Dell C800 with SUSE 9.1 -- Resolution problem

ibex · 05-28-2006, 04:08 PM

Hi and thanks for checking this post.

I am just out of a SUSE 9.1 install on a Dell Latitude C800.
This laptop has a very good resolution (TFT) up to 1600x1200 and I try to configure it properly but it only goes 1400x1050 despite I have edited the /etc/X11/XF86Config to allow only the highest res. SaX2 and YaST do not help - although I set the monitor there as an LCD 1600x1200@60Hz the appearing resolutions end at 1400x1050 and further more some times and at some limited areas on the screen the colors are flickering.

Mozilla fonts behave very irregularly being big here and small there!

Any helpers?

Charred · 05-29-2006, 03:16 PM

I have a Latitude C810 that I run in 1600x1200, here's the relevant section of my xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "Monitor"

# 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	30-64         # 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.
    Identifier     "My Monitor"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 85.0
    VertRefresh     40.0 - 90.0
    Option         "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"

# 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.
# 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
    Identifier     "Standard VGA"
    Driver         "vga"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    BoardName      "Unknown"
EndSection

Section "Device"
#"nvidia"
    Identifier     "NVIDIA GeForce2 Go                  [nv]"
    Driver         "nv" #"nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen 1"
    Device         "NVIDIA GeForce2 Go                  [nv]"
    Monitor        "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "VBERestore" "true"
    Option         "DPMS"
    #Option         "NvAgp" "1"
    #VideoRam       131072
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Try adding this info to your XFConfig, see if it doesn't work for you.

I get flickering colors sometimes too (in x), I think it's interference caused by case deflection or something along those lines, I haven't investigated yet.

For your font problem, try installing MS's TT fonts, search LQ for more info about that.

ibex · 05-30-2006, 11:40 AM

Thank you friend,
I have not tested it yet since 1400x1050 is not bad and things work.

I was a bit skeptical of putting
Identifier "My Monitor"
HorizSync 28.0 - 85.0
VertRefresh 40.0 - 90.0
since the max refresh freq. for the TFT is 60Hz.
Am I mistaken here?
Our video cards also different.

I would be gratefull if you come back here when
you undertsand better what's going on with that
flickering. To me seems related with the icons
(when I move further a nearby icon the flickering
stops - it is not moved with the icon)

All the best
ibex

Charred · 05-30-2006, 12:15 PM

My TFT will refresh at 60 or 65 at 1600x1200, with some higher rates available at lower resolutions, so I would expect a rate of about 60 for yours too.

As to the spread of the refresh range, I have always gone for a range that includes what I think I'll be using, and I haven't killed anything yet. I have looked at a lot of xorg.conf and XFConfigs (using Linux-on-laptops: Dell as a starting point), and most of the ranges are similar to what I have.

Bottom line: don't use settings you're not comfortable with.

If I find out anything about the flicker problem, I let you know.