640x480 with Via driver on install

[daemonhunter743]

I have a Mini Note 2133 with VIA onboard video.  When I install VL 6.0 Standard Gold and select the VIA driver for a 8.9 (which is what the 2133 has) inch screen the installer window takes up so much space I have to use the scroll bars and then once the install is complete and I boot into the xfce desktop I end up with a screen resolution of 640x480 and there are no other resolutions available in the display settings.   If I select the setting for a 15 or 17 monitor during install I get 1024x768 which is useable.   

My question is does anyone know why the VIA driver will only give me 640x480 and is there a way I can get at least 1024x768 to work with the VIA driver?

[M0E-lnx]

The gui installer is designed to run on 800x600 or better, so there is not much that can be fixed there, except for using the text installer which is still available for 6.0 STD Gold. However, this is not an option for 6.0 SOHO.

As for the installed system, you might try the vesa driver and see if that gives you anything better.

[daemonhunter743]

The vesa driver works fine.  I guess I was just wondering if there was a way to get the VIA driver to work properly or for that matter is there any real benifit to using the VIA driver vs the vesa driver?

[M0E-lnx]

I can't answer that, I've never owned anything tha requires that driver.

[roarde]

You'll get a performance advantage with the via driver. I'm gonna pop out and do a reconfig of X for practice then post some helpful info. In the meantime, do you have the WXGA (1280x768) or WSVGA (1024x600) display in that?
Edit: I rediscovered the greatest advantage to openchrome. A chrome 9's (VIA) screen doesn't scramble when switching between text and X like it does with the VESA driver.

The chrome9 card's and display's info aren't read because VIA kept promising to open their interfaces and didn't. Disgusted, nobody has much interest in doing RE that'll mainly benefit VIA. The info needed from the company to get the info from the chips never arrived.

Took me long enough:

Note 0: I'm attaching the xorg.conf I got when I did these things (look for one of the paperclips near the bottom), but thought I should show how I got it. So you can skip this, but if you play along and it doesn't work for you, you'll know where I screwed up. I could only test this on my 1440x900. I did get it into 1280x768 in X, but your mileage may vary.
Note 1: You can do the following with your current, VESA, X running. Normally I'd say that's bad practice, but most chromes will scramble when they switch back to text when using VESA driver, and only reboot solves it; so stay in whichever mode you're already in.

So that you can use 1280x768 if you have it, be root and do "cp /sbin/vxconf /sbin/vxconf.orig". You should back up your "working" /etc/X11/xorg.conf, too. Just in case. Now edit /sbin/vxconf. Find this part . . .

Code:

"1440x900" "Another common widescreen format" \
"1600x1200" "You know if you have this one...nice!" \
"1024x600" "8.9\" widescreen format" \
"1000x600" "8.9\" Via widescreen format" \

. . . and add another line

Code:

"1440x900" "Another common widescreen format" \
"1600x1200" "You know if you have this one...nice!" \
"1024x600" "8.9\" widescreen format" \
"1280x768" "8.9\" high-res widescreen" \
"1000x600" "8.9\" Via widescreen format" \

A few lines below that you'll find these three lines:

Code:

if [ "$res" = "1280x1024" ]; then
  finalres="Modes \"1280x1024\" \"1024x768\" \"800x600\" \"640x480\""
fi

Copy those three lines and edit one of the copies to get:

Code:

if [ "$res" = "1280x768" ]; then
  finalres="Modes \"1280x768\" \"1024x768\" \"800x600\" \"640x480\""
fi
if [ "$res" = "1280x1024" ]; then
  finalres="Modes \"1280x1024\" \"1024x768\" \"800x600\" \"640x480\""
fi

Save /etc/vxconf, and run "vxconf". Choose vxconf. A note here: no matter what, it's going to choose 16-bit depth when it sees "VIA". You can change it to 24 if your machine supports it. The 24-bit bug is gone with the current driver. I leave it at 16 because it matches some old emulators I use. I was using 24 for a couple of months with no problems.

I'm afraid we have to edit your fresh, new /etc/X11/xorg.conf by hand:

Code:

root:# cvt 1280 768 >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Don't forget it's two ">>". Ouch. Now open /etc/X11/xorg.conf in your editor. Find the DPMS option and comment it out.

Code:

Section "Monitor"
# Option "DPMS"
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "1"

Doesn't work with most chromes using laptop panel, and prevents proper mode detection on them. After you've got X working with openchrome, you should try it uncommented just to see if you're lucky. While we're in the Monitor section, go to the last two lines in the file. You added them with "cvt", above. Move them to near here.

Code:

Section "Monitor"
# Option "DPMS"
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "1"
Identifier   "Monitor0"
VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName    "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5-64
VertRefresh 40-90
# 1280x768 59.87 Hz (CVT) hsync: 47.78 kHz; pclk: 79.50 MHz
Modeline "1280x768_60.00"   79.50  1280 1344 1472 1664  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

Since VIA's not providing appropriate info, we have to spell it out. Now to the device section.

