[gentoo-amd64] unknown monitor

[gentoo-amd64] unknown monitor

[DR GM SEDDON]

Hi I'm trying to configure my display.  I have successfully created a 
xorg.conf file that works.  However, I have tried to optimise my display 
as recommended in the manual.  From 'lspci' my graphics card is 
unknown.  It is an ATI radeon but I entered unknown.  I have tried 
'Screen0' and 'default screen'.  When I startx I get  'unknown monitor 
type' in the log.  Can anyone advise?
Gavin
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[gentoo-amd64] Re: unknown monitor

[Duncan]

DR GM SEDDON posted <437F0FBC.6010908@manchester.ac.uk>, excerpted below, 
on Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:42:52 +0000:

> Hi I'm trying to configure my display.  I have successfully created a 
> xorg.conf file that works.  However, I have tried to optimise my display 
> as recommended in the manual.  From 'lspci' my graphics card is 
> unknown.  It is an ATI radeon but I entered unknown.  I have tried 
> 'Screen0' and 'default screen'.  When I startx I get  'unknown monitor 
> type' in the log.  Can anyone advise?
> Gavin

That's xorg trying to scan the DCC info from the monitor (as most modern
monitors should provide) and failing to get it.  It's not complaining
about your graphics card (altho it's possible if it's using the wrong
driver that it won't be able to get the monitor info due to that), but
that your monitor isn't returning any info for xorg to use to set itself
up.

The below info is for analog video cards and monitors.  I'm not sure how
digital ones, lcd and the like, may differ, except that I know their
resolutions are typically lower for their size, they sell by displayed
size, not tube side, so a 19" CRT is usually about the same viewable size
as an 18" LCD (tho the LCD is lower max resolution), and they are more
expensive but not nearly as heavy or bulky!  Oh, LCDs also tend to come in
widescreen ratios far more frequently than CRTs!

The good thing (within context) about LCDs is that they are newer
technology, so often a newer product, meaning it's  easier to find specs
for them.  If it's a laptop, look for the laptop specs, and you'll get the
video card info at the same time!

Since xfree86-4 and now with xorg, setting up monitors is generally pretty
easy, even if it can't get the info automatically, because xorg has
default resolution and timing modes that it will use, given the basics.

man xorg.conf, take a look at the monitor section, then google your
monitor (if necessary) and get the necessary specs.  I've done this with
more than half dozen used monitors that needless to say I had no manuals
for, thus no from the factory specs.  They are generally fairly easy to
find, once you feed google the make and model number of your monitor.

The numbers you will need:

Horizontal sync, normally in KHz.  Here's the numbers from one of mine,
from xorg.conf, to give you an idea of the range.  (Don't just use mine,
if it's wrong and you let the monitor go for long, it can burn it out!) 
High resolutions will use near the top end.  The bottom end isn't used
much any more, unless you like to use xorg's ctrl-alt-numplus and numminus
sequences to zoom, as I often do, and want to get close to the min
resolution as well.

    HorizSync 30-110

Vertical refresh, normally in Hz.  High resolutions will use lower numbers
here.  The high end is the one not so often used any more.  Note however
that most folks can't stand refresh rates below 60, and many need 75 or
better to be comfortable.  Of course, that means you can't drive it to as
high a pixel-count resolution.  Here, I can tolerate 60 Hz with dark
backgrounds and light text/foregrounds, so mostly dark.  With a white
screen background, I need higher refresh rates, 68-75.  Again, here's mine
to give you an idea, but don't just use mine.

    VertRefresh 50-180

Those will go in the Monitor section.  You can use xorg's autosetup (there
are several choices for tools to try) to generate a basic xorg.conf, then
create or change the Monitor section as necessary.

Two option but useful numbers for the same section, if you can find them. 
Dotclock, usually in MHz (maximum typically runs ~230-ish with a decent
monitor), and DisplaySize in x and y mm.  xorg usually does fine without
the former if you can't find it, by using the numbers above.  The latter
is only used to ensure semi-normal font sizes, otherwise various versions
may change the default font size, if they can't find it and you didn't set
it, rather drastically, for the same settings in your X environment. 
Thus, it's not vital, but it's nice to have, and usually pretty easy to
find, tho you might have to do a bit of inch/mm conversion (25.4mm/inch).

