[gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[waltdnes]

  Some people like the nice crisp text of true console mode.  Many can't
stand surfing with a textmode browser.  Count me in both groups.  So I
switch back and forth a lot.  This email is being composed in a true
text console (80 columns x 48 rows; but that's another story).  I flip
to X for surfing/spreadsheets/etc.  When I do, I find that the colours
on my current machine's display are corrupted.  Clicking on a window
will reset most of the colours, but the window title-bar still looks
like colour confetti.

  Background info... I'm running 32-bit X86 Gentoo on an Intel Core2
Duo cpu.  "lspci -v" shows the integrated video controller twice, as
both 00:00.0 and as 00:02.0, like so...


00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM
Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell Device 020d
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>
        Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
        Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express
Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Dell Device 020d
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
        Memory at fdf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        I/O ports at ff00 [size=8]
        Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at fdc00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Count=1/1
Enable-
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2


-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[Albert Hopkins]

On Tue, 2009-10-20 at 20:55 -0400, waltdnes@waltdnes.org wrote:
> Some people like the nice crisp text of true console mode.  Many can't
> stand surfing with a textmode browser.  Count me in both groups.  So I
> switch back and forth a lot.  This email is being composed in a true
> text console (80 columns x 48 rows; but that's another story).  I flip
> to X for surfing/spreadsheets/etc.  When I do, I find that the colours
> on my current machine's display are corrupted.  Clicking on a window
> will reset most of the colours, but the window title-bar still looks
> like colour confetti.
> 
>   Background info... I'm running 32-bit X86 Gentoo on an Intel Core2
> Duo cpu.  "lspci -v" shows the integrated video controller twice, as
> both 00:00.0 and as 00:02.0, like so...
> 
> 
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM
> Controller (rev 02)
>         Subsystem: Dell Device 020d
>         Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
>         Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?>
>         Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
>         Kernel modules: intel-agp
> 
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express
> Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
>         Subsystem: Dell Device 020d
>         Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
>         Memory at fdf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
>         I/O ports at ff00 [size=8]
>         Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
>         Memory at fdc00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
>         Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Count=1/1
> Enable-
>         Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

If you are using the Intel graphics I think you should try KMS.
Switching back and forth between X and a vt is both fast and
flicker-free and I haven't seen any artifacts switching between the two.

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[waltdnes]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 09:30:06PM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote

> If you are using the Intel graphics I think you should try KMS.
> Switching back and forth between X and a vt is both fast and
> flicker-free and I haven't seen any artifacts switching between
> the two.

  From looking at Google, I think you're referring to kernel mode
switching.  I have looked all over make menuconfig and can't find it.
What is the reference I should be looking for?  I'm running the
latest stable kernel as near as I can tell...

[d531][waltdnes][~] uname -sr
Linux 2.6.30-gentoo-r7

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[Albert Hopkins]

On Wed, 2009-10-21 at 00:29 -0400, waltdnes@waltdnes.org wrote:
> > If you are using the Intel graphics I think you should try KMS.
> > Switching back and forth between X and a vt is both fast and
> > flicker-free and I haven't seen any artifacts switching between
> > the two.
> 
>   From looking at Google, I think you're referring to kernel mode
> switching.  I have looked all over make menuconfig and can't find it.
> What is the reference I should be looking for?  I'm running the
> latest stable kernel as near as I can tell. 


Oh stable... never touch the stuff... ;)

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Intel_GMA#Kernel_Modesetting

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[waltdnes]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 06:16:46AM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote

> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Intel_GMA#Kernel_Modesetting

  Thanks.  I'll read that over and try it out.  From the looks of it,
I'll have to go into my backups and dig up a working xorg.conf.  And
save a text copy of the xorg.conf man page while I'm at it.  The xorg
configuration tools are nowhere to be seen.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[Albert Hopkins]

On Wed, 2009-10-21 at 18:01 -0400, waltdnes@waltdnes.org wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 06:16:46AM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote
> 
> > http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Intel_GMA#Kernel_Modesetting
> 
>   Thanks.  I'll read that over and try it out.  From the looks of it,
> I'll have to go into my backups and dig up a working xorg.conf.  And
> save a text copy of the xorg.conf man page while I'm at it.  The xorg
> configuration tools are nowhere to be seen.
> 

You may not have do that.  All 3 of my systems with Intel graphics run
KMS with X with no xorg.conf at all.  But since you're running stable
YMMV.

