Dell 510M Letterbox / Small screen in X and Console before fb activates

dezza · 11-07-2004, 04:39 PM

I decided to try Slackware Linux on my fathers Dell 510M Laptop this weekend, i run Gentoo Linux my-self on my workstation, so i am already familiar with linux.

My problem is that i always a small screen (saw someone else calling it a letterbox) in X and console, for example lilo, when it passes lilo and activates fb it's full screen but X and before lilo activates fb is small, i don't know if the Dell logo has to be in full screen too with the "Press F12 to enter setup" in right upper corner of the screen cause that's how i've always seen it. I've searched on the internet and i found 2 different problems with the integrated intel 855 graphic driver.

1. Green screen problem (I haven't had this problem

)

2. A tool to change resolution from the VBIOS, i tried this and changed it to 1280x1024 and started X but it didn't strech the small centered box to fullscreen but it looked like it had changed the resolution inside it to something higher cause the text looked alot more smooth but as it was such a small screen it was harder to read with this resolution. First i couldn't get this tool to work, but i upgraded the BIOS from A02 to A07 and it worked!

I would like to know if anyone have found the solution to this problem? Or have had more luck than me on Google? Cause i feel like i've tried everything now

..

xorg.conf

Code:

Section "Module"
    Load        "dbe"
    Load        "extmod"
    Load        "type1"
    Load        "freetype"
    Load        "speedo"
    Load        "glx"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/corefonts/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/ttf-bitstream-vera/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/artwiz/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/freefont/"

    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
#    ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option      "blank time"    "5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"Keyboard0"
    Driver	"kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"Mouse0"
    Driver	"mouse"
    Option      "Protocol"    "PS/2"
    Option      "Device"      "/dev/mouse"
    Option      "Emulate3Buttons"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Monitor"
    HorizSync   31.5 - 50.0
    VertRefresh 40-90
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "VESA Framebuffer"
    Driver      "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen0"
    Device      "VESA Framebuffer"
    Monitor     "Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 16

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       32
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "X.org Configuration"
    Screen "Screen0"
    InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

I can't post URLs for the patches for 1. and 2. right now as i'm a new user, but i can send a PM if needed, and by the way "Hi" and Thanks for your many helpfull topics, i've used this site alot..

db391 · 11-07-2004, 08:22 PM

Have you tried a Text Stretch option in the bios (if such an option exists) or a key combination to expand the screen (ie, Fn-F3 etc)?

also i read google and apparantly you can select 1400x1050 resolution on a dell 510m???

dezza · 11-08-2004, 12:28 AM

Thanks alot! I found it, it was named Video Expansion.

I tried the BIOS before but i didn't found this option? Can it be the BIOS update i made from A02 to A07?

db391 · 11-09-2004, 03:20 PM

it may be the case,

my m8 neil updated his bios and it now supports video properly under linux (its a trident cyber

)

and also a "windows 98 compatibility" and "os/2 compatible" options were added in the bios setup.