The other  place your monitor numbers come into play is in the Display
subsection of the Screen section, in the  Modes listing.  This is just  a
listing of the main and any additional pixel resolutions you may desire
(that xorg agrees are possible given the settings for video card and
monitor).  If your numbers are good enough, and your screen large enough,
2048x1536 is the highest practical resolution available  (assuming the
standard 4x3 ratio) -- but only on 20" and larger monitors or it's
overkill.  1600x1200 is, however, often the rated maximum for the 19-22"
monitor size, and more comfortable for many, particularly as it allows a
higher refresh rate.  (Monitors rated for 75 Hz refresh at their rated
maximum, however, can generally do 60 Hz at higher resolutions, if your
eyes can stand it, of course.)  For a 19" monitor, 1280x920 resolution
(4x3 ratio) or 1280x1024, altho that gives you rectangular pixels.  For a
17" monitor, 1280x1024 is high end, 1024x768 is standard.  15" do 1024x768
and 800x600.  Old and small monitors will generally do 640x480, 800x600 if
you are lucky and can tolerate the lower refresh.

Here's one of my screen mode line entries, listing all the resolutions I
run (22" monitor, the highest normally resolution normally, lower ones for
zoom, using the zoom keys mentioned above, DisplaySize is 400x300mm, so at
that resolution, my pixels are a full mm square!).  Most folks probably
don't have  half that many resolutions (plus many won't want to run
2048x1536 at the refresh possible on their monitor, even if they can, so
that and the 1792 resolution won't be so common).  Note that the 640x480
resolution is square pixels, the 640x400 isn't, but I have a game that
runs that, so...  That one is also a custom modeline, as well, as it's not
one that xorg has preconfigured.

Modes "2048x1536" "1792x1344" "1600x1200" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "640x400" "512x384" "400x300" "320x240"

It should be easy to find the maximum resolution for your monitor, as
that's one of the selling features, so even hits that don't list anything
else often list that.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: unknown monitor

[DR GM SEDDON]

Many thanks for this detailed reply, my monitor is a 20" sgi crt.  i 
prefer sgi we use them at work in drug design they give good 3d.  I have 
the hr and vs rates, where do I put these.Also, is the monitor name 
needed verbatim.  Finally, is there a tool for setting up my initial 
monitor type and card?  Since I'm apprehensive of my setup.
Gavin



Duncan wrote:

