How to get 1280x1024 resolution on laptop

Nem · 04-04-2007, 01:41 AM

Hey all,
Got a another question, LoL

Okey I got a gateway mx3215 laptop
and got slackware 11.0 installed with 2.6.17.13 kernel on it with KDE. I was wondering is it possible to get
1280x1024 resolution on it? It would be a dream
if I got that resolution! It got a S3 UniChrome
video card. Here's a link with the complete specs
of the laptop
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/.../5948sp2.shtml

I currently got 1024x800 resolution and that is the
max in the settings. I have a wide screen so ya
it be better if I got 1280x1024. Plus in windows
the stock resolution is 1280x1024 so the card can handle it.Talking about the performance, I only
get like 10 FPS right now so you see how bad
X currently is!
Thx

runnerfrog · 04-04-2007, 03:18 AM

Lets try the basics:
Backup your /etc/X11/xorg.conf: # cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf-backup
Edit the file:

Under
Section "Screen"
[...]
DefaultDepth 24
[...]

That's your default color depth, so:

Under
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection

Those are the resolutions you want in the order they rotate when you do 'CTRL' + 'ALT' + '+' (or '-')
So you'll prefer Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" only, may be? Depending on what your TFT can handle.

Quote:

I only get like 10 FPS right now so you see how bad X currently is!

Sorry to contradict you, but Xorg rocks, and X exists before Win32 and Win16. You might try Depth 16 instead of 24 in that case.
Cheers.

Nem · 04-04-2007, 12:02 PM

I modified the xorg.conf as you said
and still no changes.

Here's the Subsection "Display" line.

Code:

 Subsection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       32
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection

EndSection

I ran xrandr and this is the output.

Code:

~$ xrandr
 SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
*0   1024 x 768    ( 347mm x 260mm )  *61
 1    800 x 600    ( 347mm x 260mm )   73
 2    640 x 480    ( 347mm x 260mm )   86
Current rotation - normal
Current reflection - none
Rotations possible - normal
Reflections possible - none

I tried ctrl+alt and -or+
and that didn't do nothing.

Oh and about X I didn't mean that X sucks!
I was just trying to say that the curennt settings
are bad and need to be tuned up so I can get more
FPS.

Nem · 04-04-2007, 10:30 PM

Oh goodness!
I posted up the wrong resolution that I was trying to
get! I looked in windows and it was running at 1280x768 resolution.
So I'm trying to get 1280x768 not 1280x1024 my mistake!
Do you think it's possible to get 1280x768?
Maybe I need some kind of driver to get it going.
I don't know if you guys or gals! don't have any ideas is there
any forum you would recommend me to ask about this?
thx again for all the support

JCDenton513 · 04-04-2007, 10:41 PM

You should be able to just set the Modes to "1280x768". Also you might have to check xorg.conf for your monitors horizontal sync and vertical refresh. It should be in the users manual or check online for that particular screen on the laptop.

GamerX · 04-05-2007, 01:59 AM

Sound more like a driver issue, check /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see what the video drivers are saying.
There should be drivers for that video card that come with X, try to run xorgconfig and it will present you with a video card database, I remember seeing a bunch of S3 in that list.

Nem · 04-05-2007, 08:56 PM

Okey I ran xorgconfig and
tried to use the generic S3 driver and
my X just wouldn't want to start. I tried a couple
other S3 drivers there and they all wouldn't work.

This is weird. I ran xorgsetup then in xorg.conf
under section: Subsection "Display"

I modified it to look like this

Code:

Subsection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       32
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection

EndSection

Then I started up X and my screen was at 1600x1200!
I would slowly cut out so it would look like this
"1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
then "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
It would to start up at 1400x1050 then when I cut it
out It would start at 1280x1024. So then I replaced
1280x1024 with 1280x768 and it wouldn't want to start
at 1280x768, it just would avoid it and start at
1024x768. Seems like it would start at any resolution
BUT 1280x768! Is there any tools that could force
the resolution to be 1280x768 on my laptop?
My laptop is using the vesa driver because the S3
drivers wouldn't work. On the monitors horizontal sync and vertical refresh I tried looking on the gateway
site and couldn't find it.I also looked in my manual
and it didn't have the specs for it too.

runnerfrog · 04-05-2007, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nem:
On the monitors horizontal sync and vertical refresh I tried looking on the gateway
site and couldn't find it.I also looked in my manual
and it didn't have the specs for it too.

sudo ddcprobe (or ddcprobe as root) spits out the info.

