Re: laptop screen size
> I have just almost successfully installed X on my laptop. My last
> problem is this:
> I have a 1024x768 screen, yet I can only seem to get it to come up as
> 320x200. So basically there is a small window in the middle of my screen
> that displays X, and the graphics are rather large (it is running at 8bpp
> as opposed to 16).
This is a classic symptom of using the XF86_SVGA server with an incorrect
chipset value. (eg. "generic") A lot of XFCom server drivers are builtin
now to the SVGA server so it isn't necessarily completely wrong, but I have
found a lot of cases where the automagical configurators won't set the
chipset. (the 320x200 is its support for "generic VGA" compatibility in
case anyone was wondering.)
So, you'll have to ask the SVGA server what chipsets it supports.
XF86_SVGA -probeonly 2> dumpout
...should result in a file where you can read (1) about the server's
supported names for chipsets, and (2) any other exciting errors it
might have for you, so you can solve them next.
btw, it's not so much the screen that you have to worry about (as long as
horizsync and vertrefresh ranges are close to what yours will accept) - it's
the builton video card type you need to know. This is what will hate the
poor dotclock modeline. This is what needs the right server to behave itself
in good colormodes. etc.
> I'm really not sure where to go with this. I've tried xvidtune but that
> gets a floating point exception,
Well, if it *worked* vidtune would only help you tune the modes you have
access to already, so it's not what you need yet.
> xf86config gives me these results, and XF86Setup seems to do more damage
> than good (I'm sorry that isn't very specific, but I've just fought it
> four or five times in a row and I didn't right down the error message
> these last two times).
XF86Setup itself uses the VGA16 server. Picking through mazes of twisty
little ATI chipset names (mostly alike) is a pain in the toot.
> I had X running fine with redhat and suse, so I know it is possible, I'm
> just not quite sure how.
>
> Sony vaio N505VE
> neomagic card
Funny, this should be easy to tag for in the configurators. Looking at my
own instance of XF86_SVGA on venus, I don't see "neomagic" as one of the
names, otoh... there are a -lot- of entries in the form (two or three letters)
(a bunch of numbers) (maybe another letter or two) ... so maybe you also need
to know exactly -which- neomagic chip.
SuperProbe should be able to tell you, if you aren't afraid to have it try.
> SVGA server
> 1024x768 screen, should be at 16bpp
It can often get even better than that, assuming you have the video RAM to
pull it off. You'll still be stuck with a maximum LCD size though.
> Thanks for any help in advance - if more info is needed from me please
> let me know.
>
> Steve
Hope this helps!
-* Heather Stern * star@starshine.org *-
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