>DR GM SEDDON posted <437F0FBC.6010908@manchester.ac.uk>, excerpted below, 
>on Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:42:52 +0000:
>
>  
>
>>Hi I'm trying to configure my display.  I have successfully created a 
>>xorg.conf file that works.  However, I have tried to optimise my display 
>>as recommended in the manual.  From 'lspci' my graphics card is 
>>unknown.  It is an ATI radeon but I entered unknown.  I have tried 
>>'Screen0' and 'default screen'.  When I startx I get  'unknown monitor 
>>type' in the log.  Can anyone advise?
>>Gavin
>>    
>>
>
>That's xorg trying to scan the DCC info from the monitor (as most modern
>monitors should provide) and failing to get it.  It's not complaining
>about your graphics card (altho it's possible if it's using the wrong
>driver that it won't be able to get the monitor info due to that), but
>that your monitor isn't returning any info for xorg to use to set itself
>up.
>
>The below info is for analog video cards and monitors.  I'm not sure how
>digital ones, lcd and the like, may differ, except that I know their
>resolutions are typically lower for their size, they sell by displayed
>size, not tube side, so a 19" CRT is usually about the same viewable size
>as an 18" LCD (tho the LCD is lower max resolution), and they are more
>expensive but not nearly as heavy or bulky!  Oh, LCDs also tend to come in
>widescreen ratios far more frequently than CRTs!
>
>The good thing (within context) about LCDs is that they are newer
>technology, so often a newer product, meaning it's  easier to find specs
>for them.  If it's a laptop, look for the laptop specs, and you'll get the
>video card info at the same time!
>
>Since xfree86-4 and now with xorg, setting up monitors is generally pretty
>easy, even if it can't get the info automatically, because xorg has
>default resolution and timing modes that it will use, given the basics.
>
>man xorg.conf, take a look at the monitor section, then google your
>monitor (if necessary) and get the necessary specs.  I've done this with
>more than half dozen used monitors that needless to say I had no manuals
>for, thus no from the factory specs.  They are generally fairly easy to
>find, once you feed google the make and model number of your monitor.
>
>The numbers you will need:
>
>Horizontal sync, normally in KHz.  Here's the numbers from one of mine,
>from xorg.conf, to give you an idea of the range.  (Don't just use mine,
>if it's wrong and you let the monitor go for long, it can burn it out!) 
>High resolutions will use near the top end.  The bottom end isn't used
>much any more, unless you like to use xorg's ctrl-alt-numplus and numminus
>sequences to zoom, as I often do, and want to get close to the min
>resolution as well.
>
>    HorizSync 30-110
>
>Vertical refresh, normally in Hz.  High resolutions will use lower numbers
>here.  The high end is the one not so often used any more.  Note however
>that most folks can't stand refresh rates below 60, and many need 75 or
>better to be comfortable.  Of course, that means you can't drive it to as
>high a pixel-count resolution.  Here, I can tolerate 60 Hz with dark
>backgrounds and light text/foregrounds, so mostly dark.  With a white
>screen background, I need higher refresh rates, 68-75.  Again, here's mine
>to give you an idea, but don't just use mine.
>
>    VertRefresh 50-180
>
>Those will go in the Monitor section.  You can use xorg's autosetup (there
>are several choices for tools to try) to generate a basic xorg.conf, then
>create or change the Monitor section as necessary.
>
>Two option but useful numbers for the same section, if you can find them. 
>Dotclock, usually in MHz (maximum typically runs ~230-ish with a decent
>monitor), and DisplaySize in x and y mm.  xorg usually does fine without
>the former if you can't find it, by using the numbers above.  The latter
>is only used to ensure semi-normal font sizes, otherwise various versions
>may change the default font size, if they can't find it and you didn't set
>it, rather drastically, for the same settings in your X environment. 
>Thus, it's not vital, but it's nice to have, and usually pretty easy to
>find, tho you might have to do a bit of inch/mm conversion (25.4mm/inch).
>
>The other  place your monitor numbers come into play is in the Display
>subsection of the Screen section, in the  Modes listing.  This is just  a
>listing of the main and any additional pixel resolutions you may desire
>(that xorg agrees are possible given the settings for video card and
>monitor).  If your numbers are good enough, and your screen large enough,
>2048x1536 is the highest practical resolution available  (assuming the
>standard 4x3 ratio) -- but only on 20" and larger monitors or it's
>overkill.  1600x1200 is, however, often the rated maximum for the 19-22"
>monitor size, and more comfortable for many, particularly as it allows a
>higher refresh rate.  (Monitors rated for 75 Hz refresh at their rated
>maximum, however, can generally do 60 Hz at higher resolutions, if your
>eyes can stand it, of course.)  For a 19" monitor, 1280x920 resolution
>(4x3 ratio) or 1280x1024, altho that gives you rectangular pixels.  For a
>17" monitor, 1280x1024 is high end, 1024x768 is standard.  15" do 1024x768
>and 800x600.  Old and small monitors will generally do 640x480, 800x600 if
>you are lucky and can tolerate the lower refresh.
>
>Here's one of my screen mode line entries, listing all the resolutions I
>run (22" monitor, the highest normally resolution normally, lower ones for
>zoom, using the zoom keys mentioned above, DisplaySize is 400x300mm, so at
>that resolution, my pixels are a full mm square!).  Most folks probably
>don't have  half that many resolutions (plus many won't want to run
>2048x1536 at the refresh possible on their monitor, even if they can, so
>that and the 1792 resolution won't be so common).  Note that the 640x480
>resolution is square pixels, the 640x400 isn't, but I have a game that
>runs that, so...  That one is also a custom modeline, as well, as it's not
>one that xorg has preconfigured.
>
>Modes "2048x1536" "1792x1344" "1600x1200" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "640x400" "512x384" "400x300" "320x240"
>
>It should be easy to find the maximum resolution for your monitor, as
>that's one of the selling features, so even hits that don't list anything
>else often list that.
>
>  
>

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[gentoo-amd64] Re: Re: unknown monitor

[Duncan]

DR GM SEDDON posted <437F2ED9.80303@manchester.ac.uk>, excerpted below, 
on Sat, 19 Nov 2005 13:55:37 +0000:

> Many thanks for this detailed reply, my monitor is a 20" sgi crt.  i 
> prefer sgi we use them at work in drug design they give good 3d.  I have 
> the hr and vs rates, where do I put these.Also, is the monitor name 
> needed verbatim.  Finally, is there a tool for setting up my initial 
> monitor type and card?  Since I'm apprehensive of my setup.

Cool!  Now we're gettin' somewhere!  <g>  20"+ CRTs I know a bit about as
I'm running two (a Viewsonic and a Dell Trinitron) in dual head mode right
now.

If you already have the timings, no, you don't need specific model numbers
or whatever.

As I mentioned, xorg has several tools for initial setup.  However, after
trying Linux and then leaving it for a couple years, when I finally got
serious about it (due to the fact that MS was asking me to cross a line
with eXPrivacy I could not and would not cross -- because I believed it
would ultimately legitimize spyware and the like -- exactly as it did --
see where we are today with Sony's rootkit they apparently saw nothing
wrong with, anyway, since I couldn't upgrade to eXPrivacy, I switched to
Linux...)

