[vox-tech] X resolution problems

[Peter Jay Salzman]

On Tue 10 Jan 06,  4:39 PM, Matt Roper <matt at mattrope.com> said:
> On Tue, Jan 10, 2006 at 07:12:52PM -0500, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> > 
> > In xorg.conf:
> > 
> > 
> > Section "Screen"
> > 
> >    Identifier  "Default Screen"
> >    Device      "Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Device"
> >    Monitor     "Generic Monitor"
> >    DefaultDepth   24
> > 
> >    SubSection "Display"
> >       Depth    24
> >       Modes    "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x200"
> >    EndSubSection
> > 
> >    SubSection "Display"
> >       Depth    16
> >       #Virtual 1024 768
> >       Modes    "320x240" "800x600" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "1280x960" "800x600"
> >    EndSubSection
> > 
> > EndSection
> > 
> > 
> > The problem is that when I switch to 320x200, the screen displays a
> > viewport, 320x240 in size, looking onto a 1280x1024 desktop.  In other
> > words, the resolution is native 1280x1024, but only a 320x200 piece of it
> > shows.  The rest of the screen is a very large black border.
> > 
> > When X starts, I see the following message:
> > 
> >    (1152x864,Generic Monitor) mode clock 100000MHz exceeds DDC maximum 140MHz
> >    (320x200,Generic Monitor) mode clock 100000MHz exceeds DDC maximum 140MHz
> >    (1600x1200,Generic Monitor) mode clock 162MHz exceeds DDC maximum 140MHz
> > 
> > I'm curious how a monitor that can display 1280x1024 has trouble displaying
> > 320x200.  I *really* would like 320x200 so I can play scummvm at full
> > screen.
> > 
> > Any hints/ideas on how to force this particular resolution?
> > 
> 
> Hi Pete.  When you say that you're switching your screen size, how
> exactly are you doing that?  Are you using the xrandr command or are
> you using Ctrl-Alt-+ and Ctrl-Alt--?  The second way only changes your
> viewport size and your desktop will always remain the same size, but
> using the xrandr allows you to actually change the size of your desktop.
> Assuming you're not already using xrandr, type "xrandr" to get a summary
> of the available resolutions, then do
> 
>     xrandr -s 320x200
> 
> to switch.
> 
> I believe (although I haven't used it enough to say for sure) that you
> don't need to list the resolutions you want to use in your xorg.conf
> file.  Those are only necessary for changing between viewport sizes with
> Ctrl-Alt-{+/-}.
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> 
> Matt


Hi Matt,

Interesting.  I guess I've been out of maintaining my system for awhile
because I never heard of the RandR extension before.  Must be new for xorg?

I think this tells all:

p at satan$ xrandr -q
 SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
*0   1280 x 1024   ( 325mm x 260mm )  *75  
 1   1024 x 768    ( 325mm x 260mm )   75  
 2    800 x 600    ( 325mm x 260mm )   75  
 3    640 x 480    ( 325mm x 260mm )   75  

So the X log wasn't lying: ATM, it appears that most of my modes are
invalid.  I need to figure out why.  The video chipset is i810 and the
monitor is VESA compliant, so this problem surprises me.

The screen's physical dimension is 355x285, so the value reported by xrandr
is incorrect.  So much for DDC.  I tried setting:

   Section "Monitor"
      Identifier  "Generic Monitor"
      HorizSync   31.5-75.0
      VertRefresh 48-80
      DisplaySize 355 285           <-----
      Option      "DPMS"
   EndSection

but the X log tells me that it's ignoring my directive and using the DDC
value instead.

It's been a long while since I've played anything on my system.  The monitor
is fully capable of displaying at a whole bevy of resolutions, and I've
played scummvm (I'm guessing this problem is not scummvm specific) just fine
before using this monitor, but was using XFree86 and a real video card,
instead of xorg and an i810 chipset.

Pete