Re: [Sheflug] Framebuffer problem

["Wonkey Donkey" <wonkey_donkey [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Rogers" <phb01jdr [at] shef.ac.uk>
To: <shef-lug [at] list.sheflug.org.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Sheflug] Framebuffer problem


> Peter Collier wrote:
> > On Monday 12 December 2005 23:36, Wonkey Donkey wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I'm a little stuck right now with a framebuffer problem, and try as I
> > > might, I can't get it to work.
> > >
> > > The hardware is:
> > >
> > > XPS Gen2 Laptop (M170)
> > > Geforce 7800 GTX Mobile
> > > Intel 915 chipset
> > > 2.6.14 kernel
> > > Linux version : Gentoo 2005.1
> -snip
> > I could be talking rubbish here but isn't vesafb used as a fallback when 
> > you don't have correct drivers installed for the video card? I don't 
> > think you can control the video display by putting the settings wanted in 
> > grub. You may have to download the nvida drivers for your card to display 
> > properly. My experience of setting up the video resolution is using sax 
> > in suse, xconfigurator in redhat etc. Not sure what gentoo uses.
> >
> > Peter C
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
> > Sheffield Linux User's Group -
> > http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
> >
> >   GNU the choice of a complete generation.
> The vesa-tng is framebuffer(nothing to do with X), there is a fallback for 
> X called vesa.
> Is there not a nvidia framebuffer module? I remember seeing one sometime 
> ago, not sure if it is depreciated now.
> My experience is that framebuffer and nvidia kernel do not play nicely, 
> poor performance & stability issues.
>
> Ah, google turns up a pretty good summary with some notes on the 915 
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash
> Looks like non-standard resolutions need special mode lines
>
> James
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Sheffield Linux User's Group -
> http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
>
>  GNU the choice of a complete generation.
Yes its a bit icky this I think, because although its the 915 chipset, it 
doesn't have integrated graphics.

That said, I have made some progress purely by chance!!

By selecting the /dev/agpgart option, and then the Intel 440LX/BX/GX chipset 
option, and also the DRM, the Intel 830/845/852/865 option then has a 
sub-selection available for 'i830 driver' and also 'i915 driver', which of 
course I have now selected.

dmesg now shows the following related entries:

agpgart: Detected an Intel 915GM Chipset.
agpgart: AGP Aperture is 256M @ 0x0
[drm] Initialised drm 1.0.0 20040925
vesafb: NVIDIA Corporation, G70 Board - p461h0, Chip Rev  (OEM: NVIDIA)
vesafb: VBE version: 3.0
vesafb: VBIOS/hardware doesn't support DDC transfers
vesafb: no monitor limits have been set
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xc0000000, mapped to 0xf8900000, using 10240k, total 
262144k
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device

Now I didn't know that AGP was even used with pci-e cards, hence the reason 
I never selected it up until now. I've always assumed it was a totally new 
interface, in the same way as when we switched from pci based graphics to 
AGP.

The vesafb-tng entry in the kernel config is sill set to 1280x1024 [at] 60; 
anything above that simply makes the screen go garbled.

In grub.conf I have added video=vesafb-tng:1920x1200-16 [at] 85 but it doesn't go 
to that resolution. The setting there does however have a bearing on things 
because if I change the refresh rate to 100 or the colour depth to 32, the 
screen garbles again.

I've yet to try X, and Im not sure how the nvidia package will change 
things, because if I remember correctly from my last nvidia system, drm had 
to be disabled and the kernel recompiled each time the nvidia package was 
updated. So if I do have to disable drm in the kernel, the option to specify 
the i915 chipset also disappears.

I am going to see how the bootsplash stuff goes before X though.

I really should pay more attention next time when buying new hardware!!

Steve.

___________________________________________________________________

Sheffield Linux User's Group -
http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html

 GNU the choice of a complete generation.