... When I finally got serious about Linux, I asked for book
recommendations and after getting repeated recommendations for two books,
bought them both, O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell (aka The Arabian, for the
horse on the front), and Running Linux (aka the Rearing Horse... horses
must be their Linux mascot theme).  Running Linux is textbook tutorial
style, while Linux in a Nutshell is a reference work.  After reading  the
600-ish pages of Running Linux nearly cover to cover, I dove right in and
learned how to custom configure and compile my own kernel, did a rather
complicated multiboot LILO setup, and learned how to configure xfree86 for
triple monitors on two video cards, because the automated stuff
couldn't handle that!... All that within the first three months of getting
serious, while I was still dual booting back to MSWormOS to run OE for
mail and news, because I hadn't had time to look into the desktop software
angle yet, so didn't know what I wanted. When I get serious about learning
something, I LEARN it, and there's NO going back. (But note that was after
two years of still being on MSWormOS but figuring I'd eventually end up
switching to Linux, so verifying all my hardware purchases would do Linux
before I spent the money... So by the time I did it, I knew everything I
had would work, and it did!)

Anyway... back to the topic... As a result of that I haven't had to mess
with xorg's automated detection stuff in years, and then it was only very
briefly, and I don't know much about it, save for what I've read in the
various manpages and the like.

I'd say take a look at "man X" to start, skim it, get to the bottom, and
go thru the what's related manpages as well.  I KNOW there are at least
TWO different methods shipped with xorg that can be used to auto-scan and
generate a basic starting point with at least /some/ of the settings
correct, hopefully.  If I'm not mistaken, there's actually four such
utilities, and one of the manpages actually gives you a list of the
recommended order to try them in, the easiest first, the most likely to
work but harder to manage because you end up plugging more into it
manually, last.  However, as I've said, I didn't need that info and was
just scanning it looking for other stuff, so it's possible there were two
methods that I counted twice.

Or...  probably the easiest method, if it works, would be to grab and burn
an ISO of Gnoppix/Knoppix and/or of Kubuntu/Ubuntu.  A couple years ago,
Knoppix was considered the best at hardware detection (overall, but
certainly including video hardware for X) around, but most distributions
have availed themselves of the open source since then and have in general
caught up.  Ubuntu is of course the one everybody's talking about now. 
Grab the 64-bit version if you can, it's handy to have around as a liveCD
and emergency boot and repair platform, but the 32-bit version should
detect stuff equally well so will do just fine for our immediate purposes.

Anyway, if you can get one of those things to work, doesn't matter which
one, you can copy it's xorg.conf from its ramdisk to your drive or a
floppy or something, and you may not have to worry about messing with it
at all if you don't want to.  DEFINITELY, NOT ALL DISTRIBUTION INSTALLS
ARE CREATED EQUAL, but if you can find just one that can scan and
recognize your hardware (or just part of it if not all), that should work,
and give you some info on what you have, if nothing else.

As for where you plug the stuff in if it comes to that... and you may have
to change at least a /few/ settings...

As I mentioned, man xorg.conf does a fair job, and you should have a
sample to compare with, altho I'd hate to have to start from that without
at least something /partially/ matched to my system.  Anyway, I'll give
you a brief overview here, but that's where to look for more, or ask...

The file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf (note the cap X in X11).  It's very
modular, and once you get the hang of the layout, the modularity is a help
because it keeps the complexity down and allows you to worry about just
one thing at a time.

The different sections or modules can be in any order, but are logically
related to each other this way:

Section Monitor contains the settings for your monitor. along with an
Identifier "what-you-call-your-monitor" entry.  That Identifier entry is
how that section is referred to everywhere else.  It's convenient to
identify by brand and model, as in 'Identifier "Dell-2125s"', if you have
it, making it easy if you have more than one to use the same section over
elsewhere, but you can call it 'Identifier "Xyzzy"' for all xorg cares, as
long as you then refer to it as "Xyzzy" everywhere else you need it.  If
you have only one, just call it "Monitor1" or whatever, if you like.

You may have more than one Monitor section, each with it's own identifier,
if you have multiple monitors you are or may be plugging in.

Likewise, your graphics card has its settings in a Section Device,
likewise with an Identifier entry.  Here, as I play with multiple cards
sometimes, I use identifiers like "DevAGP0", "DevPCI1, etc.  However,
again, you can call it what you want.  You can call it by brand and model
if you like, or just "GraphicsCard1" or whatever.  Of course, fancy setups
may have more than one graphics card or a card with multiple outputs. 
Depending on the driver and configuration, a card with multiple outputs
may be configured as separate cards (therefore separate Device
sections) for each output, or have additional settings  for the second
output in the same Device section.

A Section Screen combines the Device Section and the Monitor Section(s)
for what's plugged into it.  Again, it'll have it's own Identifier, I call
mine "ScrAGP0" and the like, after the Section Device it matches up with,
but you may call yours "Plough" for all xorg cares, as long as  you always
refer to it with the right identifier.

