[gentoo-catalyst] Req: non-standard lcd displays

[gentoo-catalyst] Req: non-standard lcd displays

[Pongracz Istvan]

Hi,

I use catalyst to create customized livecd-s with preinstalled X,
database and web servers to demonstrate open source applications to the
public, usually non-technical people.

Some of them use laptops and/or non standard LCD displays (1280x800,
1400x900 etc.).

AFAIK catalyst uses the x11-misc/mkxf86config tool to detect and setup
the X.

The main problem is, it cannot setup the dimension properly and the
display shows an ugly, stretched image, which is not really looks good
on a presentation.

Example: the X uses 1024x768 on a 1280x800 display.
The result is a working, but ugly X.

My question, is that possible to improve it?

I read that, the author of mkxf86 knows this issue and he/she is open to
improve it, but I do not know his mail :)
He wrote, this is hard-wired to make it cross-compatible.

Anyway, what about that to look into ubuntu/mandriva, how they solved
this issue?
I know, for example the i915 chipset has a problem, which needs a bios
patch to get it work (it is a crap, I have this on my laptop).

I'm pretty sure, this is not a trivial task, but it would be really
good :)

Regards,
István



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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] Req: non-standard lcd displays

[Andrew Gaffney]

Pongracz Istvan wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I use catalyst to create customized livecd-s with preinstalled X,
> database and web servers to demonstrate open source applications to the
> public, usually non-technical people.
> 
> Some of them use laptops and/or non standard LCD displays (1280x800,
> 1400x900 etc.).
> 
> AFAIK catalyst uses the x11-misc/mkxf86config tool to detect and setup
> the X.

Catalyst doesn't use anything. You are specifying mkxf86config in your spec, and 
it's getting run automatically by autoconfig (part of livecd-tools). You are 
free to use something else.

> The main problem is, it cannot setup the dimension properly and the
> display shows an ugly, stretched image, which is not really looks good
> on a presentation.
> 
> Example: the X uses 1024x768 on a 1280x800 display.
> The result is a working, but ugly X.
> 
> My question, is that possible to improve it?

Do you have a patch?

> I read that, the author of mkxf86 knows this issue and he/she is open to
> improve it, but I do not know his mail :)
> He wrote, this is hard-wired to make it cross-compatible.
> 
> Anyway, what about that to look into ubuntu/mandriva, how they solved
> this issue?
> I know, for example the i915 chipset has a problem, which needs a bios
> patch to get it work (it is a crap, I have this on my laptop).
> 
> I'm pretty sure, this is not a trivial task, but it would be really
> good :)

If you're building this CD for a specific computer, use livecd/root_overlay to 
put a custom pre-made xorg.conf on the CD and remove mkxf86config from the 
package list. This will "solve" your problem.

-- 
Andrew Gaffney                                 http://dev.gentoo.org/~agaffney/
Gentoo Linux Developer             Catalyst/Installer + x86 release coordinator
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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] Req: non-standard lcd displays

[Pongracz Istvan]

2008. 02. 25, hétfő keltezéssel 15.54-kor Andrew Gaffney ezt írta:
....
> Catalyst doesn't use anything. You are specifying mkxf86config in your spec, and 
> it's getting run automatically by autoconfig (part of livecd-tools). You are 
> free to use something else.

....

> Do you have a patch?

Not yet :)

.....
> If you're building this CD for a specific computer, use livecd/root_overlay to 
> put a custom pre-made xorg.conf on the CD and remove mkxf86config from the 
> package list. This will "solve" your problem.

It seems a good workaround, I will try that.

Thank you for the explanation.

Cheers,
István
-- 
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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] Req: non-standard lcd displays

[Pongracz Istvan]

2008. 02. 25, hétfő keltezéssel 23.02-kor Pongracz Istvan ezt írta:
> 2008. 02. 25, hétfő keltezéssel 15.54-kor Andrew Gaffney ezt írta:
> ....
> > Catalyst doesn't use anything. You are specifying mkxf86config in your spec, and 
> > it's getting run automatically by autoconfig (part of livecd-tools). You are 
> > free to use something else.
> 

I guess, if I ask that, what about a nice, eye-candy boot-up splash
(which related to genkernel/syslinux), I will get a similar answer,
right? :)

I used mandriva's binary to get an eye-candy splash, when isolinux
starts with a really small catalyst hack, where catalyst sets up the
isolinux.cfg.
Simply wrote an extra line.

Cheers,
István




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