Remember to backup your xorg.conf

Your driver appears to be: xf86-video-unichrome (not sure, many chipsets are not supported). For the moment try using: Driver "via" on your Section "Device" 'cos it is a VIA/S3 card.

You might add definitions under your monitor section. To do it you may use the command ddcxinfo -modelines > modelines.txt from a knoppix livecd to obtain the modelines, copy the content of the file over your Section "Monitor", or just use the HorizSync and VertRefresh parameters of the output.
Always have a knoppix at hand.
Cheers.

Nem · 04-06-2007, 07:35 PM

I don't think I'll be able to get the 1280x768
that I wanted because I got knoppix and ran ddcprobe
and 1280x768 isn't supported.

root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# ddcprobe
VESA 3.0 detected.
OEM Name: VIA P4N800 PRO
Vendor Name:
Product Name:
Product Revision:
Memory installed = 1024 * 64k blocks = 65536kb
Supported standard modes:
640x480x256
640x480x64k
640x480x16m
800x600x256
800x600x64k
800x600x16m
1024x768x256
1024x768x64k
1024x768x16m
1280x1024x256
1280x1024x64k
1280x1024x16m
1600x1200x256
1600x1200x64k
80x60 (text)
800x600x16
EDID read failed. (No DDC-capable monitor attached?)

I'll play around some more with the drivers,but I'm
probably out of luck!

tuxdev · 04-06-2007, 08:39 PM

Depending on how close xorg.conf is to the system and what you want, it might be advantageous to start from what "xorgsetup" does for you.

Nem · 04-07-2007, 12:07 AM

I ran xorgsetup
and it just gave me 1600x1200.
I rather like to use xorgconfig
because the settings are alot more
fine tuned than xorgsetup. But this is my
personal opinion! Like it has to be it's
my buddys laptop! Maybe I'll try get him to
use fluxbox because everything looks better
at this current resolution with fluxbox than kde, but
I don't think he'll want to switch to fluxbox!

KleB · 04-07-2007, 03:44 AM

What about adding your own modline? I googled and found this:

Code:

Section "Modes"
  Identifier   "Modes[0]"
  Modeline "1280x768" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795
EndSection

KleB · 04-07-2007, 07:27 AM

Sorry I was a bit brief in my previous post, but I had little time.
The thing is, not all resolutions are in-built in X. For custom resolutions you can add
the above posted code into xorg.conf. The modeline defines a custom resolution. Then when you are setting modes in screen section, you just write the defined mode (in above example, which could work for you, but I didn't test it, I just found it with google, it is named "1280x768" so use this name in Modes option under Screen).

I have a widescreen laptop which needs a custom modeline (resolution 1280x800) and it works nice, although I hear that for LCDs modeline may not work nicely... But I suggest you give it a try anyway.

Nem · 04-07-2007, 11:54 AM

I tried it and still no luck.
This is the screen section.Did I put in the code
right kleb?

Code:

# 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 "Modes"
  Identifier   "Modes[0]"
  Modeline "1280x768" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795
EndSection
#
#
Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "s3"
    Monitor     "mon"
    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       "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection

KleB · 04-07-2007, 12:38 PM

Well, I posted the code just as I found it with google, but now I checked with my laptop and I have the thing solved differently:

Code:

Section "monitor"
  HorizSync 31.5-64.3 #My numbers, use whatever you already have...
  VertSync 50-70 #Same as above
  ModeLine "1280x800" ... #Try the modeline mentioned earlier here
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  .
  .
  .

  Subsection "Display"
    Depth 24
    Modes "1280x800"  #Use your name here
    ViewPort  0 0
  EndSubsection
EndSection

Try this layout of xorg.conf... it works for me, but I don't know all the X details of why and how...