Within the screen section, there's a Monitor "<identifier>" entry and a
Device "<identifier>" entry that match up with the appropriate sections
described above.  Again, as long as the identifiers match correctly, it
doesn't matter what they actually are.

The screen section also has one or more Subsection Display subsections. 
These will normally be one for each color bitness level (8-bit color,
15/16-bit color, 24- and 32-bit color), tho I run Xinerama, which wants
you to stick with the same bitness level, so I pick one and stick with it,
and don't bother with the others.  The main purpose of these subsections
is to contain the list of desired resolutions, like the long one I posted
earlier, one list for each bitness level.  There are of course some less
significant optional entries as well, but the two big ones are the list of
accepted resolutions for that bitness, and the line specifying the color
bitness the list applies to.  These are subsections of the screen
sections, so they don't get their own identifiers.

There are also Section InputDevice sections, one for each input device
(keyboard, mouse, graphics pad, touch-sensitive-screen, whatever) you
have, naturally each with its own identifier entry.

Combining all these we have Section ServerLayout.  You should be able to
predict several of the entries it will have, its own identifier,
naturally, plus one or more Screen and InputDevice entries, referring to
the appropriate sections by their identifier.  Again, the identifier is
entirely arbitrary.  Call it "SvrLyout1" or "Y2" (get the running joke
yet? <g>), it doesn't matter, as long as it matches the identifier it's
referring to.

There will be one default Section ServerLayout, the first one listed IIRC
if one isn't specified when the server is invoked, but as with the other
Sections, you may have others as well, if desired.

There are some other, more global, sections as well.  Section Files lists
what else? paths to other related config files (and fonts or the config
to use the font-server if you run one) on your system. Xorg has sane (and
Gentoo normal) defaults built-in, if this section is missing. Similarly,
the ServerFlags section is optional. However, that's where you put
settings such as PM (Power Management) timeouts, and set Xinerama
(multi-screen) mode, if desired.

Likewise with the Modules and Extensions Sections.  You can run xorg in
bare 2D unaccelerated mode without them, in general, or xorg has some
configured to run by default if it finds them and they aren't specifically
turned off, but there are appropriate sections for them if you want to
tweak the settings.

Back with xfree86 3.x, one had to specify a bunch of quite scary
individual timing mode lines, the setting up of which involved some deep
black arts! <g>  Fortunately, starting with xfree86 4.x and now with xorg,
the by far most common of these, the 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x920,
1280x1024, 1600x1200, and even down as low as 400x300 (or lower) and as
high as 2048x1736 entries, often several individual timings for each
resolution, are built-into the binary and tried automatically, so these
are no longer needed.  There's a site out there, Colas xmodeline generator
(google it if needed or I have it bookmarked), that has a script that
you just plug in the monitor and card numbers into, and it'll output an
a table of appropriate timing entries in 4-pixel x increments covering the
entire range allowed by your hardware, if you want a mode that's not
builtin. I mentioned that 640x400 special mode for a game I have in the
previous reply.  I got the modeline for that by simply plugging the
appropriate numbers into the boxes at Cola's.  (Those extra modelines can
either go under individual monitor sections, or, if you have several
monitors sharing a set of modelines, they can go in their own section,
naturally complete with its own identifier entry, by which you refer to it
elsewhere.)

That's the structural outline of the major sections and how they depend on
each other in words.  Here's a brief "pseudoexample", with only a few
"pseudosettings" by way of example.  (They are basically real settings,
but I'm deleting some of the complicated meat of the config, since I have
multiple monitors/cards/screens and am not checking that what's left
matches up, so I wouldn't expect this to work anywhere as is, tho it
might. Do note how some are hash-commented out, tho.) Again, section
order normally doesn't matter.


Section "Files"
    FontPath   "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
#    Option "Composite"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    # General options
    Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
    Option "NoPM"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "MainLayout"
    InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    Screen 0 "ScrAgp.0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Keyboard0"
    Driver "kbd"
    Option "XkbModel" "microsoftmult"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Mouse0"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
    Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Dell-M991"
    HorizSync 30-96
    VertRefresh 50-160
    DisplaySize 355 265
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Dell-2125s"
    HorizSync 30-121
    VertRefresh 48-160
    DisplaySize 400 300
    ModeLine "640x400" 63.07 640 672 832 896 400 402 414 440 #160Hz for Orion
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "ViewSonic-P220f"
    HorizSync 30-110
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "DevAgp.0"
    Driver "radeon"
    BusID "PCI:5:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "ScrAgp.0"
    Device "DevAgp.0"
    Monitor "Dell-2125s"
    DefaultColorDepth 16

