Re: v4 x screen size and flicker

["Eric G. Miller" <egm2@jps.net>]

On Sat, Mar 17, 2001 at 12:10:51PM -0800, Bill Wohler wrote:
>   I just upgraded to X v4 (woody) and selected the mga driver for my
>   Matrox Millenium G200. I have an NEC MultiSync 6FG (21") monitor. I
>   now have two problems:
>   
>     1. Large margins around the screen.
>     2. Incredible flicker.
> 
>   At 1280x1024, there is now a large margin around the screen: 1 cm
>   top and bottom, 2 cm right and left. xvidtune can't make it bigger.
>   Is xvidtune still used in v4 (since I noticed that the mode lines
>   are cheerfully no longer in the configuration) or is there a newer
>   tool that I can use to adjust the size? I don't really want to
>   adjust the monitor size (much) since the size was perfect under v3
>   and the size in the console is fine.
> 
>   Also note that my 1024x768 screen is also small; however, my 800x600
>   screen extends past the edges of the monitor.
> 
>   Also, there is now noticeable flicker which is giving me quite a
>   headache. I've used the same horizontal and vertical refresh rates
>   that were present in v3, but I see in the log below that I'm only
>   pulling 60 Hz, rather than 75 or higher. Suggestions?
> 
>   I also noted that mga_hal failed to load. Is this a problem?
> 
>   Are there any other tools besides SuperProbe that can be used to
>   debug/adjust these things?
> 
>   Thanks for any help you all can provide.
> 
>   Here's the log:
> 
[snip] 
> (==) MGA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
> (==) MGA(0): Min pixel clock is 12 MHz
> (==) MGA(0): Max pixel clock is 250 MHz
> (II) MGA(0): NEC MultiSync 6FG: Using hsync range of 27.00-79.00 kHz
> (II) MGA(0): NEC MultiSync 6FG: Using vrefresh range of 55.00-90.00 Hz

Looks like X thinks your monitor isn't fast enough.  You can set the
monitor info in /etc/X11/XF86Config.  You'll have to find out if your
monitor will support higher ranges.  For instance, my 17" monitor
supports these:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        HorizSync       30-95
        VertRefresh     50-180
EndSection

Notice the upper end of the ranges are substantially higher. So with
same video card, but different monitor settings, I can get up to:
1600x1200@75Hz (which is way too high [small] for my tastes).  If it
supported higher ranges before, it will support them again.

Note: I don't know what that mga_hal is about (maybe for a different
Matrox card...).

-- 
Eric G. Miller <egm2@jps.net>