpine command? I think I didn't run it while my VGA output was running but it didn't offer a custom res for the internal screen.
Thank you for your NetBSD suggestion but it isn't quite the point of this whole thing, I really want something local and offline. It's a laptop so it won't always have a stable Internet connection.

rokytnji · 02-02-2023, 01:29 PM

I don't know what alpine linux is or doing but I ran my eeepc 701SD on some kind of driver. Stable .Lets see if I can find a old inxi report. Yep. One of these old thread will have it.

link