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Modes "2048x1536" "1792x1344" "1600x1200" "1280x960"
    EndSubsection
EndSection


-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


-- 
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Re: [gentoo-amd64] unknown monitor

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Saturday 19 November 2005 12:42, DR GM SEDDON wrote:
> Hi I'm trying to configure my display.  I have successfully created a
> xorg.conf file that works.  However, I have tried to optimise my display
> as recommended in the manual.  From 'lspci' my graphics card is
> unknown.  It is an ATI radeon but I entered unknown.  I have tried
> 'Screen0' and 'default screen'.  When I startx I get  'unknown monitor
> type' in the log.  Can anyone advise?
> Gavin

post your xorg.conf?
replace 'unknown' with radeon?
load ddc?

Oh, and don't use modelines, if you don't have to. Modern Monitors should work 
fine without them, and you can easily damage them with faulty modelines.
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Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: Re: unknown monitor [fixed]

[DR GM SEDDON]

Hello,
I have tried Knoppix previously but the cd wouldn't boot.  So, I have 
used Ubuntu and xorg.conf off this, startx works fine.


Duncan wrote:

>DR GM SEDDON posted <437F2ED9.80303@manchester.ac.uk>, excerpted below, 
>on Sat, 19 Nov 2005 13:55:37 +0000:
>
>  
>
>>Many thanks for this detailed reply, my monitor is a 20" sgi crt.  i 
>>prefer sgi we use them at work in drug design they give good 3d.  I have 
>>the hr and vs rates, where do I put these.Also, is the monitor name 
>>needed verbatim.  Finally, is there a tool for setting up my initial 
>>monitor type and card?  Since I'm apprehensive of my setup.
>>    
>>
>
>Cool!  Now we're gettin' somewhere!  <g>  20"+ CRTs I know a bit about as
>I'm running two (a Viewsonic and a Dell Trinitron) in dual head mode right
>now.
>
>If you already have the timings, no, you don't need specific model numbers
>or whatever.
>
>As I mentioned, xorg has several tools for initial setup.  However, after
>trying Linux and then leaving it for a couple years, when I finally got
>serious about it (due to the fact that MS was asking me to cross a line
>with eXPrivacy I could not and would not cross -- because I believed it
>would ultimately legitimize spyware and the like -- exactly as it did --
>see where we are today with Sony's rootkit they apparently saw nothing
>wrong with, anyway, since I couldn't upgrade to eXPrivacy, I switched to
>Linux...)
>
>... When I finally got serious about Linux, I asked for book
>recommendations and after getting repeated recommendations for two books,
>bought them both, O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell (aka The Arabian, for the
>horse on the front), and Running Linux (aka the Rearing Horse... horses
>must be their Linux mascot theme).  Running Linux is textbook tutorial
>style, while Linux in a Nutshell is a reference work.  After reading  the
>600-ish pages of Running Linux nearly cover to cover, I dove right in and
>learned how to custom configure and compile my own kernel, did a rather
>complicated multiboot LILO setup, and learned how to configure xfree86 for
>triple monitors on two video cards, because the automated stuff
>couldn't handle that!... All that within the first three months of getting
>serious, while I was still dual booting back to MSWormOS to run OE for
>mail and news, because I hadn't had time to look into the desktop software
>angle yet, so didn't know what I wanted. When I get serious about learning
>something, I LEARN it, and there's NO going back. (But note that was after
>two years of still being on MSWormOS but figuring I'd eventually end up
>switching to Linux, so verifying all my hardware purchases would do Linux
>before I spent the money... So by the time I did it, I knew everything I
>had would work, and it did!)
>
>Anyway... back to the topic... As a result of that I haven't had to mess
>with xorg's automated detection stuff in years, and then it was only very
>briefly, and I don't know much about it, save for what I've read in the
>various manpages and the like.
>
>I'd say take a look at "man X" to start, skim it, get to the bottom, and
>go thru the what's related manpages as well.  I KNOW there are at least
>TWO different methods shipped with xorg that can be used to auto-scan and
>generate a basic starting point with at least /some/ of the settings
>correct, hopefully.  If I'm not mistaken, there's actually four such
>utilities, and one of the manpages actually gives you a list of the
>recommended order to try them in, the easiest first, the most likely to
>work but harder to manage because you end up plugging more into it
>manually, last.  However, as I've said, I didn't need that info and was
>just scanning it looking for other stuff, so it's possible there were two
>methods that I counted twice.
>
>Or...  probably the easiest method, if it works, would be to grab and burn
>an ISO of Gnoppix/Knoppix and/or of Kubuntu/Ubuntu.  A couple years ago,
>Knoppix was considered the best at hardware detection (overall, but
>certainly including video hardware for X) around, but most distributions