Code:

#Option     "DefaultRefresh"            # [<bool>]
#Option     "ModeSetClearScreen"        # [<bool>]
Identifier  "Card0"
Driver      "vesa"
VendorName  "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName   "Unknown Board"

Change "vesa" to "openchrome" and add four new options:

Code:

#Option     "DefaultRefresh"            # [<bool>]
#Option     "ModeSetClearScreen"        # [<bool>]
Identifier  "Card0"
Driver      "openchrome"
Option      "VBEModes"                 "True"
Option      "PanelSize"                "1280x768"
Option      "SWCursor"                 "True"
Option      "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"    "True"
VendorName  "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName   "Unknown Board"

VBEModes is the only semi-reliable way this setup can be modeswitched until there's more chip info available.
PanelSize may no longer be necessary, but besides giving the size, it alerts xorg that the panel is being used and not the vga out. If you use PanelSize, remember to use the right one if it's not 1280x768. Openchrome couldn't detect it before, may be fixed now.
SWCursor keeps your cursor from disappearing in certain situations.
XAANoOffscreenPixmaps solves a sometimes-scrambled-screen problem present in this and other drivers.

It's been suggested that the following lines near the bottom should be commented out with this driver:

Code:

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

They're not commented out in the attached xorg.conf. They are commented out in my own xorg.conf. Both seem to work, but IIRC, I haven't gotten DRI working either way. Have to check /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

I think I remembered all the changes. If I didn't, the completed /etc/X11/xorg.conf is at the bottom. Paperclip.

While we're at screen resolution and paperclips, would you like the logo to be round on your bootsplash picture? If you have that 1280x768, there's a fix ready for you.

Shameless plug and cross-post to a mis-named thread:
http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=11752.msg74579#msg74579
For the installation files, see the paperclip at bottom, widesplash.zip.

If you have that 1024x600, you'll have to resize the 1280x768 and edit the .cfg. Those with higher resolutions can get proper aspect (round logo) with one of these if the ones in the distro don't do it. Framebuffer res and X res are two different things. The very picky can resize and edit cfg since aspect is correct. I'm still hoping someone will like the .cfgs, but dislike the images and provide better ones.

We'd all like to know how X config goes for you in the end. As for me, good to have another masochist via user around.

welcome, and enjoy

[daemonhunter743]

I don't know why but I followed your instructions and ended up hosing X and VL dropped to the command line.

[daemonhunter743]

Okay now I am confused.  I did not know how to restore X from the command line I re-install VL 6.0.   I did not format and even though I went through the whole re-install it seems to be loading the openchrome xorg file.  Even my last saved Firefox session came back up.  I seem to getting booted out of my user session to the login whenever I try to bring up the system profile and benchmark and it does this sometimes at random now.  I also got lines scrolling down my screen for a few minutes until I lowered the resolution and set it back to the default again and that fixed it.  I have no clue what is going on.  Is it possilble that this is all happening because of the VIA driver somehow?

[daemonhunter743]

I think I fixed it. I at least have it at the right resolution.

[roarde]

Happy to hear you have it, basically, working. Couple of things for anyone following the thread.

If X has been previously configured, but won't start "for no reason", delete ~/.Xauthority and try again.

Some installation scripts look at the existing /etc/X11/xorg.conf for hints, others don't. If you want a fresh start, delete /etc/X11/xorg.conf. When you have one that works, make a backup.

[daemonhunter743]

Thanks.  It works great now.  I finally have the native screen resolution and I am getting some noticeable improvement in performance with things like DVD playback (Xine is no longer complaining about too many dropped frames).

[roarde]

Thanks for posting back, daemonhunter743.

If you've found any new tips for the hardware or driver, consider posting to the "X-rated" forum. It'd be useful; in no sense is it expected
You're probably pretty busy with configuring other parts of the system, after all.

Would like to know a couple of things, only if you wish:
Which driver did you end up using?
How's YouTube or other flash working for you? There's been a problem of lost audio or massive frame drops, but usually only on a network feed. Local video and audio seem to be fine. I think it's underusage of chip features on VIA boards. I don't blame the developers for being skiddish, given the history. Be nice to know if HP has a better way with the boards.

[daemonhunter743]

Well I went with the openchrome driver with a resolution of 1280x768 as per your instructions in the earlier post and the provided xorg file.   Flash seems to work flawlessly on youtube (listening to Mobb Ryder on youtube right now).

[roarde]

I learned a lot here. tyvm!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwm3B5WZRvl plays more-or-less fine. A few frame drops, but it's a really bad connection tonight.
Edit: Plays fine, but won't play from this link! No idea. This is a Mobb Ryder cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe3RqgnXaT4 (pardon my genre) is a different story. Audio drops at first word of the lyric, despite the very simple still-image video. Sound or graphic may be higher-res, dunno. And don't have time. Last post from me on this thread. Long enough, no time. Wouldn't mind picking it up again elsewhere, later.

[daemonhunter743]

Well I have no idea why, but the video that was giving you trouble works flawlessly on my machine.  That is a wonderful song btw. 

[roarde]

Updating to the just-released(?) version of libflashplayer solved the audio/video problems.

daemonhunter473: Is it time for you to mark this one solved?