[vox-tech] XF86Config Question

[Peter Jay Salzman]

On Tue 11 Jan 05, 11:57 PM, Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us> said:
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005, Robert G. Scofield wrote:
> 
> > This Debian Net Install is requiring a lot of work.

That's Debian.  :)

> > I'm trying to set up X, and I keep reading warnings that one can burn
> > out a monitor or video card if one screws up.

A while ago, Rick Moen posted that any modern monitor has protection
circuitry that prevents you from driving the CRT at frequencies that would
damage it.   Certainly makes sense to me that a monitor would be engineered
that way.

Of course, you may have that one monitor without the protective circuitry...
:)

> > I ran the xf86config program and was asked how much RAM my video card
> > has.  I've got onboard video, and I didn't know the answer.  I couldn't
> > find it on the web, or in my motherboard manual.  So I picked 4096.
> > 
> > I notice the following in my XFConfig file:
> >
> > "Section "Device"
> > 	Identifier   "My Video Card"
> >         Driver       "vga"
> >           #unsupported card
> >         #VideoRAM   4096
> >         # Insert Clocks line here if appropriate
> > 
> > So it looks to me like my 4096 selection is commented out, right?
> > That's fine with me because I don't know if it's right.
> > 
> > I've got correct settings for the horizontal and vertical sync/refresh
> > rates.  And the "vga" driver looks like I don't have anything to worry
> > about.
> > 
> > So it looks to me like I can run X (assuming I can get it up) without
> > blowing anything out.  Do you all agree?
> 
> The vga driver is extremely conservative, and highly unlikely to damage
> anything.  In fact, it is so conservative, you may feel like you are
> peering through a toilet paper tube at your screen.
> 
> Why don't you mount the partition the SuSE installation is on and take a
> look through the XF86Config file on that setup for clues to how to
> configure it here?

Yes, absolutely.  This is what I would've suggested had Jeff not read the
email first.  :)

Also, don't forget about "XFree86 -configure".  This will get you in the
right ballpark.  After writing a reasonable XF86Config-4 file, you can fine
tune your way to the front row seats.

Pete

-- 
The mathematics of physics has become ever more abstract, rather than more
complicated.  The mind of God appears to be abstract but not complicated.
He also appears to like group theory.  --  Tony Zee's "Fearful Symmetry"

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