>have availed themselves of the open source since then and have in general
>caught up.  Ubuntu is of course the one everybody's talking about now. 
>Grab the 64-bit version if you can, it's handy to have around as a liveCD
>and emergency boot and repair platform, but the 32-bit version should
>detect stuff equally well so will do just fine for our immediate purposes.
>
>Anyway, if you can get one of those things to work, doesn't matter which
>one, you can copy it's xorg.conf from its ramdisk to your drive or a
>floppy or something, and you may not have to worry about messing with it
>at all if you don't want to.  DEFINITELY, NOT ALL DISTRIBUTION INSTALLS
>ARE CREATED EQUAL, but if you can find just one that can scan and
>recognize your hardware (or just part of it if not all), that should work,
>and give you some info on what you have, if nothing else.
>
>As for where you plug the stuff in if it comes to that... and you may have
>to change at least a /few/ settings...
>
>As I mentioned, man xorg.conf does a fair job, and you should have a
>sample to compare with, altho I'd hate to have to start from that without
>at least something /partially/ matched to my system.  Anyway, I'll give
>you a brief overview here, but that's where to look for more, or ask...
>
>The file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf (note the cap X in X11).  It's very
>modular, and once you get the hang of the layout, the modularity is a help
>because it keeps the complexity down and allows you to worry about just
>one thing at a time.
>
>The different sections or modules can be in any order, but are logically
>related to each other this way:
>
>Section Monitor contains the settings for your monitor. along with an
>Identifier "what-you-call-your-monitor" entry.  That Identifier entry is
>how that section is referred to everywhere else.  It's convenient to
>identify by brand and model, as in 'Identifier "Dell-2125s"', if you have
>it, making it easy if you have more than one to use the same section over
>elsewhere, but you can call it 'Identifier "Xyzzy"' for all xorg cares, as
>long as you then refer to it as "Xyzzy" everywhere else you need it.  If
>you have only one, just call it "Monitor1" or whatever, if you like.
>
>You may have more than one Monitor section, each with it's own identifier,
>if you have multiple monitors you are or may be plugging in.
>
>Likewise, your graphics card has its settings in a Section Device,
>likewise with an Identifier entry.  Here, as I play with multiple cards
>sometimes, I use identifiers like "DevAGP0", "DevPCI1, etc.  However,
>again, you can call it what you want.  You can call it by brand and model
>if you like, or just "GraphicsCard1" or whatever.  Of course, fancy setups
>may have more than one graphics card or a card with multiple outputs. 
>Depending on the driver and configuration, a card with multiple outputs
>may be configured as separate cards (therefore separate Device
>sections) for each output, or have additional settings  for the second
>output in the same Device section.
>
>A Section Screen combines the Device Section and the Monitor Section(s)
>for what's plugged into it.  Again, it'll have it's own Identifier, I call
>mine "ScrAGP0" and the like, after the Section Device it matches up with,
>but you may call yours "Plough" for all xorg cares, as long as  you always
>refer to it with the right identifier.
>
>Within the screen section, there's a Monitor "<identifier>" entry and a
>Device "<identifier>" entry that match up with the appropriate sections
>described above.  Again, as long as the identifiers match correctly, it
>doesn't matter what they actually are.
>
>The screen section also has one or more Subsection Display subsections. 
>These will normally be one for each color bitness level (8-bit color,
>15/16-bit color, 24- and 32-bit color), tho I run Xinerama, which wants
>you to stick with the same bitness level, so I pick one and stick with it,
>and don't bother with the others.  The main purpose of these subsections
>is to contain the list of desired resolutions, like the long one I posted
>earlier, one list for each bitness level.  There are of course some less
>significant optional entries as well, but the two big ones are the list of
>accepted resolutions for that bitness, and the line specifying the color
>bitness the list applies to.  These are subsections of the screen
>sections, so they don't get their own identifiers.
>
>There are also Section InputDevice sections, one for each input device
>(keyboard, mouse, graphics pad, touch-sensitive-screen, whatever) you
>have, naturally each with its own identifier entry.
>
>Combining all these we have Section ServerLayout.  You should be able to
>predict several of the entries it will have, its own identifier,
>naturally, plus one or more Screen and InputDevice entries, referring to
>the appropriate sections by their identifier.  Again, the identifier is
>entirely arbitrary.  Call it "SvrLyout1" or "Y2" (get the running joke
>yet? <g>), it doesn't matter, as long as it matches the identifier it's
>referring to.
>
>There will be one default Section ServerLayout, the first one listed IIRC
