SUSE 10.0 X issues

I have had little experience with Linux on widescreen laptops (WXGA) and whose manufacturers don't produce documentation for. Yes, I'm talking about an Advent.

I just installed SUSE 10.0 (standard installation with custom partitioning) as a dual boot with Windows XP. I previously had Mandriva 2006 (used for tutorial examples), and before that Vector Linux 5.1. And, can you believe that out of the three distros I've had on this PC, only Vector was the one to correctly configure my X server? (gore, this isn't a shot at you ;))

I've been trying to configure my resolution and the monitor's drivers for the past half hour, but I haven't made much progress. First of all, I tried selecting the VESA driver in YAST2 - but it does not support 1280x800 (or any other widescreen resolution for that matter). I thought wtf, I'll give it a shot. I set it up as 1024x768 VESA with a refresh rate of 60, chose the resolution as 1280x800 with 16 bit colour and then tested it - the test ran perfectly. I couldn't compare the resolution without any icons in the test, but it looked a bit better..

Anyway, I switched to another tty, killed X, then it started automatically. The login resolution looked alright, so I thought I'd done it. I then logged in as root, KDE loaded, and then I was presented with the same ugly resolution:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4...apshot15rg.png

Well - that spread over a 1280x800 screen.

So, I went back into YAST2 and switched the driver to the generic LCD one, with 1280x800 and refresh rate 75. I set the resolution as 1280x800 WXGA again (it had reset itself to 800x600) and then ran the test. Looking better. Saved the changes (as shown in the attached image), then restarted the computer completely. Back to the login - looks good. Login as root, KDE comes up, BAM - same old ugliness. I checked the settings in YAST2 and they had reset themselves back to this:

http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/3...apshot21an.png

Any ideas what's going on? Vector worked, Mandriva didn't (although I never went through the bother of changing xorg.conf manually) - I'm hoping SUSE doesn't end up like the latter.. ;)

Cheers,

-jk

I googled "wide screen" xorg and most of the
advice seems to be that you will have to manually
edit xorg.conf to add a modeline for your resolution.
If you are lucky, someone may have the same distro
and exactly the line you need.

here

and here

It looks like Yast is not writing your settings to the xorg.conf file, so it is using the default.

If you know what driver you need to use and which resolution you want, I would recommend manually editing the xorg.conf file. This would only take a couple of minutes. If you don't know what to change in your xorg.conf file, just ask.

rcgreen - Thanks for the links. I'll check them out as soon as I can - I thought I would have to modify xorg.conf in the end ;)

Digoy - I figured that out for myself, lol. I'm not sure what driver it uses though, which is the problem - and the internet is not proving at all helpful either. If you really want, my laptop is an Advent 7084; this is about the most I've been able to find out about it. It uses the ATI drivers, but I think the ones included with SUSE are for the destop ATI cards and not the mobility series - I will give it a try though.

I've had plenty of experience altering xorg.conf - and I'll need to do it many more times in the future, I'm sure.. ;)

Cheers,

-jk

Log out of X

Or just hit ALT + CTRL + F1

Log in as root

type sax2

gore - I tried what you said, but when I set the configurations and click on 'Test' it immediately resets to the standard 800x600. I don't think I have a faulty installation, as the same thing happened with Mandriva, but it is quite weird. Could it be because I am setting the monitor as 'LCD', or is that just a generic one?

[edit] I have attached my xorg.conf.

I've found a French guide which includes setting up my graphics card here - it uses an app called 'fglrx' to set it up. I'm going to see if SUSE has it..

Hey J_K9,

I think you're on the right track here with the fglrx... On my Acer laptop I installed Ubuntu 5.10 a while back...It has the same graphics card ATI X700 .

I installed the Ubuntu provided drivers (you can also install the ATI ones).

Code:

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sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx

---

then I needed to update my xorg.conf

Code:

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sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

---

That did the trick for me ...

Maybe it helps you ...maybe not ...After this implementation you have to see fglrx on the Driver section under Section Device.

Just my 0.2c ;)

.C.

Thanks for your post Cemetric - I won't be able to download anything until Sunday, but I'll try to download and update accordingly as you posted. And with fglrx, will I have to modify anything, or does it just involve choosing which graphics card you have etc?

Thanks for the tips :D

Quote:

---

will I have to modify anything, or does it just involve choosing which graphics card you have etc?

---

As I recall with my laptop I didn't have to configure anything afterwards ...It's been awhile now, as I said ...but I'm pretty sure about it ...As long as after the initial installation you reconfigure/update the xorg.conf ...

You just need to be sure that your card is supported by the driver (which it is obviously ;) )

I found some site about SUSE and ATI cards :

Site 1

Site 2

Maybe they give you some more insight ?

.C.

Thanks for the links - I'm sure both of them will be helpful when I try setting it up ;)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers,

-jk

fglrx is the config program from ATI (I think). From my experience its a pain in the ass to set up ATI cards in Linux, I havn't gotten it yet.

After you install the ATI drivers you have to run fglrx (and there maby a recompiling of the kernal in there, which is what I think I missed)

this is a common problem with many distros that while attempting to cater to rookies, you must do things in exactly the proper order or the automated configuration WILL OVERWRITE your changes

I do not know what you have to do to fix this. I think, if you edit the xorg.conf file after setting it in YAST, then YAST should leave it alone if you change it manually.

It's a common problem? How many installs have you ever seen this happen to? You may want to rethink your reply to everything post whoring strategy a little.

Ok, I followed the instructions here, and I have encounted a problem while trying to run

Code:

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sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx -b /usr/share/doc/packages/fglrx/sax2-profile

---

I have attached the SaX2 error log. I'm not sure why it happened, because all the other commands ran smoothly. But when I executed this one, SaX2 did not start - it exited with an error explaining what the causes of the disruption could have been. I'm not sure what went wrong.

Thanks in advance,

-jk

(SaX2.log attached)