-a

[gentoo-user] Re: Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[walt]

On 10/21/2009 03:55 PM, Albert Hopkins wrote:
> ...All 3 of my systems with Intel graphics run
> KMS with X with no xorg.conf at all...

How do you deal with font paths?  That's one of the few reasons
I still have an xorg.conf.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[Albert Hopkins]

On Wed, 2009-10-21 at 18:11 -0700, walt wrote:
> On 10/21/2009 03:55 PM, Albert Hopkins wrote:
> > ...All 3 of my systems with Intel graphics run
> > KMS with X with no xorg.conf at all...
> 
> How do you deal with font paths?  That's one of the few reasons
> I still have an xorg.conf.
> 

Font paths?  You mean X11 fonts? Who needs those?  The only app I ever
use that uses those is xterm, and it just requires "fixed".  Everything
else I uses uses freetype/fontconfig.   But xset tells me
that /usr/share/fonts/misc/ is already in my font path and, apparently
that's all that I need for bitcrap fonts.

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[waltdnes]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 06:55:50PM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote

> You may not have do that.  All 3 of my systems with Intel graphics run
> KMS with X with no xorg.conf at all.  But since you're running stable
> YMMV.

  Fortunately I've set up lilo to boot up from separate "Production" and
"Experimental" kernels.  This allows me to reboot and flee to a sane
config if things go wrong.  It appears that nothing is simple.  The Intel
driver works great in X, without an xorg.conf.  However, it insists on
running framebuffer in text console mode.  I *CANNOT* turn off framebuffer.
Passing parameters to lilo via...

append = "noexec=on noexec32=on nofb"

doesn't help.  In "make menuconfig" graphics/console, I see

-*- Framebuffer Console support

there is no box to uncheck.  Could it be related to my /etc/make.conf

VIDEO_CARDS="intel vga"

  Would changing that to VIDEO_CARDS="intel" (and re-emerging xorg) help?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[Albert Hopkins]

On Wed, 2009-10-21 at 22:13 -0400, waltdnes@waltdnes.org wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 06:55:50PM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote
> 
> > You may not have do that.  All 3 of my systems with Intel graphics run
> > KMS with X with no xorg.conf at all.  But since you're running stable
> > YMMV.
> 
>   Fortunately I've set up lilo to boot up from separate "Production" and
> "Experimental" kernels.  This allows me to reboot and flee to a sane
> config if things go wrong.  It appears that nothing is simple.  The Intel
> driver works great in X, without an xorg.conf.  However, it insists on
> running framebuffer in text console mode.  I *CANNOT* turn off framebuffer.
> Passing parameters to lilo via...
> 
> append = "noexec=on noexec32=on nofb"
> 
> doesn't help.  In "make menuconfig" graphics/console, I see
> 
> -*- Framebuffer Console support
> 
> there is no box to uncheck.  Could it be related to my /etc/make.conf
> 
> VIDEO_CARDS="intel vga"
> 
>   Would changing that to VIDEO_CARDS="intel" (and re-emerging xorg) help?
> 

KMS drivers and framebuffer console drivers are different and AFAIK
mutually exclusive.  The boot parameter to disable KMS would be, e.g.,
i915.modeset=0

Re: [gentoo-user] Colors corrupted in X after returning from text console

[waltdnes]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:59:12PM -0400, Albert Hopkins wrote

> KMS drivers and framebuffer console drivers are different and AFAIK
> mutually exclusive.  The boot parameter to disable KMS would be, e.g.,
> i915.modeset=0

  I don't want to disable KMS, I want to disable framebuffer, and I
simply cannot do so with the i915 driver enabled... period. end of
story.  It is automatically enable in make menuconfig.  The option is
"-*-" rather than [*].

  I've tried "nofb" in the lilo append line, and manually unsetting all
the FB_CONFIG* parameters in .config with vim and rebuilding, but it
still comes up in framebuffer mode.  I'll have to wait for the next
kernel updates, I suppose.  I don't want to play with ~x86.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>