Screen resolution limited to 1280x1024x24 on matrox g200e
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Screen resolution limited to 1280x1024x24 on matrox g200e
I have HP ProLiant ML110 g5 with integrated Matrox G200e graphics card:
Code:
0d:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. MGA G200e [Pilot] ServerEngines (SEP1) (rev 02)
I use it with up to date CentOS 7 and xorg. For some reason screen resolution is limited to 1280x1024 but manyfacturers specification says that it max is 1600x1200x16:
Code:
Graphics 32MB shared supporting 1600 x 1200 x 16M resolution
I tried to add vga parameter to the kernel during start. With it screen changes for a while to defined screen resolution of 1600x1200 but almost immediately after that switches to 1280x1024.
during this dmesg says:
Code:
[ 0.136145] vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:0d:00.0,decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
[ 0.136145] vgaarb: loaded
[ 0.136145] vgaarb: bridge control possible 0000:0d:00.0
[ 0.163391] pci 0000:0d:00.0: Boot video device
[ 0.903432] vesafb: mode is 1600x1200x16, linelength=3200, pages=1
[ 0.903434] vesafb: scrolling: redraw
[ 0.903438] vesafb: Truecolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
[ 0.903476] vesafb: framebuffer at 0xee000000, mapped to 0xffffbeba41000000, using 7500k, total 8128k
[ 1.182133] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 200x75
[ 1.443851] fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
[ 1.470644] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[ 2.642200] fb: conflicting fb hw usage mgag200drmfb vs VESA VGA - removing generic driver
[ 2.940535] fbcon: mgadrmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 2.940703] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 160x50
[ 3.214924] mgag200 0000:0d:00.0: fb0: mgadrmfb frame buffer device
[ 3.218699] [drm] Initialized mgag200 1.0.0 20110418 for 0000:0d:00.0 on minor 0
Specification says about 32MB of shared video memmory, here I can see value of 8128k instead?
Any ideas how can I get 1600x1200x16 on this device?
1600x1200x16 is an ancient and extinct card. I would believe 16 colours. I find it hard to believe 16 Million colours. It's a 4:3 monitor setup also when all modern monitors are 16:9.
I don't think linux does shared memory any more. So you're left with 8128k of video memory. It's a joke. The lowest colour resolution I remember is 8bit, which was 256 colours, and that's long gone.In short, your video card is a glorified D/A converter.
Presuming the server is from the same time as the Proliant server, it probably has a 33Mhz pci bus, beside ISA slots. Why not check on ebay for some secondhand pci video card? It will probably be far superior.
1600x1200x16 is an ancient and extinct card. I would believe 16 colours. I find it hard to believe 16 Million colours. It's a 4:3 monitor setup also when all modern monitors are 16:9.
I meant 16bit by that, then 65k colors. 'Not great, not terrible', the current mode of 1280x1024 is 24bit depth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by business_kid
I don't think linux does shared memory any more. So you're left with 8128k of video memory. It's a joke. The lowest colour resolution I remember is 8bit, which was 256 colours, and that's long gone.In short, your video card is a glorified D/A converter.
Why do you think that? In my honest opinion Linux does shared memory perfectly.
8MB is perfectly fine for the resolution I wish to get: 1600*1200*16/8/1024/1024 = 7.32MB
The card I have here in this machine is not meant to be used as any kind of GPU for gaming. Yeah, around 1999 MGA G200 was 3D accelerator (not so bad in that time, I used it till early 2000s). But in this ProLiant it is only 2D D/A converter. The problem is that I can't get it to work with its maximum declared resolution. It may be caused by not enough video memory taken by hardware, 8MB instead of 32MB.
Quote:
Originally Posted by business_kid
Presuming the server is from the same time as the Proliant server, it probably has a 33Mhz pci bus, beside ISA slots. Why not check on ebay for some secondhand pci video card? It will probably be far superior.
Actually this ProLiant ML110 has one PCI 2.2 and three PCIe x8 slots. The idea here is to use integrated G200 card. 32bit PCI is already occupied. PCIe slots are too short for typical standard power graphics card like nvs290.
These days you're looking for 8GB in a graphics card, which is enough to run the PC on.
It's been a while since I saw framebuffer & vesa, and am not used to seeing them together. That stuff has hardly been worked on in decades. With 4:3 you could get vesa, but I don't remember that above 1280x1024. You could set up some config in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-video.conf. The format is the same as the 'Display' section of xorg.conf (see man page). I believe you can still set Modelines. Is your card pci or ISA?
When I try my 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 instead, it gets put to sleep. After I sleep, I'll try using xorg.conf to configure for 1920x1xx0 and see what happens....
BTW, the G550 is a much older chip than the G200e.
Using the above /etc/X11/xorg.conf in Debian 11, I was able to get a 1920x1080 Samsung TV to run 1920x1080 using my G550. Given 1920*1080=2073600 is more than 1600*1200=1920000, I expect my 1600x1200 display to work when it becomes available, at least a week from now, if not more, from storage.
I tried a comparable xorg.conf edition with my NEC 1920x1200 computer display, and was unable to get the G550 to to run X in any sane mode that I tried, always causing the display to display its out of range message, all modes that newer GPUs don't ordinarily give trouble with.
The same file that works on my 1920x1080 TV also produces 1920x1080 on my Acer 2560x1440 display:
I tried adjusting to produce 2560x1440, but all I got was a fallback to 1920x1080. Using this mode produces random blinking off and right back on.
Code:
# dmesg | egrep 'mapped|vesafb|mga'
[ 0.068200] initial memory mapped: [mem 0x00000000-0x0affffff]
[ 0.075374] mapped low ram: 0 - 36bfe000
[ 1.832752] vesafb: mode is 1280x1024x16, linelength=2560, pages=5
[ 1.832759] vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:7d60
[ 1.832766] vesafb: pmi: set display start = (ptrval), set palette = (ptrval)
[ 1.832771] vesafb: pmi: ports =
[ 1.832787] vesafb: scrolling: redraw
[ 1.832793] vesafb: Truecolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
[ 1.832826] vesafb: framebuffer at 0xf0000000, mapped to 0x(ptrval), using 5120k, total 32768k
Does your BIOS allow to enable various RAM sizes? Is your 32MB shared RAM specification the maximum, rather than a current setting? If RAM turns out not to be an issue, I would think you could use my xorg.conf as a template to make yours work.
1600×1200 is a 4:3 ratio. Most modern monitors are 16:9, as is 1920×1080. 1600×1200 is a throwback to the times of Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), when you had to let your monitor warm up. the '1200' would go seriously off screen on a 16:9 hdmi monitor
Last edited by business_kid; 07-05-2022 at 05:07 AM.
That is a stretch. Most, but not all, are 16:9 because they are HDTVs adapted to PC use at the panel manufacturing level. Business and arts users aren't always content with that ratio, very often favoring 16:10, such as various iMac models' 1920x1200 or 2560x1600, and loads of 24" 1920x1200 from various suppliers, of which I use two, one Samsung, one NEC. Androids also come in 16:10. Newer Macbooks have shifted to 1.55:1.
Anyway, before switching to digital widescreen displays, I ran my most-used CRTs @1600x1200, so it's still quite a valid ratio for those who have to be content with whatever they can afford, CRTs being free throwaways in some locales.
Yeah, I suppose it is a stretch. The cinema screen is wider and there are variations.
It's fairer to say that 4:3 monitors are passé. Vesa had exclusively 4:3 modes programmed in, IIRC. I know some guy who got other ratios, but I don't know how they did it. But I went through a stage of getting 'whatever I could afford,' and remember the appreciation it gave you for other people's (perfectly good) junk.
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