xorg.conf help needed!

[markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org (markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org)]

> On Sun, 16 Nov 2008, markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org wrote:
>
>> As a battle hardened veteran of XFree86, I can tell you that there are
>> two
>> issues to setting up xorg.conf
>>
>> (1) The capability of the display
>> (2) The range/resolution modes of the video card.
>>
>> The first thing you need to do is (I forget the procedure, but google
>> should help) is to run X or one of its tools to probe and display the
>> possible resolutions of the display card can handle. (They may be
>> printed
>> in the log file).
>>
>> Then, you pick the best match of compatible modes that both the display
>> card and the monitor can handle. Once you have a match, work on getting
>> that setting to work, otherwise, you are just wasting time guessing at
>> something that may never work.
>>
>> If your video card does not handle the resolution you want, look around
>> at
>> places like Microcenter for their cheap AGP cards. Chances are you can
>> google for supported modes on the cards and, of course, their support on
>> Linux, and find one that supports the best resolution of your TV.
>>
>> Good luck!
>
> I recently converted my wife's PC to Ubuntu (I tried Debian, and wanted
> Firefox instead of iceweasel (also had troubles getting flash player to
> work).  Debian immediately had high res (standard off-the-shelf Intel P3
> mobo with built-in video).  But Ubuntu only gave me 800x600 max res.  One
> thing I learned in years past was to manually enter the horizontal and
> vertical refresh rates of the MONITOR into the X setup config (xf88config
> back then, xorg.conf now).

Well, yes, the modern X servers will seek their best match. I worked on
some XFree86 drivers a number of years ago, it is a big hairy mess.

>
> In doing this, and rebooting that PC, Ubuntu magically discovered a new
> range of higher resolutions.

The "card" has a fixed set of ranges, the driver tries to match those
ranges to characteristics of the monitor. These days, LCD monitors mostly
don't care too much about the sync frequencies.
>
> Same in configuring Linux, over time, for my ol' Dell CRT (17 inch)
> monitor.   Unless I give Linux the specific frequency ranges, it can't
> display proper high res for me.

Newer monitors and X use I2C (I Squared C) serial communication to get
that information directly from the monitors.

>
> Again, I'm not entered the rates of the card, but the *monitor*.  You may
> still need the driver for the card to get Linux properly talking to it,
> too.

The proprietary drivers usually do a good job, unless they crash :-)


> Hope that helps.
>
> Scott
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>