Robert Heller
2012-Sep-22 21:55 UTC
[CentOS] Problems with widescreen (16:9) under CentOS 5 w/ xorg-x11-drv-i810-1.6.5-9.40.el5
I am the tech guy for a local library. We have a network containing several diskless workstations. The hardware are these P4 boxes: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SAMBA845V-24-4-R&cat=SYS (We have inserted additional memory, bringing most of the machines up to 1.25Gig of memory, and two up to 2Gig of memory.) These little machines have integrated Intel video chips on their motherboards and have both VGA and DVI connectors: (II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: Intel Corporation (II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: Intel(r)845G/845GL/845GE/845GV Graphics Controller (II) I810(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: Hardware Version 0.0 (II) I810(0): Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) 845G (--) I810(0): Chipset: "845G" And the i810 driver seems to be happy to talk to these chips. I am using the stock (distro supplied) RPM: xorg-x11-drv-i810-1.6.5-9.40.el5 The machines are running pretty much stock CentOS 5.8 (I am slightly behind on some updates). These machine boot off the network and then mount their root (/), /usr, and /home file systems via NFS from the server and function otherwise as normal workstations. And they work great with 4:3 monitors. Recently, because of new cataloging and circulation software which seems to have been designed by (open source) developers who probably have new widescreen monitors on their machines, we have put widescreen (16:9) monitors on three of the machines (various menus and toolbars don't fit on a 4:3 monitor, even at 1280x1024 [19-20" monitor]). But we are having some problems getting the proper aspect ratio (or even a display at all) on two of the three. First of all, using the VGA connection, the X server *refuses* to use any Modeline that is not a 4:3 aspect ratio. It seems that the X server presumes that *all* VGA connected monitors are 4:3. (All three of the new wide screen monitors do have 15-pin VGA connections, so this 'presumption' is obviously false, esp. since the monitors using DDC while connection via VGA are suggesting 16:9 mode lines.) I got *one* of the machines to correctly use a 16:9 aspect ratio Modeline (1600x900) using the DVI connection. The other two don't work. One won't display anything (claims that the video is missing or wrong). And the other just uses something like 640x480. Both monitors work just fine on DVI in console display mode (bare kernel VGA), so the video card is seeing the monitor and sending it a signal at that level. I have tried everything I can think of. The various log files and config files are here (each tar file contains one log and one config): This is the *working* machine (HP W2072a): http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/catalog-DVI-1600x900.tar.gz These are for a (not working) Acer X223W: http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/clearwater-VGA.tar.gz http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/clearwater-DVI.tar.gz>From xdpyinfo while connection via VGA:screen #0: dimensions: 1680x1200 pixels (474x302 millimeters) resolution: 90x101 dots per inch And for a (not working) ViewSonic VA2431WM: http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/circdesk-VGA.tar.gz http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/circdesk-DVI-1600x900.tar.gz http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/circdesk-DVI-1440x900.tar.gz http://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/circdesk-DVI.tar.gz>From xdpyinfo while connection via VGA:screen #0: dimensions: 1600x1200 pixels (521x290 millimeters) resolution: 78x105 dots per inch We would really like square pixels -- is it possible or not? -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com Deepwoods Software -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ () ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail /\ www.asciiribbon.org -- against proprietary attachments
Keith Roberts
2012-Sep-23 10:03 UTC
[CentOS] Problems with widescreen (16:9) under CentOS 5 w/ xorg-x11-drv-i810-1.6.5-9.40.el5
On Sat, 22 Sep 2012, Robert Heller wrote: *snipped*> These machine boot off the network and then mount their root (/), /usr, > and /home file systems via NFS from the server and function otherwise > as normal workstations. And they work great with 4:3 monitors. > Recently, because of new cataloging and circulation software which > seems to have been designed by (open source) developers who probably > have new widescreen monitors on their machines, we have put widescreen > (16:9) monitors on three of the machines (various menus and toolbars > don't fit on a 4:3 monitor, even at 1280x1024 [19-20" monitor]). But > we are having some problems getting the proper aspect ratio (or even a > display at all) on two of the three.*snipped* Hi Rob. What desktop GUI are these machines using? Is there some way you get each machine to use it's own custom xorg.conf file, that you can tweak for each particular machine? I use this this in my PC running Centos 5.8 32 bit, and XFCE desktop, to give me a tall virtual screen that I can scroll around vertically: # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "single head configuration" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "gb" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" ModelName "Monitor 1024x768" HorizSync 31.5 - 61.0 VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0 Option "dpms" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "nv" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Virtual 800 1800 Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection Kind Regards, Keith ----------------------------------------------------------- Websites: http://www.karsites.net http://www.php-debuggers.net http://www.raised-from-the-dead.org.uk All email addresses are challenge-response protected with TMDA [http://tmda.net] -----------------------------------------------------------