>if one isn't specified when the server is invoked, but as with the other
>Sections, you may have others as well, if desired.
>
>There are some other, more global, sections as well.  Section Files lists
>what else? paths to other related config files (and fonts or the config
>to use the font-server if you run one) on your system. Xorg has sane (and
>Gentoo normal) defaults built-in, if this section is missing. Similarly,
>the ServerFlags section is optional. However, that's where you put
>settings such as PM (Power Management) timeouts, and set Xinerama
>(multi-screen) mode, if desired.
>
>Likewise with the Modules and Extensions Sections.  You can run xorg in
>bare 2D unaccelerated mode without them, in general, or xorg has some
>configured to run by default if it finds them and they aren't specifically
>turned off, but there are appropriate sections for them if you want to
>tweak the settings.
>
>Back with xfree86 3.x, one had to specify a bunch of quite scary
>individual timing mode lines, the setting up of which involved some deep
>black arts! <g>  Fortunately, starting with xfree86 4.x and now with xorg,
>the by far most common of these, the 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x920,
>1280x1024, 1600x1200, and even down as low as 400x300 (or lower) and as
>high as 2048x1736 entries, often several individual timings for each
>resolution, are built-into the binary and tried automatically, so these
>are no longer needed.  There's a site out there, Colas xmodeline generator
>(google it if needed or I have it bookmarked), that has a script that
>you just plug in the monitor and card numbers into, and it'll output an
>a table of appropriate timing entries in 4-pixel x increments covering the
>entire range allowed by your hardware, if you want a mode that's not
>builtin. I mentioned that 640x400 special mode for a game I have in the
>previous reply.  I got the modeline for that by simply plugging the
>appropriate numbers into the boxes at Cola's.  (Those extra modelines can
>either go under individual monitor sections, or, if you have several
>monitors sharing a set of modelines, they can go in their own section,
>naturally complete with its own identifier entry, by which you refer to it
>elsewhere.)
>
>That's the structural outline of the major sections and how they depend on
>each other in words.  Here's a brief "pseudoexample", with only a few
>"pseudosettings" by way of example.  (They are basically real settings,
>but I'm deleting some of the complicated meat of the config, since I have
>multiple monitors/cards/screens and am not checking that what's left
>matches up, so I wouldn't expect this to work anywhere as is, tho it
>might. Do note how some are hash-commented out, tho.) Again, section
>order normally doesn't matter.
>
>
>Section "Files"
>    FontPath   "unix/:-1"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Module"
>    Load "type1"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Extensions"
>#    Option "Composite"
>EndSection
>
>Section "ServerFlags"
>    # General options
>    Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
>    Option "NoPM"
>EndSection
>
>Section "ServerLayout"
>    Identifier "MainLayout"
>    InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
>    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
>    Screen 0 "ScrAgp.0"
>EndSection
>
>Section "InputDevice"
>    Identifier "Keyboard0"
>    Driver "kbd"
>    Option "XkbModel" "microsoftmult"
>EndSection
>
>Section "InputDevice"
>    Identifier "Mouse0"
>    Driver "mouse"
>    Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
>    Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Monitor"
>    Identifier "Dell-M991"
>    HorizSync 30-96
>    VertRefresh 50-160
>    DisplaySize 355 265
>    Option "DPMS"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Monitor"
>    Identifier "Dell-2125s"
>    HorizSync 30-121
>    VertRefresh 48-160
>    DisplaySize 400 300
>    ModeLine "640x400" 63.07 640 672 832 896 400 402 414 440 #160Hz for Orion
>EndSection
>
>Section "Monitor"
>    Identifier "ViewSonic-P220f"
>    HorizSync 30-110
>EndSection
>
>Section "Device"
>    Identifier "DevAgp.0"
>    Driver "radeon"
>    BusID "PCI:5:0:0"
>EndSection
>
>Section "Screen"
>    Identifier "ScrAgp.0"
>    Device "DevAgp.0"
>    Monitor "Dell-2125s"
>    DefaultColorDepth 16
>
>    Subsection "Display"
>        Depth 16
>        Modes "2048x1536" "1792x1344" "1600x1200" "1280x960"
>    EndSubsection
>EndSection
>
>
>  
>

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[gentoo-amd64] Re: Re: Re: unknown monitor [fixed]

[Duncan]

DR GM SEDDON posted <4381B8E7.5030700@manchester.ac.uk>, excerpted below, 
on Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:09:11 +0000:

> I have tried Knoppix previously but the cd wouldn't boot.  So, I have 
> used Ubuntu and xorg.conf off this, startx works fine.

Cool! =8^)  Glad something worked, even if it did take multiple
several-hundred-line mails to ferret it out!

Feel free, of course, to use what I wrote as  a bit of a guide to
understanding the xorg.conf borrowed from Ubuntu.  =8^)


-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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