[CentOS] Re: centos] Video driver for IBM Netvista w/Intel 845chipset

[Thomas E Dukes]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces at centos.org 
> [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of R P Herrold
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 11:23 AM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: [CentOS] Re: centos] Video driver for IBM Netvista 
> w/Intel 845chipset
> 
> On Sun, 12 Mar 2006, Thomas E Dukes wrote:
> 
> > I am having problems with video in X.  I get an over 
> frequency issue 
> > using the stock CentOS 4.2 driver.  I have searched IBM and 
> Intel for 
> > the driver but no luck.
> > Occassionally I see something about need to load a kernel 
> module for 
> > agpgart.  How do I do this?  Anyone have a similar setup or 
> know where 
> > I can find the driver?
> 
> The issue is really the Intel onboard video hardware [which 
> IBM Netvista have with the 845 chipset, and older HP units 
> have at the 810 and 815 chipsets; newer Dell kit have 9xx 
> series onboard video], which is at best moderately well supported
> 
> The bugs which Mike Harris upstream has had on Intel kit, and 
> his discussions on the devel mailing lists, show much that 
> Intel could do better.  ;)  It turns out the Intel video 
> hardware bios cannot be persistently have mode settings 
> reprogrammed - one has to do it on the fly at boot time 
> before X starts running.
> 
> The doco on the xorg.conf file could be better, but one can 
> plow through it and find some help with our friend Google.
> 
> I had to use a program called '915resolution' from 
> http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/ to remap video bios in 
> ram, to support my (Westinghouse) panel monitor at 1440 x 
> 1050 ($420 on sale at Best Buy last week - highly recommended). 
> These is a similar tool for the Intex 8xx onboard video hardware.
> 
> I added an item to the R/L 5 initscripts, to run this in 
> /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ as S89videotweak, [right before the xfs starts up]:
> 
> #!/bin/sh
> #       set up the Intel 865 chip for our Westinghouse monitor
> /etc/rc.d/915resolution 4d 1440 1050 16
> /etc/rc.d/915resolution 41 1152 864  16
> /etc/rc.d/915resolution 43 1280 960  16
> #
> 
> and my /etc/X11/x.org looks like this in relevant part:
> 
> Section "Monitor"
>          Identifier   "Monitor0"
>          VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
>          ModelName    "LTV-19w3"
>          DisplaySize  410        260
>          HorizSync    30.0 - 82.0
>          VertRefresh  56.0 - 76.0
>          Option      "dpms"
> # 1440x1050 @ 68.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 74.26 kHz; pclk: 144.95  MHz
>          Modeline "4d"  144.95  1440 1536 1696 1952  1050 
> 1051 1054 1092 -HSync +Vsync
>          Modeline "41"  99.64   1152 1224 1344 1536  864 865 
> 868 901  -HSync +Vsync
>          Modeline "43"  124.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  960 961 
> 964 1001 -HSync +Vsync EndSection
> 
> Section "Device"
>          Identifier  "Videocard0"
>          Driver      "i810"
>          VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
>          BoardName   "Intel 865"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Screen"
>          Identifier "Screen0"
>          Device     "Videocard0"
>          Monitor    "Monitor0"
>          DefaultDepth     16
>          SubSection "Display"
>                  Viewport   0 0
>                  Depth     16
> #               Modes    "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" 
> "800x600" "640x480"
> #       the default modes are there implicitly - enumerate 
> the  additional ones
> #               Modes "5c" "50" "52"    (these are 32 bit colors)
> #               Modes "4d" "41" "43"    (these are 16 bit colors)
>                  Modes "4d"
> #       we drop scan rate for this last to accomodate the monitor
> # $ gtf 1440 1050 66
> # 1440x1050 @ 66.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 72.01 kHz; pclk: 139.40 
> MHz #  Modeline "5c"  139.40  1440 1536 1688 1936  1050 1051 
> 1054 1091  -HSync +Vsync
>          EndSubSection
> EndSection
> 
> ==========================
> 
> Note that redefined mode 4d buried down in there in the 
> 'Screen section -- I had to dink with 'gtf' and updating the 
> Intel chip on the fly with these parameters to get it working 
> well; I avoid the redefined modes 41 and 43, as they don't 
> get that last pixel from the display, but they seem to work.  the
> 32 bit colordepth is beyind the capabilities of the monitor - 
> but 16 bit is sufficicent for my needs.
> 
> -- Russ Herrold

Hello Russ!

About 99% of this is way over my head. :-(

I agree, Intel should do better for the Linux community.  The only updated
driver I found was for the 915 chipset.

I ended up allocating more memory in the bios and got much better results.
I don't use X that much as this is my server.  At least now its useable when
needed.

Thanks!!!!